Software Engineering Manager

Hands-On Engineering Manager | Backend / Java | NYC

I'm recruiting for one of the most recognizable organizations in Sports and Entertainment as they hire a Hands-On Engineering Manager to lead their backend platform.

This is not a traditional management-heavy role. Think Principal Engineer / player-coach.

You'll spend roughly 70–80% of your time hands-on with the technology while mentoring a small backend team and helping shape the future architecture of systems operating at massive scale.

The engineering problems here are genuinely unique — real-time event and tracking data, high-volume APIs, live data distribution, internal and consumer-facing platforms, and systems that have to perform flawlessly when millions of users are interacting with the product at the same time.

What you'll be doing:

• Remain deeply hands-on building backend systems in Java
• Own architecture and development of high-scale REST APIs
• Design systems supporting real-time and event-driven data
• Work across pre-event, live-event and post-event data distribution
• Own backend infrastructure powering internal tools and consumer-facing products
• Establish API design and engineering standards
• Design and optimize complex relational data models in MySQL
• Mentor and develop a small team of backend engineers
• Help scale the backend engineering organization as the team grows

What they're looking for:

• Deep production experience building backend systems in Java
• 8+ years of backend software engineering experience
• 3+ years focused on API design and architecture
• Strong REST API design experience
• Excellent relational data modeling and MySQL fundamentals
• Experience with query optimization and performance tuning
• Experience with Hibernate, Apache Cayenne or similar ORM technologies
• Someone who is still actively coding and technically sharp
• Experience mentoring and developing other engineers
• Strong architecture and system-design fundamentals

Python is a plus, as is experience with AWS, event-driven systems, streaming technologies, Docker, Kubernetes, distributed systems and high-traffic consumer platforms.

A background in Sports and Entertainment, media or real-time data would also be highly relevant, but it is not required.

What makes this opportunity particularly compelling is the combination of technical depth, visibility and stability.

You'll work on technology and real-time data that simply does not exist in most engineering environments, while joining an organization known for strong quality of life and unusually long employee tenure.

This is ideal for a senior engineer who wants to step into leadership without giving up the part of the job they actually enjoy — building software.

• NYC | Hybrid – 4 days/week onsite
• $180K base
• 12–25% annual bonus + strong benefits

US work authorization required. No visa sponsorship available.

If you're a senior Java engineer, Principal-level IC or hands-on engineering leader who still wants to spend the majority of your time solving difficult technical problems, please apply.