Lead Architect, Low-Latency Trading Engine

Jackalope Digital LLC; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 263,000 - 309,000; Full time

Job summary

Coinbase is hiring a Senior Staff Software Engineer for the Exchange team to shape the architectural direction of the matching engine, order management, market data, and related systems. You will own core strategy, drive multi-quarter initiatives, and influence senior leaders while contributing technically across cloud and on-prem environments.

The role demands 10+ years in high-scale trading or market-data systems, deep expertise in low-latency distributed systems, and the ability to mentor

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with ownership of production trading, exchange, or market-data systems.
• Deep expertise in low-latency distributed systems and a backend language such as Java, C++, or Go, with fluency in JVM/Linux performance tuning.
• Demonstrated architectural ownership of an end-to-end trading platform—order management, multi-venue connectivity, and real-time risk.
• Proven track record influencing technical direction across multiple teams without direct authority.
• Experience operating latency-sensitive systems in on-prem/colocated and cloud environments, including incident command.
• Genuine interest in crypto and institutional markets; deep crypto experience is a plus.
• Utilizes generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical strategy and architecture for a core Exchange domain, driving multi-quarter initiatives.
• Lead the design of ultra-low-latency, event-sourced trading systems across cloud and colocated environments.
• Drive cross-team technical alignment across Exchange, Prime, and Derivatives with senior leadership.
• Set and inspect the quality bar across teams with deterministic testing and 24/7 operational readiness.
• Maintain hands-on contribution while guiding execution through other engineers and leads.
• Mentor L5-L6 engineers and help build the next rung of leadership on a lean team.

Skills

Low-latency systems

Java

C++

Go

Architectural ownership

Cross-team alignment

Mentoring

Incident command

Job description

Coinbase is hiring a Senior Staff Software Engineer for the Exchange team to shape the architectural direction of the matching engine, order management, market data, and related systems. You will own core strategy, drive multi-quarter initiatives, and influence senior leaders while contributing technically across cloud and on-prem environments.

The role demands 10+ years in high-scale trading or market-data systems, deep expertise in low-latency distributed systems, and the ability to mentor