Staff Software Engineer

Topstep; United States; Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote/hybrid work

Company-paid holidays

Health, dental, vision insurance

401(k) matching

Generous PTO

Referrals bonus

Job summary

Topstep is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead and design the core trading platform? You will build high-throughput services in a .NET stack, own end-to-end delivery, and mentor engineers while shaping engineering standards. Collaboration with product and design will translate user needs into scalable solutions.

You will drive reliability, performance, and observability across services, with occasional frontend work in React/TypeScript, and contribute to architectural decisions as we scale.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience building and shipping production systems at scale.
• Deep proficiency in C# and the .NET ecosystem, with production services used across teams.
• Experience designing service boundaries and API versioning in a microservices architecture.
• Extensive experience building distributed, high-availability systems with asynchronous communication.
• Deep PostgreSQL or SQL Server experience, including schema design and transactions.
• Experience with observability tools and distributed tracing in production.
• Proven ownership of production systems including debugging and incident response.
• Experience with Docker and AWS for cloud-native services.
• Strong testing mindset across unit, integration, and system testing.
• Excellent communication and ability to drive cross-team initiatives.
• Ability to mentor engineers and contribute to engineering standards.
• Experience driving technical initiatives without direct authority.

Responsibilities

• Design and build services and APIs powering core trading platform capabilities.
• Own initiatives end-to-end, from design to production deployment, monitoring, and iteration.
• Collaborate with product and design to translate user needs into scalable, maintainable solutions.
• Contribute to system architecture decisions and establish patterns for other teams.
• Write clean, well-tested code with focus on reliability and performance.
• Participate in on-call rotations, respond to incidents, and improve system reliability.
• Build observability through metrics, logging, and distributed tracing.
• Occasionally work across the stack, including React/TypeScript frontend as needed.
• Mentor engineers through code reviews and knowledge-sharing.

Skills

C#

.NET

API design

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

Testing mindset

On-call reliability

Technical leadership

Mentoring

Communication

Tools

Docker

AWS

Kubernetes

Job description

Are you an engineer who thrives on solving the hardest technical problems on a team? Topstep is looking for a Staff Software Engineer to be a go-to technical leader for our trading platform. In this role, you'll address cross-team engineering challenges to design and build the systems that power real-time trading, market data delivery, and brokerage integrations - the systems thousands of active traders depend on with real money on the line.

You'll work primarily in a modern .NET stack, building cloud-native services that handle high-throughput workloads, and occasionally work across the stack in our React/TypeScript frontend. This isn't just about shipping features - you'll shape architectural decisions, establish engineering standards, and ensure our platform scales reliably as we grow. You'll own your systems end-to-end, from initial design through production operations.

This role is ideal for someone who combines deep technical expertise with the judgment to navigate ambiguity and complexity. You'll balance robust, maintainable systems against the reality of evolving business requirements, contribute to technical strategy, mentor other engineers, and help define what engineering excellence means at Topstep.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and build services and APIs that power core trading platform capabilities.
• Own initiatives end-to-end, from technical design through production deployment, monitoring, and iteration.
• Collaborate with product and design to translate user needs into scalable, maintainable technical solutions.
• Contribute to system architecture decisions, establishing patterns and practices that other teams can follow.
• Write clean, well-tested code with strong focus on reliability, performance, and operational excellence.
• Participate in on-call rotations, respond to incidents, and drive continuous improvement of system reliability.
• Build and maintain observability into your systems through metrics, logging, and distributed tracing.
• Occasionally work across the stack, contributing to the React/TypeScript frontend as features require.
• Mentor engineers through code reviews, pairing sessions, and sharing knowledge about system design and best practices.
• Balance technical debt against feature delivery, making thoughtful trade-offs based on business priorities and technical constraints.
• Strengthen engineering culture through documentation, tooling improvements, and process refinements.

Required Qualifications And Key Competencies

• 8 + years of software engineering experience building and shipping production systems at scale.
• Deep proficiency in C# and the .NET ecosystem, with a track record of designing production services used across multiple teams.
• Experience designing service boundaries and API versioning in a microservices or modular architecture.
• Extensive experience building distributed, high-availability systems, including asynchronous, event-driven communication between services (e.g., message queues, pub/sub, or streaming).
• Deep database experience with PostgreSQL or SQL Server, including schema design, query optimization, and transactional behavior.
• Experience with observability tools and distributed tracing in production environments.
• Proven track record of owning production systems, including debugging and incident response.
• Experience with container technologies (Docker) and cloud platforms (AWS)
• Strong testing mindset with practical experience across unit, integration, and system testing.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, with the ability to debug complex issues across multiple systems.
• Demonstrated ability to build consensus and drive complex technical initiatives across teams without relying on direct authority.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to explain technical trade-offs to both engineering and product stakeholders.

Preferred

• Kubernetes experience (EKS or equivalent), Helm, or GitOps (ArgoCD) tooling.
• Experience with React, TypeScript, or other modern frontend frameworks.
• Experience with real-time client comms (SignalR/WebSockets).
• Background in high-throughput, low-latency systems, including performance tuning across multiple services.
• Incident leadership (RCA, remediation follow-ups).
• Previous work in financial services, fintech, or other compliance-regulated environments.
• Understanding of trading systems, market data, or brokerage operations.

Company Culture & Perks

• Topstep is an engaging working environment which ranges from fully remote to hybrid. We foster a culture of collaboration with cameras on during meetings and a robust Slack environment for communication.
• Seven Company-paid Holidays and generous Family Leave. Paid time off is front-loaded.
• Competitive 401(k) matching, health, dental, and vision insurance is offered for full time employees.
• Vacations are encouraged with a bonus for taking 5 consecutive days. Employee referrals are bonused. Topstep offers a food and groceries budget and contributes towards health and wellness.

New Hire Base Salary Range

• $200,000 - $250,000 annually.
• Bonus: This position is eligible for a performance-based bonus as provided by the plan terms and governing documents.
• The compensation offered will take into account internal compensation structure and may vary depending on the candidate's geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Topstep is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all employees and applicants are valued. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status, in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.