Sports Reference

Job Summary

Sports Reference, LLC is searching for a Senior Test Engineer to help ensure that we are providing an experience that thrills our users. This involves working closely with our Product Team to understand the goals they are looking to achieve and providing testing support by writing automated tests, performing manual testing, and creating test frameworks for our websites. The Engineering Department currently has 22 members consisting of Developers, Test Engineers, DevOps, and Scrum Masters.

We currently serve 20 million (and growing) monthly users on our free, ad-supported Reference Sites (Baseball-Reference.com, Basketball-Reference.com, FBref.com, etc.) and Stathead.com, our SaaS offering that provides powerful search and filtering capabilities for deeper exploration of our vast databases. In 2023, we acquired ImmaculateGrid.com, the viral baseball trivia game, and have since launched ad-supported grid games for basketball, football, hockey, and soccer.

To Apply

Please visit our jobs website at https://sports-reference-llc.breezy.hr/ and submit your resume and a cover letter for this position. Also, as a postscript (p.s.) at the end of your cover letter, please include the following sentence to demonstrate that you read the job description: 'Sports Reference is committed to Data Democratization.'

We will begin the phone interview process the week of June 9th. Applications arriving after this date will be collected, but will receive consideration at the discretion of the hiring manager based on the progress we have made in filling the position. We have provided a general outline of our interview process here: https://www.sports-reference.com/job-interview-process.html

Our Purpose and Values

We democratize data, so our users enjoy, understand, and share the sports they love.

We value:

To meet these expectations, we encourage team members to participate in company discussions and share new ideas, features or potential solutions to problems.

Background

The Senior Test Engineer is a vital function at Sports Reference. In this role, you will build test automation in collaboration with other Test Engineers and the Engineering Department. You will provide subject matter expertise to the Engineering Department as it relates to testing, including reviewing work prior to implementation and providing guidance to developers on areas to test.

This role will report into Engineering.

Goals and Tasks for Your First Year (In rough order of importance)

Must-Reach Goals and Tasks

  • Reliability is everyone’s job at Sports Reference. This role will set the pace and direction for our efforts at improved reliability. Work with Developers so that they can incorporate new practices into their workflow and improve quality. Work with Product Managers to refine expected behaviors for our products.
  • Promptly validate new features and tools to confirm they are working as designed and specified.
  • Create comprehensive, automated and well-structured test plans for validating various aspects of the Sports Reference Sites.
  • Develop and apply automated testing processes for new and existing products to meet user and developer needs.
  • Be an evangelist to champion test-forward concepts and innovations for the Engineering Department.
  • Work on increasing automated test coverage of our application stack.
  • Sports Reference strives to be an innovative company, so we will expect you to keep up with new trends and tools that may benefit or threaten Sports Reference now or in the future.

Nice-to-Reach Goals and Tasks

  • Contribute to implementing continuous testing practices with our CI/CD processes.

Expectations

  • Complete projects related to company objectives as time and skills allow.
  • Continue your ongoing professional development, which we will support.

Qualifications and Skills

A qualified candidate will satisfy the following:

  • Evidence that you are capable of meeting many of the goals listed above.
  • A proven track record of working on large, technically complex projects through to completion.
  • Ability and desire to work on a collaborative team.
  • Assist with defining and driving our team’s testing technology vision and roadmap.
  • Self-directed and capable of working effectively in a highly innovative and fast-paced environment.
  • Experience writing and using complex SQL queries (including a working knowledge of JOINs) to validate data quality and integrity.
  • This position will have no direct reports at this time.
  • Have a history of getting things done (and done well).
  • If you don’t think your application will have evidence that you can meet all of the 'nice-to-reach goals and tasks' above but still are interested in the job and otherwise qualify, please apply. Nobody checks every box—we’re looking for candidates that are particularly strong in a few areas, and have some interest and capabilities in others.

Salary

Salary range starting at $108k for U.S. based employees. We are a remote-first company and determine our pay range for this position based on the market rates for Philadelphia, our home base. The salary offered will be based on your experience and skill level.

