Staff Back-End Engineer

NEAR; London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a pioneering company at the forefront of digital assets as a Staff Back-End Engineer. In this role, you will shape the future of cryptocurrency trading technology by designing and optimizing low-latency systems that drive algorithmic strategies. Collaborate with a diverse team to ensure high performance and scalability while advocating for best practices in software engineering. This is an exciting opportunity to make a significant impact in a rapidly evolving industry, where your contributions will help create a fair financial future. Embrace a flexible work culture that supports your professional growth and well-being.

Benefits

Full-time salary based on experience

Hybrid model working

Work from Anywhere Policy

ClassPass

Budgets for learning & professional development

Unlimited vacation policy

Apple equipment

Flexible work culture

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in Rust/C++ for low-latency systems in trading.
• Strong background in cryptocurrency trading and algorithmic strategies.

Responsibilities

• Design and optimize low-latency trading systems in Rust.
• Lead trading algorithm design and ensure system reliability.

Skills

Rust

C++

Python

SQL

Algorithmic Trading

Problem-Solving

Performance Optimization

Leadership

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

Job description

Blockchain is the world's leading software platform for digital assets. Founded in 2011, we provide the world’s largest and most trusted production blockchain platform, powering more than 75 million wallets. Together with our platform of liquidity and execution services, we share the passion to build an open, accessible and fair financial future, one piece of software at a time.

As a Staff Back-End Engineer on our Cryptocurrency Trading Platform, you will take on a leadership role in shaping the direction of our technology while working closely with the trading team and quantitative analysts (quants). You will collaborate with business stakeholders to design and implement systems that meet real-time trading demands, improve market efficiency, and support advanced trading strategies. You’ll be a technical advocate for excellence and lead by example in fostering a culture of high standards, agility, and innovation within the team. The role is based in London and the team is international.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Design and optimize low-latency trading systems in Rust that power algorithmic trading strategies and support real-time execution in the volatile crypto market.
• Lead the design and implementation of trading algorithms, optimizing liquidity management, price discovery, and slippage reduction in dynamic market conditions.
• Promote best practices in software engineering, advocating for clean, scalable, and maintainable code to ensure that systems are built with both immediate performance and long-term sustainability in mind.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to quickly adapt the trading platform to new data, market conditions, and business needs.
• Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, ensuring clear alignment between engineering, business teams (trading, quants), and leadership, especially when discussing complex technical solutions or business goals.
• Ensure high availability, reliability, and scalability of trading systems while maintaining a sharp focus on performance and testing.
• Drive technical decision-making and contribute to high-level architecture discussions, ensuring that all solutions align with the company’s goals for scalability, performance, and security.
• Be a technical advocate for excellence, leading efforts to improve development processes, code quality, and overall system performance through best practices and knowledge sharing.
• Prioritize rapid iteration of trading algorithms to ensure maximum profitability, minimal risk, and fast execution, adapting quickly to volatile market conditions.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

• Extensive experience in Rust and/or C++, building high-performance, low-latency systems in complex environments such as cryptocurrency trading or financial services.
• Leadership experience with a proven track record of leading by example, advocating for technical excellence, and mentoring engineers to help them grow their skills.
• Strong background in trading (ideally cryptocurrency trading), with experience in market-making, arbitrage strategies, and order execution in fast-moving markets.
• Proven experience iterating quickly on algorithmic strategies, adapting to market dynamics and optimizing performance in real-time.
• You possess an innate curiosity and thrive on learning new technologies.
• Proficiency in Python for backtesting, scripting, and analysis, along with SQL for managing large-scale data systems.
• Strong focus on performance optimization, identifying bottlenecks, and improving throughput in high-frequency, low-latency real-time systems.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to think critically about complex challenges and drive technical solutions forward.
• Experience with containerization (Docker/Kubernetes) and deploying scalable, high-performance trading systems in cloud environments (AWS).

COMPENSATION & PERKS

• Full-time salary based on experience and meaningful equity in an industry-leading company
• Hybrid model working from home & our office in Central London (SoHo)
• Work from Anywhere Policy - up to 20 days to work remotely
• ClassPass
• Budgets for learning & professional development
• Unlimited vacation policy; work hard and take time when you need it
• Apple equipment
• The opportunity to be a key player and build your career at a rapidly expanding, global technology company in an emerging field
• Flexible work culture