Software Engineer

We are always on the lookout for talented engineers. Please read the full description below to find out more. We welcome applications from candidates who are really energised about the challenges we are working on and have transferable skills and experience. We look forward to reviewing your application! 

We are hiring for different levels (mid and senior).

Who are we?

Smarkets: Predicting the Future of Betting

Smarkets runs one of the world’s most sophisticated prediction markets, handling over £29 billion in volume since 2010 and engaging 200,000+ traders globally. We’re a technology company that happens to revolutionise betting - from sports to political markets, to delivering the sharpest prices and the fairest odds.

Our stack is designed for scale, reliability, and speed: Linux, Kafka, Postgres, Kubernetes, with Python 3, C++17, and React powering our platform. We build infrastructure that institutions trust while keeping trading accessible to everyone. Our edge? We’ve thrived through every market cycle, competitor, and industry revolution.

At the heart of our success are our people. We create a high-performance environment where exceptional talent can thrive, blending deep business experience with a commercial mindset to drive strategic growth.

If you’re ready to help shape the future of prediction markets with cutting-edge technology and a customer-first philosophy, Smarkets is where you belong.

The Role

As a Mid-Level Software Engineer within our Engineering org, you will play a pivotal role in designing, developing, and maintaining the services that power Smarkets' business operations products. You will collaborate closely with engineering managers, technical leadership, and product managers to lead complex technical projects aligned with the Smarkets product roadmap.

Smarkets is looking for talented and passionate engineers like you for an exciting opportunity to create a unified and high-performing system that will not only optimize our services but also elevate Smarkets to new heights of success.

We believe in using the best tools for the job. We support two programming languages - a fast compiled language (Rust) for critical path operations and a slower interpreted one (Python) for other tasks. Our Kafka pub/sub MQ, the heart of our system, offers high availability, low latency, and message persistence. We provide gRPC and HTTP APIs for various metadata, while PostgreSQL and ElasticSearch serve as our go-to databases.

Responsibilities:

• Design, implement and maintain complex designs/features written in Python and Rust

• Implement alerting and monitoring to ensure the stability of our services

• Help reinforce the standard for code quality, by writing tests and reviewing merge requests

• Continuously improve engineering processes including CI/CD

• Mentor technically your direct teammates

• Work closely with Product and other engineering teams to scope and lead complex business goal-aligned projects

• Be the champion of the stack by demonstrating first-hand how to implement functionalities in the right way, with an eye to the horizon and your mind on the present

Role Requirements:

• 4+ years of experience as a software engineer

• Familiarity with Python or at least one compiled language (Java, C++, Rust, Go) and are keen on learning Rust

• Previous experience with building distributed systems in a modern cloud environment

• Previous experience with DevOps engineering stacks/tools/practices including GitLab and K8S

• Previous experience with message queues (e.g. Apache Kafka) and SQL databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL)

• Previous experience working in Sports Betting or Finance industries

• Strong written and spoken communication skills in English

• The ability to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams

• Proficiency in utilising AI-driven development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT) to accelerate coding, debugging, and documen