Head of Risk Platform Engineering

CoinDesk; City Of London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading media and data company in the crypto industry is seeking a seasoned software developer with expertise in financial systems, particularly options and futures. The successful candidate will design high-performance microservices, manage data workflows, and ensure robust code quality in a dynamic startup environment. Eligibility to work in the United Kingdom is required and candidates should have significant experience in software development and financial risk management.

Qualifications

• 10 years of professional experience in software development.
• Hands-on experience with databases (e.g., SQL, No-SQL).
• Well versed in designing data structures and event schemas.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain high-performance microservices.
• Develop an understanding of data models and workflows.
• Prioritize automated testing and maintain high code quality.

Skills

Software development experience

Financial domain knowledge

Expertise in Java

Strong SQL skills

Strong analytical skills

Tools

Kafka

Postgres

Docker

Job description

CoinDesk is the most trusted media events indices and data company for the global crypto economy. Since 2013 CoinDesk Media has led the story of the future of money and investing illuminating the transformation in society and culture that comes with it. Our award‑winning team of journalists delivers news and unparalleled insights that bring transparency, comprehension, and context. CoinDesk Events gathers the global crypto blockchain and Web3 communities at annual events such as Consensus – the world’s largest and longest‑running crypto festival. CoinDesk Indices offers expertise in digital asset indices, data, and research to educate and empower investors. For more information on CoinDesk media and events please visit and for breaking headlines, data and indices visit

In November 2023 CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated digital assets exchange. For more information on Bullish please visit. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence.

Reports to :

Vice President Engineering

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain robust, high‑performance microservices and stream processing pipelines to deliver timely data supporting Risk Management and Clearing functions.
• Develop a deep understanding of the data models and end‑to‑end data workflows across Risk Management and Clearing functions.
• Build and architect infrastructure for optimal extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) of external market data feeds.
• Prioritise non‑functional requirements, including but not limited to HA/DR, high‑throughput and data freshness.
• Prioritise automated testing and maintain high standards for code quality and SDLC best practices.
• Contribute to the evolution of the platform’s target‑state architecture.
• Be an opinionated self‑starter who takes a strong sense of ownership and excels at distilling complex requirements.
• Stay current with industry trends to drive continuous improvement in the platform.
• Work within a global team (HK SG UK) coordinating closely with Product Managers, Quants and other Engineering teams.

Qualifications

• 10 years of professional experience in software development.
• Applicable financial domain knowledge, particularly with options, futures and market data.
• Experience providing technical oversight for financial risk management related to options and futures.
• Expertise in Java and experience building mission‑critical, high‑throughput systems.
• Demonstrated experience with stream processing pipelines (e.g., Kafka, Flink) and microservices architecture.
• Hands‑on experience with databases (e.g., SQL, No‑SQL such as Redis, Postgres, MongoDB).
• Well versed in designing data structures, event schemas and database schemas.
• Strong SQL skills. Strong analytical skills.
• Solid and opinionated knowledge of testing methodologies, coding principles and coding standards.
• Well versed with standard SDLC practices and tooling around build, test and deploy.
• Hands‑on with a strong sense of ownership.
• Ability to operate and thrive in a dynamic startup environment.
• Passionate about knowledge sharing and mentoring.
• Eligibility to work in the United Kingdom.

Bonus Experience

• Familiarity with cloud technologies (e.g., AWS, GCP), modern DevOps tooling (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker) and workflow orchestration (e.g., Airflow, DBT).
• Familiarity with big data management and data lake ecosystems (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake, BigQuery).
• Experience with BI technologies for data visualisation (Tableau, Superset) or delivering simple web‑based UIs (React).

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

In an effort to attract, retain, develop and promote the most qualified individuals, CoinDesk is committed to treating all applicants and employees in a nondiscriminatory manner with respect to the terms and conditions of employment without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status/service, physical or mental disability or any other classification protected by applicable law. This mandate governs all aspects of employment including recruitment, selection, promotion, training, education, social and recreation programs, compensation, discipline, termination and access to benefits.

ACCOMMODATION

CoinDesk is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the application process, please send an e‑mail to and let us know the nature of your request.

Employment Type: Full‑Time

Experience: years

Vacancy: 1