5 Lead Python Developer jobs in Leeds

About Us

Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform. We ignite the passions of global sports fans and maximize the presence and reach for our hundreds of sports partners globally by offering products and services across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, allowing sports fans to Buy, Collect, and Bet. Through the Fanatics platform, sports fans can buy licensed fan gear, jerseys, lifestyle and streetwear products, headwear, and hardgoods; collect physical and digital trading cards, sports memorabilia, and other digital assets; and bet as the company builds its Sportsbook and iGaming platform. Fanatics has an established database of over 100 million global sports fans; a global partner network with approximately 900 sports properties, including major national and international professional sports leagues, players associations, teams, colleges, college conferences and retail partners, 2,500 athletes and celebrities, and 200 exclusive athletes; and over 2,000 retail locations, including its Lids retail stores. Our more than 22,000 employees are committed to relentlessly enhancing the fan experience and delighting sports fans globally.

About the Team

Fanatics Markets is the real-money prediction and trading app where you can invest in moments you care about. Built on a secure platform, we let users predict real-world outcomes and trade on events they actually follow - from sports and entertainment to political elections and beyond. Our mission is to redefine how fans engage with the moments and markets that matter most. We're looking for the right people to help us build the future of prediction markets.

Role Overview

As a Staff Platform Engineer, you operate with broad organizational impact. You will set technical direction, design durable platform abstractions, and partner closely with senior engineers, engineering managers, and product leadership to ensure our platform enables rapid innovation without compromising stability, security, or compliance.

This role blends deep hands-on engineering expertise with systems thinking and influence. You will lead complex cross-team initiatives, establish best-in-class platform standards, and mentor engineers while remaining directly involved in building and operating core platform capabilities.

On the engineering side, we're pioneering the use of AI as a code collaborator. We need engineers who have gone beyond experimentation—who actively use Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or similar tools to ship production code faster while maintaining exceptional quality standards. If you have strong opinions about AI-augmented development workflows backed by real experience, we want to talk with you.

Responsibilities

• Define and document enterprise-wide standards for AI integration, establishing prompt engineering patterns and validation frameworks that scale development velocity without compromising architectural integrity.
• Orchestrate the identification of AI-generated code pitfalls—such as security vulnerabilities and over-abstraction—while quantifying the business impact through PR velocity and quality metrics.
• Lead the design and evolution of highly available, scalable infrastructure, ensuring the platform remains resilient under the demands of multi-disciplinary engineering teams.
• Architect robust CI/CD ecosystems and developer tooling, focusing on eliminating friction in the software delivery lifecycle and driving organization-wide productivity.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for platform security, implementing sophisticated safeguards and compliance standards to protect the integrity of the firm's systems.
• Drive the strategic roadmap for system observability, implementing advanced monitoring, tracing, and alerting architectures to ensure peak operational reliability.
• Act as a primary technical liaison between engineering, product, and quantitative teams to translate complex requirements into scalable, innovative platform solutions.
• Foster a culture of high performance and continuous learning, mentoring engineers on best practices, managing incident response strategies, and advocating for the adoption of transformative technologies

Qualifications

• 8 plus years of experience in platform engineering or DevOps, with a proven track record of architecting scalable, high-availability cloud-native environments (AWS/Kubernetes).
• Expert proficiency in using AI collaborators (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) to ship production code, with a documented ability to optimize personal and team development workflows.
• Demonstrated capability to articulate the pros/cons of various AI tools and implement rigorous validation strategies to identify pitfalls like over-abstraction or security gaps.
• Deep technical mastery of IaC frameworks such as Terraform, Pulumi, or CloudFormation to automate complex infrastructure lifecycles.
• Strong programming proficiency in Java and Python (Golang preferred) with a full-stack background to bridge the gap between infrastructure and application logic.
• Extensive experience building mature CI/CD pipelines and implementing advanced observability, chaos testing, and incident management frameworks.
• Self-directed leader who thrives in ambiguous environments, balancing high-quality architectural standards with data-driven productivity metrics.
• Exceptional communication and partnership skills, with a proven ability to influence engineering, product, and quant teams across international borders.
• Team-first mentality focused on driving operational excellence, mentoring others, and proactively adopting emerging technologies to maintain a competitive edge.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience in high-growth startup environments
• Contributions to open-source projects or technical community
• Experience with real-money transaction systems and regulatory compliance
• Background in building developer tools or improving engineering productivity
• Experience leading without authority and influencing technical direction across teams

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.

Ready to build the future of sports betting? If you possess some of these skills but not all of them, we still encourage you to apply!Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this position. We are open to fully remote candidates based in the United Kingdom. Remote employee may also be eligible for a home office setup stipend.

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