Principal Software Engineer, Backend

At DraftKings, AI is becoming an integral part of both our present and future, powering how work gets done today, guiding smarter decisions, and sparking bold ideas. It's transforming how we enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and unlock new possibilities. Our teams are energized by innovation and readily embrace emerging technology. We're not waiting for the future to arrive. We're shaping it, one bold step at a time. To those who see AI as a driver of progress, come build the future together.
The Crown Is Yours
As a Principal Software Engineer, you'll shape the foundation of our most critical systems and guide the evolution of our technical ecosystem. In this role, you'll lead high-impact, cross-functional initiatives that elevate system performance, scalability, and engineering velocity across teams. You'll drive architectural direction, solve complex technical challenges, and mentor senior engineers while playing a key role in scaling both our technology and our engineering culture.
What You'll Do

• Lead the design and development of scalable, maintainable, and high-performing software systems that span multiple teams and services.
• Translate complex business needs into technical architecture and product specifications, focusing on modularity, integration, and long-term maintainability.
• Partner closely with Engineers, Product Managers, and Designers to align technical solutions with strategic goals and user needs.
• Guide engineering execution across multiple domains, ensuring consistency with architectural standards, code quality, and system reliability.
• Champion engineering best practices, including code review rigor, test automation, observability, and secure development workflows.
• Drive the adoption of modern development tooling and DevOps practices, including CI/CD, containerization, infrastructure as code, and cloud-native architectures.
• Mentor engineers through design discussions, code reviews, and cross-functional collaboration by fostering a strong culture of technical excellence and shared ownership.
• Communicate technical strategy and value clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, tying engineering decisions to broader business impact.

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or any suitable combination of education, experience, and training.
• At least 8 years of professional software engineering experience, with deep expertise in system architecture, scalable design patterns, and building distributed systems in production environments.
• Demonstrated success in technical leadership roles such as a Tech Lead or Architect, with the ability to guide design decisions, influence engineering direction, and lead by example.
• Hands-on experience designing and deploying large-scale applications in cloud environments such as AWS or Google Cloud Platform (GCP), with a strong understanding of cloud-native infrastructure.
• Proficiency in developing comprehensive automated testing strategies, including unit, integration, and performance testing, to ensure long-term system health and reliability.
• A strong track record of driving cross-team collaboration, resolving complex technical challenges, and translating broad business problems into elegant engineering solutions.
• Clear, structured communication skills with the ability to influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders and document architectural decisions effectively.
• A passion for mentoring and supporting the growth of fellow engineers through thoughtful code reviews, design feedback, and technical guidance.

Join Our Team
We're a publicly traded (NASDAQ: DKNG) technology company headquartered in Boston. As a regulated gaming company, you may be required to obtain a gaming license issued by the appropriate state agency as a condition of employment. Don't worry, we'll guide you through the process if this is relevant to your role.