Lead Engineer, Trading Product Engineering

CoinDesk; Greater London; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

CoinDesk is seeking a Lead Engineer to drive backend development for Bullish Exchange. This technical role involves designing high-performance trading engine components and mentoring a distributed team mainly based in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The ideal candidate should have over 12 years of Java backend engineering experience, with a strong focus on low-latency trading systems. The role involves commitment to code quality and collaborative work across global teams.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of Java backend engineering experience, focusing on execution and trading.
• Expert level in Java, JVM, concurrency, and collections.
• Experience building low-latency trading systems.
• Strong knowledge of data structures and algorithms.

Responsibilities

• Design and deliver low-latency Java code for the Exchange.
• Ensure correctness of trading knowledge across applications.
• Identify bottlenecks and engineer improvement solutions.
• Mentor engineers and set code quality standards.

Skills

Java backend engineering

Front-office execution and trading technologies

Low-latency trading systems

Data structures

TDD/BDD practices

Agentic AI development

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science

Tools

Java (version 17+)

Spring/Micronaut

Docker

Kubernetes

Kafka/RabbitMQ/Solace

Git/GitHub

JIRA

Confluence

CI/CD practices

Job description

Reports To

Vice President, Engineering

Engineering Organization & Culture

At Bullish, we are engineering the institutional standard for the digital asset industry. Our mission is to build a platform centered on security and compliance, requiring a commitment to technical excellence that extends beyond delivering code. As a global organization, we set a high bar for those driven to do their best work alongside experienced, deeply specialized peers. Engineers here treat development as a craft and own the outcome from concept to deployment. Our teams bring structure to ambiguity and shape the frameworks that support a global organization. We refuse to compromise on quality and seek problem solvers who thrive on complex technical challenges with real market consequences.

The Team: Trading Product Engineering

The Trading Product Engineering team builds the core distributed systems that drive the global trading experience on Bullish Exchange. We own the end‑to‑end order lifecycle, orchestrating a hybrid matching engine that combines a Central Limit Order Book with proprietary Automated Market Making. Our high‑throughput APIs enable trading across Spot, Futures, and Options. The work demands absolute correctness in managing complex financial state transitions, translating intricate market structures into scalable solutions.

The Role

We are looking for a Lead Engineer to drive backend development of the applications, frameworks, and tools at the core of Bullish Exchange. You will design and build high‑performance trading engine components alongside a distributed team based primarily in Hong Kong and Singapore. This is a hands‑on technical role with leadership expectations: setting the technical bar, mentoring engineers, and shaping how the team works. Bullish Engineering operates on an AI‑first principle, using LLMs throughout the SDLC to speed up development, review, and automation.

What You’ll Do

• Design and deliver reusable, reliable, low‑latency Java code that powers the Exchange.
• Apply deep TradFi product knowledge across Spot and Derivatives to ensure functional correctness and market fit.
• Identify bottlenecks and engineer solutions that improve throughput, latency, and reliability.
• Set the bar for code quality, automation, and design across the team.
• Mentor engineers and define what good looks like across the organization.
• Collaborate closely with engineers, product, and project management across Hong Kong, Singapore, and other Bullish hubs.

What You’ll Bring

• 12+ years of Java backend engineering experience, with a focus on front‑office execution and trading technologies.
• Expert‑level Java (17+), including the JVM, concurrency primitives, and collections.
• Proven track record of architecting and building low‑latency trading systems from the ground up.
• Strong command of data structures, algorithms, and TDD/BDD practices, including thorough unit test coverage with JUnit and Mockito.
• Hands‑on experience with Spring or Micronaut, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Working knowledge of messaging technologies such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, or Solace.
• Solid understanding of Spot, Futures, and Options markets.
• Hands‑on experience with agentic AI development: LLM integration, prompt engineering, and SDLC automation.
• Familiarity with Git/GitHub, JIRA, Confluence, and CI/CD practices.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.

Nice to Haves

• Familiarity with TypeScript.
• Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Experience in the cryptocurrency or digital asset space.

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 [e-mail] and let us know the nature of your request.