Founding Engineer

Precharm; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Precharm is seeking a founding engineer in New York City to build and improve systems for our trading business. You will have significant ownership over the development of exchange connectors, execution systems, and market data infrastructure.

We value candidates with 1-5 years of system-building experience. Compensation ranges from $150K to $250K. Join us if you're excited by the chance to shape a nascent market and make a tangible impact.

Qualifications

• 1–5 years of experience in building and owning systems end to end.
• Experience shipping backend or infrastructure systems from architecting to deploying.
• Ability to prioritize speed without sacrificing quality.

Responsibilities

• Build connectors to new exchanges and trading venues.
• Improve execution systems for higher performance.
• Enhance data pipelines for research and live strategies.
• Identify sources of edge for trading.

Skills

production-ready code

backend or infrastructure systems

first principles thinking

correctness and reliability

interest in markets

Job description

About Us

Precharm is an algorithmic trading firm that provides liquidity on prediction markets. In our first 8 months, we traded hundreds of millions of dollars in volume with consistent profitability. We’re based in NYC, founded in 2025, and still small enough that every hire materially shapes the firm.

The role

We’re hiring a founding engineer to build the systems the trading business runs on — exchange connectors, execution and risk systems, market data infrastructure, and the research tooling our strategies are built on.

You’ll have real ownership over the systems you build — helping redesign and rebuild major parts of our existing core systems and materially contribute to our P&L.

This is not a role for someone who wants to join an established desk where the market is mature, the playbook is known, and most of the work is incremental optimization. It’s for someone energized by ambiguity, excited to build in a nascent market, and motivated by the chance to help build a business from 0 to 1.

The line between engineering and trading is thin here — if you want to be deeply involved in strategy research and trading, you will have room to do that.

Why prediction markets are an interesting place to build

Prediction markets let people trade directly on the outcomes of sports, politics, economics, weather, AI, and just about anything else that shapes their lives. They are one of the fastest-growing corners of finance, but the ecosystem is still early. Liquidity is thin and discontinuous. Markets are still inefficient. The playbooks from equities and crypto do not port cleanly. That creates an unusual opportunity: a small team that moves with high velocity and good judgment can still outrun firms many times its size. The winners in this category have not been declared yet, and we intend to be one of them.

What you’ll likely work on early

• Build connectors to new exchanges and trading venues
• Improve our execution systems to support higher performance and more scalable strategy deployment
• Improve the data pipelines that power both research and live strategies
• Build systems that help us identify and capitalize on new sources of edge

You’ll fit if you

• Write strong production-ready code
• Have shipped backend or infrastructure systems end to end — architect, create, deploy, monitor, and iterate.
• Think from first principles
• Know when speed matters more than perfection
• Care about correctness and reliability
• Are interested in markets; no prior finance experience required

We’re open to candidates with 1–5 years of experience. What matters more is that you’ve built and owned real systems end to end.

Compensation Range: $150K - $250K