Domain-Driven Engineering: Why We Organise Around What Matters
Building software in our space means solving real-world problems that span markets, regulations, payment systems, content types, and user journeys. The work is complex, and it doesn’t break down cleanly by geography or channel.
That’s why we’re moving away from organising teams around where users are, and focusing instead on what users are doing.
Domain-driven engineering is about aligning tech teams with business domains—such as gaming, payments, and player accounts—so that each team can go deep, own their area from end to end, and evolve it over time.
From Geography to Capability
Historically, it was common to assign engineering teams to serve specific markets. At first glance, that seems logical. But in practice, it created problems:
Duplicate solutions across regions
Hard-to-maintain forks of similar code
Limited knowledge sharing between teams
Inconsistent user experience across brands
Domain-based organisation solves this by assigning teams to capabilities, not countries. A team might own payments across all markets. Another might own player registration or gaming content. This way, knowledge accumulates — and solutions scale.
Why Domain Depth Matters
When a team owns a domain long-term, a few things start to happen:
They build real expertise in how the domain behaves, including the edge cases.
They can make smarter architectural decisions because they understand what breaks.
They’re more invested in long-term outcomes, not just short-term deliveries.
Depth also leads to better collaboration. Product, design, compliance, and engineering start to speak the same language — and solve the right problems together.
Ownership Means Accountability
With domain ownership comes responsibility. Teams aren’t just delivering features — they’re responsible for the health of their services, the outcomes they support, and the experience they enable.
That includes:
Technical stability
Operational readiness
Roadmap alignment
Regulatory compliance (where applicable)
It encourages engineers to think like product owners and system designers — not just task finishers.
Cross-Domain, Not Crossed Wires
Domains don’t exist in isolation — bets rely on accounts, bonuses connect to payments, and identity affects everything.
So while teams own individual domains, collaboration is built in. Teams contribute across domains when needed, but the ownership stays clear. That avoids confusion, duplicated effort, and slow handovers.
The goal is to have focused teams that still work as part of a connected system.
Why Engineers Find This Motivating
Domain-driven engineering gives engineers the space to go deep, build context, and deliver meaningful improvements over time.
Instead of hopping between unrelated tasks, engineers can:
Develop real mastery in a subject area
Deliver architectural improvements that last
Collaborate with business teams in more meaningful ways
It makes the work more coherent. More satisfying. And ultimately, more impactful.