Staff Engineer, Trading Automation and Backend Platforms

P2P; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flow Academy

Lunch & coffee

Gym & Wellness

Company boat

Massages

Annual trips

Global rotations

Job summary

Flow Traders in Amsterdam is seeking a Staff Engineer to lead architectural and technical direction for our trading automation and backend engineering teams. You will bridge engineering, trading, and operations, tackling large-scale problems, setting global standards, and scaling impact through mentoring.

In this role you will define long-term architecture for post-trade and risk platforms, translate complex problems into roadmaps, and drive scalable, event-driven systems with deep focus on

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience at Staff/Principal level.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive consensus across teams.
• Deep expertise in building distributed, high-performance backend systems.
• Proficiency in Python, Go, C++, or Java.
• Experience with event-driven architectures (Kafka, Flink, Databricks, Dataproc).
• Solid understanding of modern infrastructure, observability, and cloud platforms.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the long-term technical architecture for trading automation, risk, and post-trade platforms.
• Translate complex business problems into clear, executable technical roadmaps.
• Architect scalable, event-driven systems optimized for high throughput, data integrity, and reliability.

Skills

Senior backend

Distributed systems

Mentoring

Stakeholder influence

Python

Go

C++

Java

Kafka

Cloud platforms

Observability

Job description

Flow Traders is looking for a Staff Engineer to join us in our Amsterdam office. This is a unique opportunity to join a leading proprietary trading firm with an entrepreneurial and innovative culture at the heart of its business. We value quick-witted, creative minds and challenge them to make full use of their capacities.

We are looking for a senior individual contributor to lead the architectural and technical direction for our Trading Automation and Backend Engineering teams. Operating across the full trade lifecycle (pre-trade, execution, and post-trade), you will bridge the gap between engineering, trading, and operations. As a Staff Engineer, you will tackle ambiguous, large-scale problems, set global engineering standards, and scale your impact by mentoring tech leads and engineers across multiple teams.

What you will do

• Define and own the long-term technical architecture for our trading automation, risk, and post-trade platforms.
• Translate complex, ambiguous business problems into clear, executable technical roadmaps.
• Architect scalable, event-driven systems optimized for high throughput, data integrity, and reliability.

Engineering Leadership & Mentorship

• Elevate engineering standards across the organization, focusing on system design, observability, reliability, and scalability.
• Act as an IC multiplier: mentor senior engineers, guide tech leads, and drive technical alignment across fragmented systems.
• Lead efforts to responsibly decommission legacy systems in favor of modern, scalable services.

Business & Operational Impact

• Partner closely with trading, quant, risk, and operations teams to align technical choices with business value.
• Drive automation in post-trade and middle-office workflows (allocations, settlements, reconciliations) to drastically reduce operational risk.

What you need to succeed

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with a proven track record operating at a Staff, Principal, or cross-team Lead level.
• Proven ability to influence senior technical and business stakeholders and drive consensus across multiple teams.
• Deep expertise in building distributed, high-performance, and highly reliable backend systems.
• Strong proficiency in at least one (or more) core backend language (Python, Go, C++, or Java).
• Experience with event-driven architectures (e.g., Kafka, Flink, Databricks, Dataproc) and data pipelines.
• Solid understanding of modern infrastructure, observability, and cloud platforms.

Nice to have

• Deep knowledge of specific financial workflows (ETF creation/redemption, clearing, custody).
• Experience with financial reference data, symbology, or instrument modeling.
• Familiarity with regulatory frameworks (MiFID II, EMIR, SFTR) and their data lineage requirements.
• Solid background in financial services, trading, or market making.
• Strong working knowledge of the trading lifecycle (order flow, execution, and post-trade/settlement flows).

What we offer

At Flow Traders, we create the conditions for hard‑working, high‑performing people to do their best work. From a thorough onboarding and ongoing access to Flow Academy, to latest technology and a collaborative, non‑hierarchical culture, we give you the tools, ownership, and support to move fast and drive outcomes. We keep a close‑knit, small‑company feel while offering competitive salary, annual discretionary profit share, and comprehensive benefits, so talent can grow here, and stay here. See our benefits below:

• Flow Academy and opportunities to attend domain-related conferences
• Daily catered lunch, great coffee, and a fully stocked kitchen and snack bar
• In‑house Bar and Lounge with arcade, table tennis, billiards, and game consoles
• Company boat
• In‑house gym and sessions with our nutritionist or personal trainer
• Bi‑weekly massages
• Annual company trip and a variety of events throughout the year, such as the New Years Event
• Global rotations across our offices worldwide
• and more

Flow Traders does not accept unsolicited resumes from any professional staffing or search firms. All resumes, and any other information identifying potential candidates, submitted to any employee at Flow Traders via‑email, the Internet or directly without a valid and signed search agreement will be deemed free to contact by Flow Traders without any restrictions and no placement fee of any kind will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Flow Traders