Senior Backend Software Engineer

Who are we?

Smarkets is a betting exchange for sports and political trading that has handled over £29 billion in volume since 2010. Our company mission is to fix the betting industry with the best products and best prices. We are upending the sports betting industry by growing a transparent platform that offers the best value for bettors, with the fairest odds, best technology and a superior customer experience.

Smarkets is a Series B tech company that brings a professional, product-led approach to our mission. We embrace collaboration, trust, innovation and scientific rigour, while we celebrate ambitious goals and passionate energy. Our culture rewards people on merit and excellence and we strive to provide a working environment where recognition, challenges, support, collaboration, interesting benefits and shared meals provided by our chefs mix together to let you unlock your potential, grow with us and become your best self.

Join our team and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our betting trading technology landscape.

The Role

As a Senior Backend Engineer at Smarkets, you will drive the design, development, and scaling of the core services that power our platform. You will work closely with technical leadership and cross-functional teams to lead and deliver high-impact projects aligned with our strategic goals. In this role, you'll take ownership of complex systems, ensuring high performance, scalability, and stability.

You'll play a critical role in shaping our backend architecture, mentoring your peers, and setting technical direction for the team. With a focus on building distributed systems, you will influence key decisions in technology and process improvements, helping to evolve our technical ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and optimisation of backend services written in Python, Rust or C++
• Architect and build scalable, distributed systems to meet the evolving needs of the platform
• Enhance system reliability through robust monitoring and alerting systems
• Drive and enforce best practices in code quality, testing, and continuous integration/delivery (CI/CD)
• Collaborate with product managers and engineering teams to define and deliver complex, high-impact projects
• Mentor and guide engineers across the team, fostering a culture of technical excellence and growth
• Drive technical decision-making and contribute to the evolution of our backend architecture
• Ensure the performance and stability of critical services by implementing improvements with a forward-looking mindset

Role Requirements

• 6+ years of experience in software engineering, with a focus on backend systems
• Expertise in Python and experience with at least one compiled language (Rust, Go, Java, C++), with a strong interest in learning Rust
• Proven experience designing and building distributed systems in modern cloud environments (AWS, GCP, or similar)
• Deep knowledge of DevOps practices and tools, including GitLab and Kubernetes (K8S)
• Strong experience with message queuing systems (e.g., Apache Kafka) and relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL)
• Previous experience in Sports Betting or Finance industries is a plus
• Excellent communication skills, with a proven ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams
• Demonstrated leadership in driving complex technical projects to successful completion

Values

• Push to win
• Make others better
• Give a shit
• Be a pro
• Bring the energy

Our values are at the heart of everything that we do. We believe these are the fundamentals to ensure we are delivering what’s expected of us in the best way possible for ourselves and for those around us.

Benefits

We offer a competitive salary package and benefits, along with a dynamic and collaborative work environment. Your work with us will make an impact and your voice will be heard.

We are a diverse team with a strong work ethic and plenty of hunger to win. We have designed our benefits offering around Health, Wealth, Lifestyle and Development.

These include:

• Stock options which vests over 4 years
• Pension scheme - An impressive pension scheme via Aviva. We will match 6% if you choose the same
• Health insurance
• Fresh fruit and snacks provided in the office everyday! (tea, coffee, soft drinks also included)
• We’re a member of a cycle to work scheme
• We want to continue to invest in all our employees and do so by providing a £1000 yearly education budget that can be used on courses, conferences, books or training
• 25 days paid holiday + bank holidays to enjoy - you have the choice to carry over 5 days to the next year!
• Flexible working - we want to provide a hybrid model approach to working and provide you with 2 days a week working from home.
• 20 days a year of globally working - we provide the ability to work from anywhere in the world for up to 20 days a year.
• We will provide you lunch everyday in the office - you don’t need to worry about feeding your belly as we have it sorted with top quality food served by our in-house Chef Alex!

What happens next​

We aim to have a simple and speedy hiring process and we want to make sure that we are right for you as much as the other way around.

• CV application review - We will review it as quickly as possible
• Let’s chat - Quick chat with our team about your experience and the role
• HackerRank Exercise - At home test to show off your skills
• Technical Interview - Live Coding
• In Office Interview - Experience and Mindset Chat + Lunch with other colleagues in the team