Senior Software Engineer, Clearing Engineering

Bullish, Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Bullish, Inc. is looking for a seasoned engineer with expertise in financial trading systems. This role focuses on designing and developing high-performance microservices, ensuring operational integrity, and collaborating with global teams.

The ideal candidate will have 6+ years of engineering experience, particularly in supporting regulated financial applications, along with proven Java skills and a commitment to engineering excellence. Attractive salary and performance-based incentives available.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of engineering experience in front-office trading systems.
• Expert in Java with experience in middleware technology.
• Ability to manage SQL and NoSQL databases.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain microservices for Risk Management and Clearing.
• Architect scalable infrastructure for market data feeds.
• Collaborate globally with product and risk management teams.

Skills

Advanced Java proficiency

Experience with middleware (Aeron, Kafka)

Data structure and event schema design

Managing SQL and NoSQL data stores

Testing methodologies knowledge

Use of Large Language Models

Ownership and outcome-oriented mindset

Agility in dynamic environments

Collaborative culture commitment

Tools

AWS

Kafka

Postgres

MongoDB

Tableau

Job description

About Bullish: Bullish is an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. These include Bullish Exchange—a regulated, institutionally focused digital assets spot and derivatives exchange that is regulated in Germany, HongKong, and Gibraltar. CoinDesk Indices: a collection of tradable proprietary and single‑asset benchmarks and indices that track the performance of digital assets for global institutions. CoinDesk Data: a broad suite of digital assets market data and analytics providing real‑time insights into prices, trends, and market dynamics. CoinDesk Insights: a digital asset media and events provider and operator of Coindesk.com.

Reports to: Director, Engineering. Engineering Organization & Culture: At Bullish, we are engineering the institutional standard for the digital asset industry. Our mission is to build a platform centered on security and compliance, requiring a commitment to technical excellence that extends beyond simply delivering code. We value engineers who treat development as a craft, own the outcome from concept to deployment, and bring structure to ambiguity while shaping the frameworks that support our global organization.

Team: Clearing Engineering

The Clearing Engineering Team builds the mission‑critical infrastructure for Bullish Clearing, mitigating systemic risk through automated default management and ensuring operational integrity via high‑precision data validation.

What You’ll Do

• Design, build, and maintain high‑performance microservices and stream processing pipelines for Risk Management, Regulatory Reporting, and Clearing.
• Architect scalable infrastructure to efficiently ingest and transform market data feeds.
• Apply a deep understanding of the trade lifecycle—from capture and netting to settlement—to optimize data models and workflows.
• Guarantee system resilience by prioritizing high availability, disaster recovery, and data freshness alongside functional requirements.
• Champion engineering excellence, enforcing high standards for code quality, test automation, and SDLC best practices.
• Identify and resolve functional bottlenecks and cost inefficiencies through continuous performance profiling.
• Collaborate with global teams (HK, NY)—including Product Managers, Quants, and Risk Managers—to distill complex requirements into clear technical specifications.
• Drive the evolution of the platform’s target‑state architecture, staying current with industry trends to ensure continuous improvement.

What You’ll Bring

• 6+ years of engineering experience supporting front‑office trading systems at a regulated financial institution.
• Advanced Java proficiency, with implementation experience using middleware such as Aeron and Kafka.
• Expertise in designing clean data structures, event schemas, and database models.
• Proficiency managing both SQL and NoSQL data stores (e.g., Postgres, Redis, MongoDB).
• Deep understanding of testing methodologies and SDLC best practices, including Twelve‑Factor App, distributed HA/DR strategies, and hexagonal architecture.
• Ability to use Large Language Models (e.g., Claude, Gemini) to accelerate development without sacrificing engineering standards.
• A strong sense of ownership and an outcome‑oriented mindset.
• Agility to thrive in a dynamic startup environment.
• Commitment to a collaborative culture, evidenced by active mentorship and knowledge sharing.

Nice To Haves

• Proficiency with cloud and DevOps ecosystems (e.g., AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, Docker) and workflow orchestration (e.g., Airflow, DBT).
• Knowledge of FIX and FIXML protocols.
• Familiarity with big data management and data lake ecosystems (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake, BigQuery).
• Experience with BI tools for data visualization (e.g., Tableau, Superset).

Compensation & Benefits

The anticipated base salary for this position is \$180,000 – \$230,000 + discretionary annual target bonus + performance incentives/benefits.

Bullish is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are fast evolving and striving towards being a globally‑diverse community. With integrity at our core, our success is driven by a talented team of individuals and the different perspectives they are encouraged to bring to work every day.