For candidates outside of the United States, we will calculate a local market rate based on pay for comparable positions in that market and comparable benefits packages when possible. While we are open to candidates outside the continental United States, we prefer someone who resides in a time zone that aligns with continental US working hours.

Annual bonuses are variable and are tied to a percentage of the company's end of year profits and the employee's time worked and salary earned during the year. In the last three years, they have averaged 15% of an employee’s annual salary.

Benefits

Even though we are a small company, Sports Reference has a generous benefits package.

  • The total value of our benefits package is up to $30,000.
  • We cover full health and dental insurance costs for full-time employees and their dependent children. We cover 70%-80% of plans for an entire family.
  • We have a 401k with a match on your contributions up to 4% of your base salary. The 401k has many low cost investing options.
  • We pay all premiums for company-sponsored life and long-term disability insurance for all employees.
  • We provide up to $7,000/year in continuing education benefits.
  • Even if you live in or near Philly, you have the option to work remotely as much as you choose. We generally work a standard workday, but with flexibility to adjust hours within that framework.
  • Any parent welcoming a new child to their family is entitled to 13 weeks of fully paid leave, and up to an additional 39 weeks at half-time.
  • Employees begin with 18 days of PTO per year and an additional 8 paid company holidays and accrue sick leave at the rate of one day per month.
  • We will generally buy you whatever equipment will make you the most productive.
  • We typically will pay for reasonable moving-related expenses related to your acceptance of a position with Sports Reference. Please ask if you have questions regarding this benefit.
  • We provide a $66/month remote work stipend to cover the cost of internet access and incidental expenses.
  • For employees outside the United States, we will work to provide equivalent benefits or additional compensation.

Other Information

  • Sports Reference's first site was launched in 2000. We have bootstrapped ourselves to 43 full-time employees and have no venture capital backing.
  • We are willing to provide accommodations for candidates for whom the timing or structure of our interview process may be challenging. This may include early morning or evening interview times or provide payment to cover child care expenses if needed. If you are applying for a role where verbal communication is not a significant requirement, we may consider an alternative form of interview as is reasonably possible and suitable. Similarly, if an extended period of internet connectivity is a challenge, we may consider an alternate form of interview. If we invite you to interview, please let us know of any possibly necessary accommodations.
  • Our typical interview process is described at https://www.sports-reference.com/job-interview-process.html
  • Sports Reference is a remote-first company. Sports Reference is located in Philadelphia and non-Philadelphia candidates will be considered on an equal footing to those who are local. Presently, all Sports Reference employees are working remotely at least some of the time, but those in the Philly area may work from the office on days of their choosing.
  • This is a full-time position.
  • Employment at Sports Reference LLC is at-will and this position is an at-will appointment.
  • Applicants are generally preferred to have a legal right to work in the United States. Please let us know in your application if you do not have the right to work in the United States. We have hired two employees located outside of the United States, so we will consider foreign applicants.
  • 100% of our merchandise sales support youth sports.

Sports Reference is a growing company, and your work will be highly visible and have a definite and immediate impact (Read about us in the New York Times and The Athletic ($)). We reached over 20 million users each month and served over 2.0 billion pages in 2023.

Sports Reference provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship status, civil union status, color, discrimination, domestic partnership status, domestic violence victim status, familial status, gender, gender expression, gender identity, gender transition, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, marriage to a co-worker, mental or physical disability or illness, military service, military and veteran status, national origin (including physical, cultural, or linguistic characteristics), nationality, parental leave, pregnancy (including childbirth, breastfeeding or medical or common conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), race (including traits that are historically associated with race, such as hair texture and protective hairstyles, including braids, locks and twists), religion, retaliation, sexual harassment, sexual or affectional orientation (actual or perceived, whether or not traditionally associated with the person’s designated sex at birth), status with regard to public assistance, transgender identity, unfavorable discharge of military status (less than “honorable” but not “dishonorable”), or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws and ordinances, or on the basis of sports franchise preferences.

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