Engineering Manager - Pro

Kraken; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Kraken is seeking an Engineering Manager for its Exchange trading backend to lead an 8- to 10-person engineering team responsible for the matching engine, market data gateways, and order entry systems. You will guide the team through evolving from legacy infrastructure to modern, scalable components while staying technically engaged.

You will unblock architecture discussions, contribute to coding when needed, and champion performance, low-latency data handling, and AI-assisted engineering

Qualifications

• Lead and grow a team of engineers delivering core trading backend services.
• Stay technically engaged and unblock architecture discussions across matching engine, market data, and order entry.
• Contribute to architecture decisions and code alongside the team when needed.
• Champion performance and low-latency data handling in trading environments.
• Promote AI-assisted engineering practices within the team and with partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead 8-10 engineers and own core trading backend services.
• Guide evolution from legacy systems to modern stack.
• Stay technically close to the stack to review and contribute to architecture decisions.
• Unblock, review, and contribute to code across multiple subsystems.
• Collaborate with product and other engineering pods to execute roadmaps.
• Advocate AI-assisted practices and data-driven optimizations.

Skills

Leadership

Distributed systems

Low-latency trading

Rust/C++ experience

Linux

Education

BS in technical or quantitative field

Tools

Aeron

Job description

Building the Future of Open Finance

Payward - the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.

Before you apply, we encourage you to explore our culture page to understand what drives us and how we work.

The team

Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. It offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services, with products built for both individual investors and institutional clients.

The Exchange team is responsible for everything to do with the trading backend services such as the matching engine, market data gateways, internal and external APIs, margin systems and various other trading services. The team is located globally and responsibilities are split into sub-teams, working with various tech stacks. Our teams code in C++, Go, Rust, and Python, depending on the product they are contributing to within Kraken and work agile around the globe. Recently, the Trading Technologies team played a critical role in scaling Kraken's trading infrastructure.

The opportunity

• Lead and grow a team of 8-10 engineers owning core trading backend services, including the matching engine, market data gateways, and order entry systems
• Guide the team through the ongoing evolution of our trading stack, from legacy systems to their modern replacements
• Stay technically close enough to the stack to unblock, review, and contribute to architecture discussions across matching engine, market data, and order entry work with ability to jump in and assist with coding
• Champion performance and market data work as top priorities, while also supporting the team's broader technical scope
• Bring AI-assisted engineering practices into the team's workflow and help engineers adopt them
• 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 clearly

What You Bring

• Experience managing engineering teams, with a preference for managers who stay technically engaged rather than purely administrative
• Prior hands-on experience in at least one of the following using Linux: distributed and/or highly-concurrent systems; low-latency and/or high-volume transaction environments
• Proficiency in Rust and/or C++; comfort operating in a team split across C++, Rust, Go, and Python
• Demonstrated knowledge of order types, trading systems, and financial products
• Experience with Aeron or similar messaging/transport systems a strong plus
• Comfort with multicast-based market data distribution a plus
• Cryptocurrency/blockchain familiarity highly preferable
• Proactive mindset with the ability to prioritize across a technically deep team and adhere to aggressive deadlines
• BS in a technical or quantitative field

Unless a specific application deadline is stated in the job posting, applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.

Please note, applicants are permitted to redact or remove information on their resume that identifies age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution.

We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, assessing candidates in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Our commitment

Payward is powered by people from around the world and we celebrate the diverse talents, backgrounds, contributions, and unique perspectives that everyone brings to the table. We hire based on merit, seeking out people with the right abilities, knowledge, and skills for the job. We encourage you to apply for roles where you don't fully meet the listed requirements, especially if you're passionate or knowledgeable about crypto.

We may ask candidates to complete job-related skills or work-style assessments as part of our hiring process. These assessments evaluate competencies relevant to the role and are applied consistently across candidates for similar positions. Results are considered alongside experience and interviews, and are not the sole basis for any employment decision.

As an equal opportunity employer, we don't tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind, whether based on race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

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