Tech Lead / Manager — Operations Automation Platform

This Tech Lead / Manager role at Gametime focuses on leading the Operations Automation Platform team. The team builds AI-powered automation and tooling to streamline internal workflows and scale operational effectiveness. The role involves providing architectural direction, mentoring engineers, and partnering with various operations teams to develop automated, scalable systems. Candidates should have a strong backend background, product sense, and thrive at the intersection of technology, operations, and innovation.

Must Have

• Provide technical leadership for the Operations Automation Platform team.
• Shape architectural direction and drive delivery of automation-focused backend systems.
• Guide technical/product roadmap in collaboration with Engineering, Product and Ops stakeholders.
• Design, prototype, and lead the implementation of systems and tools that automate manual workflows.
• Actively contribute to backend development where needed.
• Lead technical design discussions, code reviews, and drive adoption of best practices.
• Mentor engineers on the team and elevate technical quality.
• Evangelize new technologies, including AI/LLMs, to improve internal systems.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with multiple Ops teams to understand workflows and drive solutions.
• Maintain a healthy balance between speed and long-term quality.
• Hands-on experience building backend systems using Golang or other backend languages.
• Understanding of distributed systems principles, REST APIs, and backend application architecture.
• Ability to work with internal and third-party APIs reliably and securely.
• Experience with relational databases (e.g. PostgreSQL, MySQL) and/or NoSQL technologies (e.g. MongoDB, DynamoDB).
• Strong product sensibility and communication skills.

Good to Have

• Experience with automation, internal tooling, or operations-facing systems.
• Hands-on experience with AI-enhanced systems or agentic architectures.
• Experience working with operations tools such as Kustomer, AWS Connect, Zendesk.
• Exposure to AWS, GCP, or other cloud platforms.
• Experience working with messaging systems like Kafka, RabbitMQ or similar.

Perks & Benefits

• Flexible PTO
• Competitive salary & equity package
• Monthly Gametime credits for any event ($1,200/yr)
• Medical, dental, & vision insurance
• Life insurance and disability benefits
• Diverse Family-forming benefits through Carrot Fertility
• 401k, HSA, pre-tax savings programs
• Company off-sites and meet-ups
• Wellness programs
• Tenure recognition

About Us:

Live experiences help people cross today’s digital divide and focus on what truly connects us – the here, the now, this once-in-a-lifetime moment that’s bringing us together. To fulfill Gametime’s mission of uniting the world through shared experiences, we make it easy for people to discover and access the live experiences that matter most.

With platforms on iOS, Android, mobile web and desktop supporting more than 60,000 events across the US and Canada, we are reimagining the event ticket industry in order to move at the speed of life.

Job Summary:

Engineering at Gametime

You will be a key contributor to the Engineering team responsible for building and maintaining the client-side applications and backend systems that power the Gametime experience for millions of users. We empower engineers to take full ownership of their code and foster a culture grounded in testing, code reviews, observability, experimentation, and operational excellence. At Gametime, we value collaboration, inclusivity, and the strength of diverse perspectives — creating an environment where people love to build together.

We are also investing deeply in the future of AI. This includes building internal tools and workflows powered by AI, incorporating agentic systems into our backend architecture, and preparing our marketplace and infrastructure to be AI-ready. Engineers are encouraged to explore and adopt AI capabilities in their development process, and those who contribute to advancing AI adoption within our stack will play a key role in shaping that evolution.

The Role

We’re seeking a hands-on Tech Lead / Manager to lead a team of engineers on our Operations Automation Platform team. This team is focused on identifying high-impact internal workflows and building AI-powered automation, agentic solutions, and powerful tooling to streamline and scale operational effectiveness.

The ideal candidate is a senior engineer with a strong backend background who thrives in ambiguous environments, has a strong product sense, and enjoys working at the intersection of technology, operations, and innovation. You’ll provide architectural direction, mentor engineers, and partner closely with Fan Ops, Ticket Ops, Product Ops, and others to turn opportunities into automated, scalable systems. This is a high-impact technical leadership opportunity for someone who wants to shape how Gametime operates internally. You’ll be working on a lean, empowered team with room to experiment, invent, and drive automation-first thinking.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide technical leadership for the Operations Automation Platform team, shaping architectural direction and driving delivery of automation-focused backend systems.
• Guide the technical/product roadmap in collaboration with Engineering, Product and Ops stakeholders, identifying high-leverage opportunities for internal efficiency.
• Design, prototype, and lead the implementation of systems and tools that automate manual workflows, especially those that can benefit from AI or agentic solutions.
• Actively contribute to backend development where needed, especially in early stages of projects or to unblock team members.
• Lead technical design discussions, code reviews, and drive adoption of best practices for reliability, observability, and maintainability.
• Mentor engineers on the team, elevate technical quality, and contribute to performance reviews via feedback and coaching.
• Evangelize new technologies — including AI/LLMs — that can improve the velocity, intelligence, or stability of our internal systems.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with multiple Ops teams to deeply understand their workflows and pain points, and drive engineering-led solutions.
• Maintain a healthy balance between speed and long-term quality, knowing when to ship scrappy MVPs and when to invest in robust infrastructure.

Key Competencies:

• Backend Development: Hands-on experience building backend systems using Golang or other backend languages (e.g., Python, Java, Ruby, etc).
• System Fundamentals: Understanding of distributed systems principles, REST APIs, and backend application architecture.
• API Integration: Ability to work with internal and third-party APIs reliably and securely.
• Cloud Infrastructure: Exposure to AWS, GCP, or other cloud platforms is a plus.
• Event-Driven Systems (Bonus): Experience working with messaging systems like Kafka, RabbitMQ, or similar.
• Databases: Experience with relational databases (e.g. PostgreSQL, MySQL) and/or NoSQL technologies (e.g. MongoDB, DynamoDB).
• Team Collaboration: Strong product sensibility and communication skills; comfortable engaging with non-technical stakeholders and driving alignment
• Bonus:
• Experience with automation, internal tooling, or operations-facing systems.
• Hands-on experience with AI-enhanced systems or agentic architectures.
• Experience working with operations tools such as Kustomer, AWS Connect, Zendesk etc.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience: 8+ years in software engineering, preferably with backend systems

What We can Offer:

• Flexible PTO
• Competitive salary & equity package
• Monthly Gametime credits for any event ($1,200/yr)
• Medical, dental, & vision insurance
• Life insurance and disability benefits
• Diverse Family-forming benefits through Carrot Fertility
• 401k, HSA, pre-tax savings programs
• Company off-sites and meet-ups
• Wellness programs
• Tenure recognition

At Gametime pay ranges are subject to change and assigned to a job based on specific market median of similar jobs according to 3rd party salary benchmark surveys. Individual pay within that range can vary for several reasons including skills/capabilities, experience, and available budget.

United States - Pay Range

$213,000 - $251,000 USD

Gametime is committed to bringing together individuals from different backgrounds and perspectives. We strive to create an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, feel a sense of belonging, and do great work together. As an equal opportunity employer, we prohibit any unlawful discrimination against a job applicant on the basis of their race, color, religion, veteran status, sex, parental status, gender identity or expression, transgender status, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability or genetic information. We respect the laws enforced by the EEOC and are dedicated to going above and beyond in fostering diversity across our company.