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When being there means everything, we make sure you never miss a moment.
The Role
Lead a team managing real-time data ingestion and processing for PlayOn Sports, focusing on event-driven architecture and data correctness using Kafka and Flink.
Summary Generated by Built In
PlayOn is building a real-time, multi-brand data ecosystem that powers fan experiences, operations, analytics, and AI across NFHS Network, GoFan, and MaxPreps. As Engineering Manager, Data Products, you will lead teams responsible for the foundational data products that unify PlayOn’s brands and enable the company to operate as a single, coherent platform.
This is a people-first leadership role with ownership over multiple data products and senior individual contributors. Your success is measured by team health, delivery predictability, and the business impact of the data products your teams ship.
The ideal candidate brings strong engineering management experience, a product mindset, and comfort leading senior and staff engineers working on mission-critical platform capabilities.
The outcomes you’ll deliver
• High-performing teams delivering trusted, production-grade data products.
• Clear ownership and alignment across PlayOn’s operational data landscape.
• Reliable data products powering fan-facing features, analytics, and AI in real time.
In this role, you can expect to
- Directly manage senior and staff engineers across multiple data product domains.
- Own roadmaps and delivery for core data products including real-time event unification.
- Partner with Product Management on vision, prioritization, and success metrics.
- Work with Staff Engineers on technical direction while remaining focused on people leadership.
- Establish SLAs, ownership models, and operational standards for data products.
- Drive cross-brand alignment on data semantics and consumption patterns.
- Ensure predictable delivery, reliability, and quality across teams.
To thrive in this role, you have
- 3+ years of experience managing senior and staff-level engineers.
- Experience owning platform or data products used by multiple teams.
- Strong understanding of distributed and event-driven systems.
- Proven ability to manage complex stakeholder environments.
- Experience coaching, mentoring, and growing engineers.
- Comfort being accountable for reliability and outcomes.
How You Play
- Ownership over Participation – You take responsibility for achieving holistic outcomes, prioritize key objectives, and adapt quickly when situations require a different approach. You follow through even against the toughest challenges.
- Team over Stars – You are a bridge builder, establishing processes and relationships with teams outside your own. You work to rally around common goals, find win-win solutions, compromise when necessary, and help others succeed.
- Growth over Comfort – You are driven by a desire to grow and actively seek opportunities to expand your comfort zone, skills, and confidence. You embrace new challenges with curiosity, accepting discomfort and failure as opportunities to learn.
- Fairness over Popularity – You approach decisions with a scientist’s mindset, challenging your assumptions and remaining objective. You consider long-term impact rather than relying on short-term gains, proactively seek others’ perspectives, and manage emotions in decision-making.
#LI-DNI
Company Overview
PlayOn is a dynamic growth-stage company dedicated to championing the spirit of play in the high school space. Backed by KKR, our family of brands—including GoFan, NFHS Network, and MaxPreps—empowers schools with innovative solutions and exceptional service. Our fan engagement platform is the only one that offers event ticketing, streaming, fundraising, concessions, merchandise sales, and website management in one place. We save administrators time so they can focus on what truly matters: supporting the students, staff, and fans who bring their programs to life.
Trusted by thousands of schools across the country, we're here to help create more instant replays, hold-your-breath moments, last-minute comebacks, and games you want to watch over and over again.
When being there means everything, we make sure you never miss a moment.
Why you’ll love working at PlayOn
Product, potential, and people. We’re a leader in the high school event space, constantly evolving our product to meet the needs of administrators. We focus on solving real challenges, learning quickly, and creating impactful solutions.
This is a growth-stage company, meaning your contributions have real impact. You’ll have opportunities to grow your skills, tackle meaningful problems, and make a difference in the lives of schools and the students and fans they serve.
Our culture is built on accountability, collaboration, growth, and fairness. We don’t just show up—we show up for each other. Everyone wears the same jersey, and we play hard, make the extra pass, and cheer one another on. Losses teach us, challenges motivate us, and persistence drives us forward. We value integrity over shortcuts, choosing to do what’s right even when it’s hard. Together, we strive to be better every day—because we know that’s how we win as a team.
The Benefits We Offer
Multiple medical insurance plans to choose from
Dental, vision life and disability insurance
Employee Emergency Fund
Company equity (stock options)
Open PTO policy
401K plan with company match
Hybrid/flexible work environment
Note: Must be a full-time employee to participate in the company’s employee health benefit plan. Part-time employees and interns are not eligible to participate.
Top Skills
Distributed Systems
Event-Driven Architecture
Flink
Kafka
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The Company
What We Do
PlayOn is the all-in-one fan engagement platform for schools. Backed by KKR, our family of brands—including GoFan, NFHS Network, and MaxPreps—empowers schools with innovative solutions and exceptional service. We save administrators time so they can focus on what truly matters: supporting the students, staff, and fans who bring their programs to life.
Trusted by thousands of schools across the country, we're here to help create more instant replays, hold-your-breath moments, last-minute comebacks, and games you want to watch over and over again.
Why Work With Us
Product, potential, and people. We’re a leader in the high school event space, constantly evolving our product to meet the needs of administrators. We focus on solving real challenges, learning quickly, and creating impactful solutions. This is a growth-stage company, meaning your contributions have real impact.
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