Lead Engineer

Bullish; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equal opportunity employer

Fast evolving workplace

Job summary

A global digital asset platform is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to drive the technical roadmap and operational excellence of critical subsystems. The ideal candidate should have over 6 years of backend development experience, with mastery in the Node.js ecosystem, and a strong commitment to quality and mentorship. Responsibilities include managing high-impact projects and ensuring the successful delivery of complex systems. This position is integral to shaping the future of digital assets.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in backend development, especially in a Senior or Lead role.
• Experience with modern databases, schema design, and performance tuning.
• Expertise in CI/CD pipelines and observability for production systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead and execute high-impact projects aligning with company objectives.
• Drive the evolution of engineering architectures and operational standards.
• Own the successful delivery of complex, mission-critical systems.

Skills

Node.js ecosystem mastery

Data-intensive application expertise

Full lifecycle ownership

High-level mentorship & influence

Quality as a feature

Tools

Redis

PostgreSQL

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

About Bullish

Bullish is an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. These include:

Bullish Exchange – a regulated and institutionally focused digital assets spot and derivatives exchange, integrating a high-performance central limit order book matching engine with automated market making to provide deep and predictable liquidity. Bullish Exchange is regulated in Germany, Hong Kong, and Gibraltar.

CoinDesk Indices – a collection of tradable proprietary and single-asset benchmarks and indices that track the performance of digital assets for global institutions in the digital assets and traditional finance industries.

CoinDesk Data – a broad suite of digital assets market data and analytics, providing real-time insights into prices, trends, and market dynamics.

CoinDesk Insights – a digital asset media and events provider and operator of Coindesk.com, a digital media platform that covers news and insights about digital assets, the underlying markets, policy, and blockchain technology.

Reports To

Vice President, Engineering, CoinDesk

Lead Software Engineer, CoinDesk Data Engineering

At CoinDesk, we do more than report on the future of money; we actively help shape it. As the global leader in crypto news, indices, and events, we provide the transparency and context the world needs to understand the digital asset revolution. Our team is dedicated to a shared mission of informing, educating, and connecting the global community.

Our impact is further amplified by our position within the Bullish Group. Operating as a subsidiary of Bullish, a regulated, institutional-grade exchange known for its technological prowess, CoinDesk is powered by a partner that shares our fundamental belief in the transformative power of digital assets.

We value engineers who treat development as a craft and own the outcome from concept to deployment. You will be expected to navigate the unknown, bring structure to ambiguity, and help shape the frameworks and processes that drive our global teams forward. We refuse to compromise on quality and seek problem solvers who thrive on high-impact technical challenges.

The Team: CoinDesk Data Engineering

The CoinDesk Data Engineering Team builds the infrastructure that powers global crypto market data. Our mission is to architect resilient systems that process tens of billions of monthly requests, managing the full lifecycle of data from global exchange ingestion to delivery via high-throughput APIs and streaming services. We own the mission-critical calculation engines for flagship indices backing major ETFs, bridging the gap between innovation and institutional-grade stability. As a core part of the global leader in crypto news and indices, our work provides the transparency and context necessary to help shape the future of money.

What You’ll Do

• Strategic Initiative Ownership: Lead the planning and execution of high-impact projects, ensuring technical or team roadmaps align with broader company objectives.
• Operational & Technical Governance: Drive the evolution of engineering architectures and operational standards, proactively identifying and closing gaps in system reliability and development efficiency.
• End-to-End Delivery Excellence: Own the successful delivery of complex, mission-critical systems by managing cross-functional dependencies, technical risks, and stakeholder expectations.
• Consensus & Decision Making: Mediate high-level technical discussions to reach a consensus, ensuring that architectural decisions balance immediate tactical needs with long-term scalability.
• Process & Quality Leadership: Define and oversee industry-leading QA practices and CI/CD frameworks, ensuring excellence is embedded in the software development lifecycle.

What You’ll Bring

• Lead-Level Experience: 6+ years in backend development, with a proven track record in a Senior, Lead, or equivalent role where you have moved beyond individual tasks to drive the technical roadmap and operational excellence of critical sub-systems or service portfolios.
• Node.js Ecosystem Mastery: Deep technical authority in the Node.js ecosystem, with a track record of leveraging its asynchronous patterns and event-driven architecture to build high-performance, scalable backend services.
• High-Level Mentorship & Influence: Proven ability to foster growth in others—whether through direct management or technical coaching—and act as a go-to resource for innovative solutions.
• Data-Intensive Application Expertise: Strong practical experience with modern databases (e.g., Redis, PostgreSQL), including schema design, query optimization, and performance tuning for high-throughput workloads.
• Full Lifecycle Ownership: A strong "DevSecOps" mindset with expertise in building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and robust observability (monitoring, logging, tracing) for production systems.
• Quality as a Feature: A deep commitment to quality, demonstrated by implementing comprehensive testing strategies (unit, integration, end-to-end, performance) that ensure system reliability.
• Influence and Collaboration: Exceptional communication skills with the proven ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders, articulate complex architectural decisions, and build consensus across multiple teams.

Nice to Haves

• Cloud Architecture: Experience designing and deploying services on a major cloud provider (Azure, GCP).
• Blockchain Expertise: A strong understanding of blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and decentralized ecosystems is a significant plus.
• Financial Market Knowledge: Interest or prior experience in traditional financial markets, trading systems, or investment platforms.
• Containerization & Deployment: Proficiency with containerization technologies such as Docker or Kubernetes.
• Observability: Hands‑on experience with modern observability tooling (e.g., Prometheus, DataDog, Jaeger, OpenTelemetry).
• Data Governance: Experience with data privacy (GDPR/CCPA) and security compliance in a regulated financial environment.

Bullish is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are fast evolving and striving towards being a globally‑diverse community. With integrity at our core, our success is driven by a talented team of individuals and the different perspectives they are encouraged to bring to work every day.