Job Description

Toast is recruiting on behalf of an early-stage sports and casino sweepstakes company for a Principal Backend Developer based in Toronto (hybrid), reporting directly to the CTO. This is a full-time contract role. The platform was originally built and funded by a quantitative sports betting fund over six years ago, and today the team is modernizing bookmaking with tools that optimize operations and drive efficiency. Their newest product is a sports and casino sweepstakes platform that is in early development and moving quickly toward an ambitious vision. The team is small, made up of sports fans and builders, and this hire will own the architecture behind the systems that ingest, transform, and serve customer and trading data.

Responsibilities

Own the architecture and design of systems that ingest, transform, and serve customer and trading data
Build high-performance, real-time data pipelines and the APIs that power them
Develop data normalization algorithms and keep integrations running seamlessly
Maintain and improve order flow management systems and dashboards
Automate repetitive work to reduce manual effort across teams
Use AI-assisted development as the default workflow, choosing the right tool for each problem with most of the codebase in Python
Treat system architecture and design as a top engineering priority and help set standards as the product grows

Requirements

3+ years of backend software development experience with a strong understanding of Python
Proven experience designing and building an end-to-end system that consumes, transforms, and serves data, with the ability to walk through its architecture and tradeoffs
Daily use of AI coding tools, with the judgment to review and own what they produce
Working knowledge of AWS and Kubernetes
Experience building and maintaining robust API integrations
A self-starter who works autonomously and thrives in a fast-moving startup environment

Nice to Haves

Experience with streaming systems such as Kafka or Kinesis would be a plus
Sports betting or iGaming experience is considered an asset
Experience with CRM system integration would be a plus

Benefits

Full-time contract compensation for a principal-level backend role
Workstation stipend to set up your ideal home and office setup
Hybrid flexibility with a central Yorkville office in Toronto
Team lunches and dinners, darts tournaments, and live sports on TV
Real ownership from day one, with direct influence on product direction as one of the earliest engineers on a brand new platform
Build the data backbone of a product that is modernizing how bookmaking operates, turning six years of quantitative sports betting infrastructure into tools that cut manual work and power real-time trading decisions
Shape engineering standards on an AI-forward team where architecture and design come first