Senior Backend Engineer - Tools and Automation

Job Summary:

Gametime seeks a Senior Backend Engineer for the Tools and Automation team. This team builds the technology that powers and scales the operations behind our marketplace - making the processes that keep Gametime running fast, reliable, and efficient.

This position is for a senior individual contributor (IC3) who delivers high-quality systems and tools with a strong sense of ownership and technical craftsmanship. You’ll design and build software that simplifies complex workflows, automates manual processes, and enables internal teams to move faster and smarter.

You’ll collaborate closely with Engineering, Design, Product, and Operations to build and extend both traditional and AI-driven automation solutions. The ideal candidate combines solid engineering fundamentals with curiosity, initiative, and a bias for improving how things work - not just delivering what’s asked.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and deliver automated workflows that deeply understand and reimagine manual operations. Partner with ops and product teams to map complex workflows, identify bottlenecks, and reinvent them through thoughtful automation—freeing teams to focus on higher-order tasks and strategic initiatives.

• Own foundational systems that expose the best capabilities to compose into automated workflows. Ensure these systems are reliable, observable, and easy to extend as business needs evolve.

• Design and build APIs with first principles, enabling composable, predictable, and scalable integrations across Gametime’s ecosystem.

• Build, test, instrument, and monitor systems that power the processes behind the scenes of the Gametime marketplace.

• Demonstrate domain ownership by identifying and advocating for improvements or automation opportunities that align with the company’s strategic objectives.

• Support and enable teammates through pair programming sessions, design reviews, ideation, and code reviews to strengthen team-wide engineering quality.

• Leverage AI-assisted tools and automation frameworks (e.g., AI Code Gen, LLM-based helpers) to accelerate delivery while maintaining quality, clarity, and maintainability.

• Apply AI and LLM solutions thoughtfully—use them where they create genuine leverage in automation or insight, and avoid them where traditional engineering solutions are more effective.

• Collaborate cross-functionally to understand operational pain points and design solutions that balance human judgment with automated efficiency.

• Contribute to team culture and growth, taking initiative to improve how the team learns, collaborates, and delivers impact.

Key Competencies:

List the specific competencies (skills, behaviors, and abilities) required for success in this role, organized into key areas. Each competency should have a description that connects directly to the tasks in the job.

Technical Skills:

• Automation and Workflow Systems: Demonstrated ability to build and maintain workflow automation and orchestration systems that streamline operational processes. Experience with platforms such as Temporal or Amazon SWF is a plus.

• Backend Development: Proficient in designing and developing reliable backend systems using Golang (or Python, Ruby, Java, C++, C#, Rust, Scala, etc.), with strong fundamentals in testing, observability, and performance optimization.

• System Design: Skilled in designing distributed systems focused on scalability, performance, reliability, and maintainability. Can reason about tradeoffs in consistency, throughput, and fault tolerance.

• API Development: Experienced in building and maintaining well-structured, versioned APIs that enable composable automation and integration across internal and external systems.

• Event-Driven Systems: Familiar with message-driven architectures and tools such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, or similar, enabling decoupled and reactive automation workflows.

• Databases: Solid understanding of both relational (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL (e.g., MongoDB, DynamoDB) data models, including schema design and query optimization for automation workloads.

• AI-Driven Automation (Emerging Skill): Growing familiarity with leveraging AI-assisted tools (e.g., Cursor, Copilot, ChatGPT) and understanding when AI or LLM-powered automation provides strategic value versus traditional engineering approaches.

• Tools and Internal Platforms: Experience developing tools and automation systems that improve efficiency across engineering, operations, and product teams.

Interpersonal Skills:

• Team Collaboration: Works effectively with cross-functional partners to deliver reliable solutions and shares knowledge through code reviews and discussion.

Communication: Determined to understand and support others through active listening and asking questions.

Problem-Solving and Decision-Making:

• Problem Solving: Demonstrates strong critical thinking and decision-making abilities, especially in situations that have nuanced workflows and systems.

• Domain Ownership: Proactive in identifying challenges and implementing solutions.

Minimum Qualifications:

Define the minimum educational and experiential requirements necessary to apply for the role.

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Software Engineering or related field.

• Experience: 5+ years of experience building and engineering software.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience: Building LLM or AI powered solutions; working with workflow automation platforms; Temporal or other workflow orchestration tools.

What We Can Offer:

• Flexible PTO

• Competitive salary & equity package

• Monthly Gametime credits for any event ($1,200/yr)

• Medical, dental, & vision insurance

• Life insurance and disability benefits

• Diverse Family-forming benefits through Carrot Fertility

• 401k, HSA, pre-tax savings programs

• Company off-sites and meet-ups

• Wellness programs

• Tenure recognition

At Gametime pay ranges are subject to change and assigned to a job based on specific market median of similar jobs according to 3rd party salary benchmark surveys. Individual pay within that range can vary for several reasons including skills/capabilities, experience, and available budget.

United States - Pay Range

$164,467—$193,491 USD