Senior Backend Engineer/Staff Engineer

ProphetX; United States; Remote; USD 165,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work within USA

Job summary

ProphetX is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer (IC4) to set technical direction across multiple teams and own our most complex, high-impact systems. You’ll solve ambiguous problems at the platform level, shape architecture for our exchange and trading infrastructure, and raise the engineering bar across the organization.

Join a fully remote role within the United States with competitive compensation and equity opportunities.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of backend experience with Go, Java, C++, or Python (Go preferred).
• Designing and operating highly scalable, low-latency distributed systems in production.
• Deep knowledge of microservices, event-driven architecture (Kafka), and RESTful/WebSocket APIs.
• Strong SQL/NoSQL data modeling and performance tuning.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the technical vision and architecture for critical systems across teams.
• Lead cross-team initiatives from design through delivery with stakeholders.
• Own reliability, latency, and scalability of core exchange systems; lead incident response and postmortems.
• Document key architectural decisions balancing innovation, risk, and regulatory requirements.
• Break problems into workstreams and delegate to engineers.

Skills

Backend development

Go

Java

C++

Python

Microservices

Kafka

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Observability

Job description

Senior Backend Engineer/Staff Engineer

Application Deadline: 20 November 2026

Department: Engineering

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Remote - USA

Compensation: $165,000 - $210,000 / year

Description

We’re looking for a Staff Backend Engineer (IC4) to set technical direction across multiple teams and own our most complex, high-impact systems. You’ll solve ambiguous problems at the platform level, shape architecture for our exchange and trading infrastructure, and raise the engineering bar across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and drive the technical vision and architecture for critical systems that span multiple teams.
• Lead cross-team initiatives from design through delivery, aligning engineering, product, and compliance stakeholders.
• Own the reliability, latency, and scalability of core exchange systems, and lead incident response and postmortems for major issues.
• Make and document key architectural decisions, balancing innovation, risk, and regulatory requirements.
• Break ambiguous, org-level problems into workstreams and delegate effectively to senior and junior engineers.
• Partner with product and leadership to influence roadmap and prioritization with technical insight.
• Proactively seek development opportunities and share knowledge with peers and junior engineers.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• 7+ years of backend experience, with deep expertise in Go, Java, C++, or Python (Go strongly preferred)
• Proven track record designing and operating highly scalable, low-latency, real-time distributed systems in production
• Deep expertise in microservices, event-driven architecture (Kafka), and RESTful and WebSocket API design
• Strong knowledge of SQL and NoSQL data modeling and performance tuning
• Extensive experience with AWS or equivalent, Docker and Kubernetes, and CI/CD at scale
• Experience with observability and incident management for production systems
• Experience in trading, exchange, fintech, or other high-throughput transactional systems is strongly preferred
• Demonstrated cross-team leadership and the ability to explain complex tradeoffs to technical and non-technical audiences
• Strong communicator, able to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Proactive, growth-focused, and highly adaptable with a strong sense of ownership

Why Join Us!

Compensation & Ownership

• Competitive compensation aligned to role and market
• Equity opportunities so you share in what we’re building
• A clear connection between impact and reward

Health & Wellbeing

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Flexible time off built on trust and accountability
• A culture that respects your time and avoids unnecessary meetings

Remote & Flexible Work

• Fully remote within the U.S.
• Flexibility to work in the way that helps you do your best work

The Role

• Own the most complex, high-impact systems behind our exchange and trading infrastructure, and set technical direction across multiple teams
• Take on a high-impact IC role with direct influence on roadmap, architecture, and the engineering bar across the organization
• Help scale low‑latency, compliant exchange systems on a platform that’s already live and regulated