9th November 2011, Stoke based eGaming operator bet365 is recruiting a specialist team of software developers and network architects to help create the company’s next generation gambling platform. The R&D team will ensure that bet365 continues to grow far into the future by taking advantage of a new wave of networking technologies that offer greater scalability and efficiencies.

The company is looking to recruit people with multi-disciplinary software and hardware expertise to further advance its cloud architecture, flash based systems and take advantage of breakthroughs in multi-core processing technology. As well as strong software development skills, the team will need experience in high-volume transactional systems and feel comfortable wading into unknown territory.

“Today things change very quickly. You can’t afford to stand still,” said Martin Davies, CTO, bet365. We have worked hard to create a culture of innovation and proud of what we have achieved so far. To maintain the momentum we will need people who have the right skills but also get excited about pulling things apart to see how they work and a thrill out of solving puzzles. We want creative people who are not afraid to move in different directions and try new things.”

The team will be responsible for testing existing platforms, developing new software architectures and finding innovative ways to fit them all together. They will explore ways to harmonise the existing system so that bet365 can reduce its technology footprint and the resource needed to run it, while at the same time making it more efficient and faster.

“As user numbers and demand for new products continues to grow, our existing technology can only grow the business so far. With more companies experiencing webscale challenges, the number of solutions is increasing but we can only leverage this new paradigm if we have a dedicated team with the necessary software development skills. The R&D team will ensure that we are prepared to integrate and use new technologies as they become available,” said Davies.

This will be the first time that bet365 has created a team that is solely focused on research and development and has no responsibility for the day-to-day running of the IT.

“In the past there has been a delicate balancing act between meeting the needs of the business and giving our development teams the freedom they need to be creative. The new team will not be restricted by business deadlines, they will work outside the business and be given the space they need to find the optimum solution for us going forward.” said Davies.

Davies hopes to have a team of 20 in place by the end of the year and then continue to grow it into 2012. The first project will be to make the push systems more reliable and faster.

“As a system scales, the software becomes more complicated. We want to shield our core product development team from this complexity. The R&D team will focus exclusively on refreshing the network and solving the big issues that come with upgrading an infrastructure of our intricacy,” he said.

Davies envisages that most of the new team will be recruited from outside bet365 but he is also discussing the possibility of offering secondments to current employees who have shown an interest in research and development.