Manifold has seen an uptick in activity since the first presidential debate. On some days, the number of trades has doubled compared to the previous baseline.
We'll soon be launching sweepstakes cash prizes, which we think will further drive demand in a big way. And, the US Election in November will probably be the biggest surge in activity we've ever seen.
So, we are considering hiring a backend engineer to help us scale.
Reasons to hire:
Improve site stability and performance, especially during peak times
Give us more time to improve the product rather than fighting fires in the database / server
Improve Manifold's collective backend knowledge and teach our team members best practices
Have one more person available if an incident happens
We've already had one promising candidate reach out.
Here's our job posting, for an in-person role in our SF office:
Lead backend engineer
Signs you may be a good fit
4+ years experience with backend systems and software engineering
Deep familiarity with databases like Postgres, deploying servers, and maintaining them on a cloud provider like GCP
Strong coding and technical design abilities from multi-server architectures to database schemas
Love of prediction markets
Responsibilities
Own critical systems including our entire trading infrastructure, API layer, and database
Able to work independently and flexibly to accomplish Manifold's goals
For compensation, you can see what we're currently paying each of our team members here.
If you are interested in applying, please email jobs@manifold.markets with your resume / LinkedIn, or find time to chat with James here.
Our backend has improved a lot after ejecting more of the supabase library, and other improvements to use a native sql style rather than massively parallel request like we were doing for firebase.
So for now, we're holding off on hiring. Especially since we are about to launch sweepstakes and think it would slow us down slightly to hire.
We'll resume looking probably in November!
In theory, this applies to all questions Manifold staff make about Manifold’s future, but there is an extensive track record showing it can still be quite profitable to bet on these lol
What counts as hiring? a contract being given, or needs to be signed? what about background check? Or needs to be first day working? I assume contract signed, which will 70% likely take more than till the end of this month
It definitely could be, I just expect it to take slightly longer than a month, dependent on the candidate(s) needing to consider other offers and potentially negotiate some changes on the contract, and people not being available on weekends.
I expect this to usually take around 40 days (it seems to have gotten slower recently, 2 years ago definitely would be achievable), and that you guys will be faster than average just it'll be a challenge to bring down. Maybe the team holding YES is a good sign for YES hehe.