Lead Software Engineer

Excel Sports Management is an industry-leading sports agency representing top-tier talent, blue-chip brands and marquee properties. Our success is rooted in our people, our high character reputation and our commitment to creating a diverse and welcoming workplace. We focus on team chemistry, collaboration, strong relationships, valuable networks, and ambitious ideas to deliver innovative solutions that keep our clients and agency ahead of the curve.

Excel Sports Management is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE).

Position Overview

We are seeking a Senior Full Stack Engineer with strong DevOps expertise and domain knowledge in sports to help design, build, deploy, and operate analytics-driven applications and platforms. This director-level role is ideal for an engineer who enjoys full ownership of systems—from frontend and backend development to CI/CD, cloud infrastructure, and data platforms. This role will be based in our Chicago Office.

Role & Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary owner of AWS infrastructure, leveraging Terraform to manage Dockerized services, Airflow orchestration, and data warehousing.
• Design, develop, and maintain end-to-end applications, including frontend, backend, and infrastructure components.
• Build and manage CI/CD pipelines that produce Docker containers and/or installable packages.
• Define, provision, and manage cloud infrastructure using Terraform.
• Architect and maintain cloud-native systems with a focus on reliability, scalability, security, and cost efficiency.
• Build and manage data lakes, data warehouses, or similar analytics platforms to support reporting, modeling, and client deliverables.
• Develop backend services and data workflows, with a strong emphasis on Python-based systems.
• Design and maintain data orchestration pipelines (e.g., Apache Airflow).
• Collaborate closely with analytics, marketing, product, and client-facing teams to translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Lead and mentor a small engineering team providing technical guidance, performance feedback and task prioritization within the analytics group.
• Support both internal stakeholders and external clients, ensuring solutions are robust, well-documented, and production-ready.
• Implement best practices for testing, monitoring, deployment, and documentation.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues across application, data, and infrastructure layers while providing production support during standard working hours.
• Lead relevant internal Center of Excellence for deepening and standardizing use of data in sports science and athlete performance.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience with full stack ownership, including 2 years of experience in the sports industry.
• Strong experience building frontend and backend applications.
• Demonstrated expertise in DevOps and cloud engineering, including: CI/CD pipeline design and implementation; Docker and containerized workloads; Infrastructure as Code using Terraform; Hands‑on experience deploying and operating systems on AWS; Strong proficiency in Python; Strong proficiency in Node.js and modern React‑based frontend frameworks.
• Experience designing or working with data lakes, data warehouses, or large‑scale analytics platforms.
• Solid understanding of cloud networking, security, and observability.
• Demonstrated ability to lead projects and proactively manage varied stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently, take ownership, and operate in a fast‑paced environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Apache Airflow or similar orchestration tools.
• Experience building or integrating AI/ML‑driven solutions.
• Familiarity with serverless and event‑driven architectures.
• Experience working in analytics, data science, or insight‑driven product teams.
• Strong interest in sports.

Compensation & Benefits

Pay range: $200,000 per year – $240,000 per year. This position is also eligible for benefits and discretionary bonus.

Employment & Sponsorship

This position is not eligible for sponsorship.

Excel Sports Management provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.