Txodds Ltd. – London IT recruitment of a DevOps engineer for a sports betting data company

Ani Gasparyan

Last updated on September 23, 2025 | 15 min read

• DevsData LLC successfully recruited a UK-based Senior Infrastructure & DevOps Engineer for Txodds Ltd. during a three-month engagement.
• The hire significantly enhanced Txodds’ DevOps capabilities, accelerating deployment workflows and improving system uptime.

Introduction

As Txodds scaled its operations to accommodate increasing client demand, the company identified a critical need for a senior DevOps Engineer to support and evolve its backend infrastructure. The goal was to hire a DevOps professional who not only possessed advanced technical capabilities but also had industry awareness and experience in managing secure, cloud-based architectures in compliance-heavy domains.

DevsData LLC was selected to lead the recruitment effort based on its proven record of reducing time-to-hire and consistently placing senior engineers in companies that rely on complex data and operate in regulated industries.

As Txodds’ platform usage grew rapidly, the company faced increasing demands to maintain reliability and scale effectively. They needed a DevOps professional who could immediately strengthen their infrastructure, reduce the risk of downtime, and accelerate delivery speed.

Client overview

Txodds Ltd. is a London-based technology company with over 150 employees and an annual revenue of $2 million. The company provides real-time odds aggregation and betting market data to clients worldwide. Their advanced platform delivers ultra-low-latency, accurate data feeds sourced from hundreds of bookmakers and exchanges, enabling data-driven decision-making for sportsbooks, analysts, and trading systems.

With an in-house team of engineers, data scientists, and analysts, Txodds operates at the cutting edge of sports betting technology. The company’s infrastructure supports high-frequency data ingestion, strict uptime requirements, and regulatory compliance across multiple international jurisdictions. Txodds is widely trusted in the betting and financial sectors, where milliseconds matter and system reliability is paramount.

Project summary

The collaboration between DevsData LLC and Txodds Ltd. centered on recruiting one strategically important role within the UK:

• Senior Infrastructure & DevOps Engineer

This position would be integral to the company’s core technology operations, tasked with maintaining and evolving the backend systems that power Txodds’ real-time betting data platform.

The engineer would be responsible for managing and optimizing a large-scale cloud infrastructure, including servers, networking components, and deployment environments. Their work would focus on transitioning legacy systems to a modern, containerized architecture using Kubernetes, while also supporting and refining CI/CD pipelines to reduce downtime and accelerate software delivery.

In addition to infrastructure management, the professional would be expected to play a proactive role in project planning, including forecasting resource needs, designing infrastructure components, and working closely with stakeholders across the organization.

Because Txodds’ services are essential to real-time betting operations, maintaining 24/7 uptime was a top priority. The hire would be expected to support incident response and operational continuity while aligning with compliance standards required in the sports betting industry. They would report directly to the Head of Infrastructure and operate cross-functionally with development, operations, and security teams.

Challenge

The recruitment initiative presented several unique challenges, both technically and contextually, given the niche nature of the sports betting industry, which is not an attractive option for all candidates. At the same time, DevOps engineers remain one of the most in-demand and hardest-to-fill roles worldwide, further narrowing the pool of qualified professionals available in the UK market.

1. Broad and deep technical requirements

The role required hands-on expertise across a wide range of technologies: AWS, Kubernetes, Puppet, CI/CD (GitLab), and Linux (RHEL). The Senior Infrastructure & DevOps Engineer also needed leadership experience in infrastructure design, legacy system modernization, and strategic architecture planning. Candidates had to be proficient in both traditional server-based environments and modern containerized infrastructure.

2. Mission-critical availability expectations

Txodds’ infrastructure underpins real-time betting feeds, where uptime is non-negotiable. The engineer needed to be operationally mature and capable of responding to incidents with speed and accuracy, even during off-hours.

3. Regulatory complexity

As part of the highly regulated sports betting industry, the candidate had to meet stringent data handling, security, and audit requirements. This added layer of complexity during the vetting process, especially regarding compliance readiness.

4. UK-only and on-site role

Txodds required the hire to be physically based in the UK and work on-site, and the company did not provide visa sponsorship. This further narrowed the candidate pool by excluding international and remote professionals. The search was made even more difficult by broader market conditions, as 93% of UK businesses report an IT skills gap, leaving senior DevOps talent in particularly short supply locally.

5. 24/7 support expectations

The position involved contributing to a 24/7 infrastructure operation, including on-call responsibilities at least once a week. This ruled out candidates seeking strictly standard working hours and reduced interest among many senior-level professionals accustomed to more predictable schedules.

