About Gladiator Tennis
Gladiator Tennis is on a mission to spread the joy, competitiveness, and community of tennis across the country. With our next-generation digital platform, rapidly expanding player base, and local leagues operating across multiple U.S. markets, we're building a professionally managed, community-driven tennis experience that players love.
Role Overview
We're building a comprehensive amateur tennis league management platform that serves thousands of players with features including match scheduling, score tracking, head-to-head statistics, and our innovative Gauntlet casual match system. We're seeking a Full Stack Developer who embraces modern AI-assisted development workflows to help us move fast while maintaining high code quality.
You'll leverage cutting-edge AI development tools like Claude Code and Cursor to accelerate development velocity while working across our modern tech stack. We believe AI-assisted coding isn't replacing developers; it's amplifying what great developers can accomplish. You'll use AI for iterative development, rapid prototyping, and handling repetitive tasks, while focusing your expertise on system architecture, business logic, code quality, and creative problem-solving.
This role reports directly to the CTO and collaborates with all members of the Gladiator team.
Compensation
Salary role, $75,000-80,000 annually
Benefits include health insurance, 401(k) with employer match, flexible unlimited PTO, and 6 paid holidays.
What You'll Do
1. Product Engineering & Delivery
- Build real, production-grade features end-to-end, working across the full stack using Next.js, React 19, Node.js, and PostgreSQL owning everything from polished UI components to scalable APIs and data models
- Ship fast using modern, AI-augmented development workflows with tools like Cursor and Claude Code to prototype ideas, generate code, refactor safely, and learn new patterns
- Write automated tests with Playwright and Jest to ensure quality and confidence in every release
- Design and ship well-structured Fastify-based APIs with OpenAPI documentation, type-safe validation, and clear contracts between frontend and backend systems
- Integrate real-world services including Clerk for authentication, AWS S3 for storage, SendGrid and Twilio for communications, and Google Maps for location-based features
- Ship to web and mobile by deploying PWAs and mobile apps using Capacitor and PWABuilder
- Contribute to CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and help optimize performance and reliability
2. Collaboration & AI Workflow
- Use AI tools pragmatically; understand when to leverage Claude Code/Cursor for speed vs. when to hand-craft solutions
- Review AI-generated code critically, ensuring security, performance, and maintainability standards
- Define best practices for AI-assisted development within our codebase
- Debug across the stack; troubleshoot issues in React components, API endpoints, database queries, and native mobile apps
- Communicate trade-offs clearly, balancing speed, quality, and technical debt in fast-moving environments
Tools You'll Use
- Next.js, React 19, TypeScript (frontend)
- Node.js, Fastify (backend)
- PostgreSQL (database)
- Claude Code, Cursor (AI-assisted development)
- Playwright, Jest (testing)
- GitHub Actions (CI/CD)
- Capacitor, PWABuilder (mobile)
- Clerk, AWS S3, SendGrid, Twilio, Google Maps (integrations)
- ClickUp (team communication and task management)
Ideal Candidate
You are:
- A full-stack developer with experience in TypeScript/JavaScript
- Proficient in React and component-based architecture
- Experienced building RESTful APIs and working with SQL databases
- Comfortable with Git workflows and code review processes
- Skilled in responsive design and mobile-first development
- Comfortable with AI coding tools or eager to adopt Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or similar AI assistants
- Able to critically evaluate and refine AI-generated code for quality, security, and performance
- Pragmatic; you know when AI tools accelerate development vs. when manual coding is better
- A clear communicator who can explain technical trade-offs concisely
- Self-motivated and able to work independently in a remote environment with async collaboration
- Excited to be part of a small, fast-moving digital-native team where your input directly shapes how things work
- Recent college graduations with relevant experience or training should apply
Bonus Points
- Professional experience or meaningful side projects built using AI-assisted coding tools
- Experience with Next.js (App Router), Node.js
- Background in automated testing with Playwright, Cypress, or similar E2E frameworks
- Experience in mobile development (Capacitor, React Native, PWAs)
- Knowledge of Tailwind CSS, React Query, Zustand, React Hook Form, or Zod
- Understanding of cloud services (AWS S3) and third-party integrations
- Experience with monitoring/analytics tools (Sentry, PostHog)
- Experience in B2C sports technology or recreation platforms
Physical Requirements & Work Environment
- Full-time position.
-
Hybrid work location. Flexible schedule between remote work with occasional in-office collaboration at our Glen Ellyn, IL headquarters. Opportunity to work in the office as often as you'd like.
What You'll Gain
This role offers the opportunity to work in an AI-first development culture, leveraging Claude Code and Cursor to build faster while maintaining quality. Your features will serve thousands of active tennis players, and you'll have full-stack ownership shipping complete features from database to mobile app. You'll work directly with servant leaders, shape processes from the ground up, and build skills across multiple business functions in the growing sports-tech space.
How To Apply
Please send a recent resume and GitHub profile or portfolio to hello@mygladiator.io with "Full Stack Developer Opportunity" in the subject line. In your email, briefly share your experience with AI coding tools (or interest in adopting them) and a full-stack project you're proud of. We can't wait to meet you!
