Lead Trading Backend Engineering (Rust/C++)

JobFluent; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Payward, the parent company behind Kraken and related platforms, seeks a hands-on engineering leader to guide a team of 8–10 engineers owning core trading backend services including the matching engine, market data gateways, and order entry systems.

You will drive modernization from legacy to modern systems, stay close to the stack to unblock architecture discussions, and champion performance, market data, and AI-assisted practices while collaborating with product and other teams to execute the

Qualifications

• Experience managing engineering teams with hands-on technical engagement.
• Experience with Linux-based distributed or high-concurrency systems.
• Proficiency in Rust and/or C++ and comfort with multi-language stacks.
• Knowledge of order types, trading systems, and financial products.
• Experience with Aeron or similar messaging systems is a plus.
• Crypto familiarity is highly preferable.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow the trading backend team and own core services such as the matching engine, market data gateways, and order entry systems.
• Guide modernization of the trading stack from legacy systems to modern replacements.
• Stay technically close to the stack to unblock architecture discussions and contribute to coding when needed.
• Champion performance and market data work as top priorities while supporting broader technical scope.
• Promote AI-assisted engineering practices within the team.
• Partner cross-functionally with product and other engineering pods to drive roadmap execution.
• Represent the team technically with peer teams and stakeholders, communicating tradeoffs and progress.

Skills

Team management

Linux & distributed systems

Rust/C++

Trading systems

Aeron

Multicast market data

Crypto familiarity

Education

BS in technical or quantitative field

Tools

Aeron

Job description

Payward, the parent company behind Kraken and related platforms, seeks a hands-on engineering leader to guide a team of 8–10 engineers owning core trading backend services including the matching engine, market data gateways, and order entry systems.

You will drive modernization from legacy to modern systems, stay close to the stack to unblock architecture discussions, and champion performance, market data, and AI-assisted practices while collaborating with product and other teams to execute the