6. Cultural and process fit

The engineer needed to align with Txodds’ fast-paced, mid-sized engineering culture. This required not only strong technical skills but also communication, ownership, and adaptability to evolving workflows.

DevsData LLC’s approach

DevsData LLC approached the recruitment for Txodds with a tightly coordinated and execution-driven strategy, tailored to the complexity and urgency of the role.

Technical scoping with the client

Instead of waiting for a job description, we engaged directly with Txodds’ Head of Infrastructure through a series of focused sessions. Together, we defined the role by examining the company’s immediate infrastructure challenges, such as gaps in deployment automation, the transition from Puppet to Kubernetes, and limitations in legacy monitoring setups. This proactive approach allowed us to shape an ideal candidate profile around Txodds’ real priorities and ensured alignment from the very start of the search.

Targeted local sourcing

Given the UK-only hiring constraint, we concentrated our efforts on senior DevOps professionals already based in London or other key UK tech hubs. We prioritized candidates with prior experience in regulated domains, particularly those coming from FinTech, gaming, or data-driven HealthTech environments, where uptime, observability, and security are treated with equal urgency. Using our internal network of over 65,000 vetted candidates and specialized sourcing tools, we were able to provide Txodds with a shortlist of pre-qualified professionals very quickly, bypassing generic platforms and accelerating the hiring process.

Structured, role-specific screening

The technical interviews focused on practical scenarios aligned with Txodds’ technology stack, which included AWS, Puppet, Kubernetes, and CI/CD tools. Our screening process went beyond theoretical questions. Candidates completed live exercises such as writing automation scripts, solving configuration challenges, and explaining how they would respond to simulated production incidents. This approach helped us evaluate their ability to manage real-time systems, apply infrastructure as code principles, and maintain reliable deployment practices under pressure.

Senior-level candidates were additionally assessed on their capacity to shape architectural decisions, anticipate scaling and resource needs, and modernize legacy delivery pipelines. We also reviewed communication skills and the ability to work effectively within cross-functional teams, which was essential given the close collaboration between development, operations, and security at Txodds.

Ongoing client coordination

Throughout the process, we kept communication with Txodds clear and frequent. We delivered concise candidate summaries highlighting technical strengths, potential risks, and insights into cultural fit. This allowed the client to evaluate candidates without delay and move quickly on high-potential profiles. We adjusted the search dynamically based on feedback, tightening the pipeline and reducing time-to-hire.

Results

DevsData LLC successfully placed a Senior Infrastructure & DevOps Engineer during a three-month engagement, fully meeting Txodds’ requirements for technical depth, location, and domain relevance. In the UK market, senior DevOps roles often take several months longer to fill, making this placement notably faster than the industry average.

The selected candidate, located in London, brought more than 10 years of experience in DevOps, infrastructure automation, and cloud-native technologies. They had previously supported global enterprise environments, leading the transition from manual infrastructure management to Terraform-based, fully automated deployments. Their profile included expertise in AWS, Kubernetes, Puppet, and Ansible, with a strong focus on modernizing legacy systems and improving reliability across multi-environment architectures.

In previous roles, the candidate had:

• Designed and implemented scalable infrastructure using Terraform for IAM and multi-account architectures
• Automated edge network provisioning for hundreds of websites using Python and configuration-as-code tools
• Developed CI/CD tooling and metadata pipelines to support high-volume product launches
• Worked in SC-cleared environments, bringing awareness of compliance, auditability, and risk mitigation in sensitive sectors
• Operated from the Greater London area, aligning well with Txodds’ in-office collaboration model

This background was a strong match for Txodds’ priorities. The candidate’s expertise in automation, CI/CD, and compliance directly supported the company’s shift toward modernized, cloud-native infrastructure and enabled them to strengthen system reliability from the very start.

Business impact

The recruitment of a Senior Infrastructure & DevOps Engineer had a direct and measurable impact on Txodds’ infrastructure performance, operational reliability, and engineering capacity. With the new hire in place, the company accelerated key modernization initiatives, reduced technical debt, and strengthened its ability to deliver real-time betting data in a secure, compliant, and highly available environment.

Looking to hire experienced DevOps engineers?

If you’re building out your DevOps function or facing similar challenges, we’re available to discuss how we can assist with specialized, location-focused tech recruitment.

Let’s build your next great hire. Contact us at general@devsdata.com or visit www.devsdata.com to discuss your hiring needs.

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Ani Gasparyan Senior copywriter and marketer

Ani is a marketing enthusiast and content writer. With 6+ years of expertise in marketing, she succeeded in developing engaging marketing collaterals, including blog articles, social media content, and other promotional materials. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for storytelling, she thrives in crafting compelling content that resonates with the target audience.

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