Staff Data Engineer
About the Team
Launched in 2021, Fanatics Betting and Gaming is the online and retail sports betting subsidiary of Fanatics, a global digital sports platform. The Fanatics Sportsbook is available to 95% of the addressable online sports bettor market in the U.S. Fanatics Casino is currently available online in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Fanatics Betting and Gaming operates twenty-two retail sports betting locations, including the only sportsbook inside an NFL stadium at Northwest Stadium. Fanatics Betting and Gaming is headquartered in New York with offices in Denver, Leeds and Dublin.
About the Role
We’re looking for a Staff Data Engineer to join our Data Engineering team, which builds and governs the data foundation that powers the business. You’ll set technical direction for our stack (Python ingestion pipelines, Airflow orchestration, and Snowflake/Databricks) and make sure data moves reliably, securely, and cost-effectively from source to decision-ready output.
This is a senior individual-contributor role with broad scope and influence. You’ll own the architecture of our most critical data systems, define the standards the team builds against, and take on novel, ambiguous, high-stakes problems that don’t have a runbook. You’ll be accountable for outcomes, not just deliverables.
Responsibilities
Own the architecture and design of ingestion pipelines, orchestration frameworks, and data delivery systems, producing design docs that DE2s, DE3s, and senior engineers can implement against
Define and evolve the team’s frameworks, conventions, and reference patterns for pipelines, Airflow DAGs, testing, monitoring, and catalog registration so new sources onboard quickly and consistently
Lead diagnosis of the novel data integrity, performance, and reliability problems that escalate past senior engineers, driving systemic fixes and turning recurring failures into runbooks, automation, or better design
Set and track reliability standards (SLOs, alerting, on-call health) and reduce operational toil
Lead data security and governance strategy, including PII masking, RBAC, data classification, and lineage, in partnership with Security, Legal, and Compliance
Design reverse ETL and data delivery integrations (e.g., Segment, LaunchDarkly, Kafka, S3) with clear SLAs, downstream-impact analysis, and failure-handling guarantees
Drive platform decisions on Snowflake, Databricks, and AWS, including cost optimization, capacity planning, and build-vs-buy evaluation
Lead spec and design review, anticipating downstream impact, race conditions, idempotency gaps, and failure modes before code is written, and review high-risk PRs with rigor
Partner with BI, Data Science, Product, and business leadership to turn ambiguous requirements into scalable solutions, prioritize competing demands, and shape the roadmap
Mentor engineers at every level, represent the team in cross-functional forums, pay down technical debt, and participate in hiring
Experience and Skills
8+ years of professional software or data engineering experience, including significant experience owning production data platforms at scale
A track record of designing and delivering large, cross-team data systems from ambiguous requirements through production operation
Expert-level Python and SQL, with deep experience in ETL/ELT patterns for complex, high-volume transformations
Deep expertise in Airflow / Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow, including DAG design at scale and operational best practices
Strong command of pipeline fundamentals: idempotency, backfills, schema evolution, late-arriving data, data quality frameworks, and failure recovery
Hands-on experience with several of Snowflake, Databricks, AWS, dbt, Tableau, MongoDB, and PostgreSQL, with the judgment to choose the right tool for the job
Experience building data security and governance capabilities (PII masking, RBAC, catalog/lineage) and reusable pipeline frameworks that other engineers extend
Strong testing, CI/CD, and code review practices, and the ability to set those standards for a team
Proven ability to mentor engineers, influence without authority, and build alignment across teams
Excellent written and verbal communication, including design docs, tradeoff analysis, and incident write-ups
Nice to Have
Experience with reverse ETL, real-time or streaming data (e.g., Kafka), and observability tooling (e.g., Datadog)
Experience with FinOps and cost governance on cloud data platforms
Background in gaming, betting, e-commerce, or another regulated industry, including audit, compliance, and responsible handling of PII
Experience leading platform migrations or major re-architectures
Depending on the role, your interview and onboarding experience may include in-person components, such as onsite interviews or Launching into Better: LIVE—a multi-day cultural immersion in New York City for full-time, non-seasonal hires. These sessions are designed to build connection and bring our culture to life, though specific travel and participation requirements will be confirmed based on your role and location. Your recruiter will provide clear guidance at each stage of the process.
For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/
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Ranges will change based on country and state of residence, which are reflected in Geographical Zones defined by Fanatics Betting and Gaming. The range incorporates all of our Geographical Compensation Zones and is subject to change as the Zone associated with the actual offer is confirmed. In addition to the base and bonus, full-time employment, and more. For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/
Salary Range
$180,500—$237,500 USD