Mid-Level Backend Engineer

We are looking for a mid-level Backend Engineer to join the DevOps organization and help support, troubleshoot, and continuously improve the backend systems. This is not a traditional feature-development-only position. You will sit close to the operation of the customer-facing platform, helping investigate issues that surface before, during, and after live events, identifying root causes, and collaborating with engineering teams and third-party technology partners to drive fixes and longer-term improvements.

The app environment includes Java/Spring Boot services, REST APIs, Kafka messaging, PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, and Redis, with Azure as a core cloud platform. Ticketmaster authentication and APIs are also directly integrated into microservices. This is an excellent opportunity for an engineer who wants hands-on exposure to production engineering, distributed systems, cloud technology, and the unique operational demands of a major sports and entertainment venue.

What You'll Do:

• Arena Operations & Troubleshooting:
  • Investigate operational issues affecting ticketing, arrival, loyalty, and purchasing before, during, and after events.
  • Analyze application logs, traces, metrics, and alerts to determine what happened and where failures originated.
  • Use Datadog and Azure tooling to troubleshoot service health, application errors, latency, and integration issues. The operations environment includes Datadog troubleshooting dashboards, service-health views, error-log investigation, alerts, and live-event monitoring.
  • Perform root cause analysis (RCA) for recurring or impactful Ticketing incidents.
  • Document findings clearly so engineering teams and vendors can reproduce and permanently address issues.
  • Identify recurring failure patterns and recommend opportunities to improve monitoring, resilience, and operational readiness.
• Backend Engineering:
  • Debug and enhance backend applications written primarily in Java and Spring Boot.
  • Make targeted code changes and fixes related to defects, integrations, and operational reliability.
  • Develop, maintain, and troubleshoot REST APIs and backend integrations.
  • Work with data across PostgreSQL, Azure Cosmos DB, and Redis.
  • Assist with event-driven workflows using Kafka / Confluent Cloud.
  • Write unit and integration tests and participate in peer code reviews.
  • Support deployment and CI/CD activities through Azure DevOps (ADO).
• Partner & Vendor Collaboration:
  • You will help identify whether issues originate within the customer s services or an external dependency and work collaboratively toward resolution.
  • Partner with Ticketmaster and other third-party vendors when investigating integration issues.
  • Gather the logs, traces, API responses, and technical evidence needed to escalate issues effectively.
  • Reproduce defects and help engineering partners distinguish symptoms from root causes.
  • Validate fixes and enhancements in lower environments before release.
  • Coordinate with internal DevOps, backend, mobile, and product teams when issues cross system boundaries.
  • The existing backend environment integrates with systems including Ticketmaster, Microsoft Dynamics, PlayFab, payment providers, and other venue technologies.

Required Qualifications:

• We're looking for someone passionate, willing to learn and be mentored, who also has strong technical fundamentals, curiosity, and the persistence to troubleshoot complex problems.
• Technical:
  • 5+ years of hands-on experience with Java.
  • Experience with Spring Boot or another Java application framework.
  • Working knowledge of JavaScript.
  • Familiarity with REST APIs and JSON.
  • Basic understanding of databases and SQL.
  • Exposure to Microsoft Azure.
  • Familiarity with Azure DevOps (ADO) or comparable CI/CD tooling.
  • Experience using Datadog or another observability platform for logs, metrics or application monitoring.
  • Understanding of Git and modern source-control workflows.
  • Basic understanding of distributed applications and microservices.
• Engineering & Troubleshooting:
  • Strong problem-solving skills and a genuine interest in figuring out why something failed, not simply resolving the immediate symptom.
  • Ability to read unfamiliar code and trace application behavior across services.
  • Comfortable investigating application logs and technical telemetry.
  • Able to document technical findings clearly.
  • Comfortable collaborating with engineers, DevOps teams, and external vendors.

Nice to Have:

• Any of the following would be a strong plus:
  • Experience working with Ticketmaster APIs and SDKs
  • Experience with Kafka / event-driven systems.
  • Exposure to PostgreSQL, Azure Cosmos DB, or Redis, all of which are part of the current Ticketing environment.
  • Familiarity with Docker and Kubernetes.
  • Experience with Terraform or Infrastructure as Code.
  • Exposure to IoT or connected-device environments.
  • Experience with high-availability or customer-facing production systems.
  • Experience in sports, entertainment, venue technology, e-commerce, or other environments where systems experience concentrated periods of demand.
• AI Fluency Is a Plus:
  • We're particularly interested in engineers who are comfortable using modern AI-assisted engineering tools to accelerate troubleshooting and development.
  • Bonus points for hands-on experience with:
    • Claude / Claude Code
    • OpenAI / ChatGPT
    • AI-assisted code generation, debugging, or test generation
    • AI-assisted log analysis and RCA
    • AI-supported documentation or code review

What Success Looks Like:

• Within this role, success means becoming someone the DevOps and Ticketing teams can rely on to:
• Quickly understand and reproduce operational Ticketing issues.
• Use telemetry rather than guesswork to isolate problems.
• Distinguish the customer s application issue from a vendor or integration issue.
• Produce clear RCAs with actionable follow-ups.
• Turn recurring production issues into durable fixes, better monitoring or engineering improvements.
• Build enough familiarity with the arena ecosystem to independently own increasingly complex investigations.
• Contribute small-to-medium backend fixes and enhancements with appropriate testing.
• Communicate effectively with both internal engineers and third-party technology partners.

Benefits:

• 401(k).
• Dental Insurance.
• Health insurance.
• Vision insurance.
• We are an equal-opportunity employer and value diversity, equality, inclusion, and respect for people.
• The salary will be determined based on several factors, including, but not limited to, location, relevant education, qualifications, experience, technical skills, and business needs.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Participate in OP monthly team meetings and participate in team-building efforts.
• Contribute to OP technical discussions, peer reviews, etc.
• Contribute content and collaborate via the OP-Wiki/Knowledge Base.
• Provide status reports to OP Account Management as requested.

About us:
At OP, we help you harness the power of technology for maximum impact. A technology consulting and solutions company, we offer advisory and managed services, innovative platforms, and staffing solutions across a wide range of fields including AI, cyber security, enterprise architecture, and beyond. For nearly two decades, we ve been challenging the status quo of the consulting industry, serving up fresh, ingenious thinking through a radically lean structure. Together, this strategy delivers unprecedented performance at an unparalleled pace for faster results that propel your business forward.