Senior Backend Engineer (Rust) - Full Time SF

Abacus Group, LLC; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Abacus Group, LLC invites applications for a Backend Engineer to join a well-funded crypto trading startup building a real-time trading platform. You will own risk and liquidation engines, ensure capital efficiency, and implement high-performance services across multiple venues from a single portfolio-margined account.

The role requires strong backend experience in Rust, C++, or Go, with a preference for Rust.

Qualifications

• Strong backend experience in Rust, C++, or Go.
• Production Rust experience is a plus.
• Experience with asynchronous programming and distributed systems is valued.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain risk and liquidation engines to manage exposure and capital efficiency in volatile markets.
• Design blockchain state machines powering trading, settlement, and risk operations.
• Develop services to keep state consistent across asynchronous processes and across trading venues over WebSocket streams.
• Build high-performance REST and WebSocket APIs with millisecond-level response times.

Skills

Rust

C++

Go

Tools

Docker

Job description

Our client is a well-funded crypto trading startup ($15M+ raised) building a unified trading platform that lets retail traders access perpetuals, cross-chain spot, and prediction markets across multiple venues from a single portfolio-margined account. The founding team previously built the market-leading order execution platform for crypto retail traders (90%+ market share, $900B+ in lifetime volume) and ran one of the top on-chain and centralized exchange HFT firms in the industry. The team is 10 people, deeply technical, and works in person in San Francisco.

They're hiring a Backend Engineer to build the core infrastructure behind their real-time trading platform. This is a high-ownership seat on a small team where your systems will directly move and protect user capital.

What you'll do

You’ll build and maintain the risk and liquidation engines that manage exposure and improve capital efficiency in volatile markets, and design the blockchain state machines that power trading, settlement, and risk operations. You’ll develop services that keep state consistent across asynchronous processes using voting, consensus, and coordination mechanisms, process live market data while coordinating actions across trading venues over WebSocket streams, and build high-performance REST and WebSocket APIs with millisecond-level response times.

What they're looking for

Strong backend experience in Rust, C++, or Go, with production Rust experience a plus. Engineers coming from C++ or Go should have genuine interest in moving to Rust, since it’s the core of the stack. You’ll need a strong command of asynchronous programming, solid distributed systems fundamentals, and a performance-driven mindset. Experience with blockchain or on-chain systems, trading infrastructure, risk systems, or market data pipelines is highly valued. You should thrive in a high-bandwidth, collaborative, in-person environment.

Tech stack:

Rust, Tokio, distributed systems, blockchain, REST and WebSocket APIs, Docker