Engineering Team Lead - NCF

About the Role

We are looking for an Engineering Team Lead who can lead a team through complex technical and product tradeoffs while delivering high-quality software predictably. This role is ideal for a lead with strong technical judgment who can navigate legacy systems, greenfield development, third-party platforms, and integrations, and help the organization make pragmatic decisions that balance speed, quality, and long-term sustainability.

As an Engineering Team Lead, you will partner closely with Product Management and key stakeholders to shape roadmaps, evaluate tradeoffs, and deliver outcomes. You will lead a team of engineers and contractors, ensuring the team is well-planned, well-supported, and consistently shipping capable, maintainable software.

This is a hands-on leadership role that requires technical credibility, strong collaboration skills, and the ability to operate effectively in environments with ambiguity and competing priorities.

What You’ll Do

Technical Leadership & Decision-Making

• Guide architectural and technical decisions across legacy systems, new builds, third-party solutions, and integrations, clearly articulating tradeoffs and risks.
• Ensure technical decisions balance time-to-value, scalability, maintainability, and operational risk.
• Partner with senior engineers to review designs, validate approaches, and maintain a high technical bar.

Product Partnership & Stakeholder Collaboration

• Partner closely with Product Management to define priorities, shape roadmaps, and align engineering execution with business goals.
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to manage expectations, communicate tradeoffs, and provide clear visibility into progress and risks.
• Translate product strategy into executable engineering plans while maintaining shared ownership of outcomes.

Execution, Roadmapping & Capacity Planning

• Own team planning and delivery, including short- and long-term roadmaps, milestones, and execution plans.
• Manage capacity planning across a mix of full-time engineers and contractors, balancing delivery commitments with technical investment.
• Continuously evaluate and adjust plans based on team capacity, changing priorities, and emerging risks.

Engineering Excellence & Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and support engineers to deliver high-quality, maintainable software.
• Maintain technical credibility through active engagement in architecture discussions, code quality standards, and delivery practices.
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and pragmatic problem-solving.

What We’re Looking For

Required Experience

• Proven experience leading software engineering teams delivering production systems.
• Strong technical background with the ability to meaningfully evaluate architecture, designs, and technical tradeoffs.
• Demonstrated experience navigating legacy systems, greenfield development, and third-party platforms.
• Experience partnering closely with Product Management and stakeholders to define priorities and deliver outcomes.
• Strong execution skills, including roadmap planning, estimation, and capacity management.
• Experience leading teams that include a mix of full-time engineers and contractors.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to align diverse perspectives around shared goals.

Preferred Experience

• Experience leading teams through modernization or platform evolution efforts.
• Prior ownership of systems with meaningful operational or reliability requirements.
• Experience working in product-driven, fast-growing engineering organizations.

Why This Role Matters

This Engineering Team Lead will play a critical role in ensuring we:

• Make sound technical decisions in complex environments
• Deliver predictable outcomes without sacrificing quality
• Build strong, trusted partnerships between engineering, product, and stakeholders
• Maintain a high bar for engineering excellence while moving quickly

The salary range for this position is $144,000 - $180,000, which represents base pay only and does not include short-term or long-term incentive compensation. When determining base pay, as part of a final compensation package, we consider several factors such as location, experience, qualifications, and training.

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. 

Fanatics Collectibles is a new model and vision for the hobby, fundamentally changing the experience for current and future collectors, leagues, and players across many U.S. and international professional and college sports. The organization has long-term, exclusive rights to design, manufacture and distribute trading cards for several sports and entertainment properties, including MLB, MLBPA, the Premier League, MLS, UFC, Formula 1 as well as Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars, among others. In January 2022, Fanatics Collectibles announced the acquisition of Topps, establishing the preeminent licensed trading card brand as the cornerstone of Fanatics’ trading cards and collectibles business, and jumpstarted its MLB and MLBPA rights to design, manufacture and distribute trading cards