Technical Lead (Rust)

Keyrock; Remote; ZAR 800 000 - 1 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading digital asset company is seeking a Tech Lead to bridge business objectives with technical execution. This hybrid role combines hands-on coding with architectural leadership and mentorship. Responsibilities include guiding system design, ensuring delivery excellence, and collaborating across teams. The ideal candidate will have 5+ years in technical leadership, strong expertise in Rust and AWS, and a passion for building scalable systems. Flexible working hours and a competitive salary are offered, providing autonomy in time management.

Benefits

Competitive salary package

Flexible working hours

Remote work opportunities

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a Technical Leadership position guiding teams.
• Expertise in architecting high-concurrency, low-latency trading systems.
• Hands-on experience managing Kubernetes clusters in production.

Responsibilities

• Act as technical point of accountability for the Service Market Making unit.
• Provide structured feedback through design and code reviews.
• Guide system design, ensuring scalability and resilience.

Skills

Rust

Node.js

Python

GitOps

Agile methodologies

DevOps principles

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering

Tools

AWS

Kubernetes

Job description

About Keyrock

Keyrock City of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa About Keyrock Since our beginnings in

• , we've grown to be a leading change-maker in the digital asset space, renowned for our partnerships and innovation.

Today, we rock with over team members around the world.

Our diverse team hails from 42 nationalities, with backgrounds ranging from DeFi natives to PhDs.

Predominantly remote, we have hubs in London, Brussels and Singapore, and host regular online and offline hangouts to keep the crew tight.

We are trading on more than 80 exchanges, and working with a wide array of asset issuers.

As a well‑established market maker, our distinctive expertise led us to expand rapidly.

Today, our services span market making, options trading, high‑frequency trading, OTC, and DeFi trading desks.

We're more than a service provider – we're an initiator, pioneers in adopting the Rust development language for our algorithmic trading, champions of its use in the industry, and supporters of Web3 startups through our Accelerator Program.

We upgrade ecosystems by injecting liquidity into promising DeFi, RWA, and NFT protocols, and push the industry's progress with research and governance initiatives.

At Keyrock, we're actively building the future of digital assets.

Mission statement

The Tech Lead plays a pivotal role in bridging business objectives with technical execution.

This role is not purely managerial nor solely individual contributor, but a hybrid position that combines hands‑on engineering, architectural leadership, and team enablement.

A Tech Lead ensures delivery excellence by actively contributing to the codebase, guiding the team technically, and aligning execution with long‑term strategic goals.

At Keyrock, the Tech Lead is a senior technical contributor who drives the implementation and delivery of engineering initiatives within their Business Unit, accountable for technical execution and delivery quality, ensuring systems are built to high standards of reliability, performance, and maintainability.

While the Head of Engineering (HoE) focuses on strategic alignment, the Tech Lead operates as the executional deputy, translating those strategic objectives into code, architecture, and delivery outcomes.

Job Description

Act as the technical point of accountability for the Service Market Making Business Unit.

Balance strategic thinking with pragmatic delivery, ensuring systems are built to last while meeting immediate needs.

Champion collaboration across teams, ensuring alignment between product, design, QA, and engineering.

Inspire and develop engineers through mentorship, coaching, and technical guidance, fostering growth and autonomy within the team.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with the Head of Engineering to own delivery of entire work‑streams, ensuring architecture and engineering decisions align with both immediate requirements and business strategy.
• Contribute directly through coding while focusing on architecture design, peer reviews, and cross‑functional communication.
• Provide structured feedback through design and code reviews, support skill development, and empower junior and mid‑level engineers to take ownership.
• Guide system design, ensure scalability and resilience, and optimise performance across applications and infrastructure.
• Uphold engineering best practices, enforce coding guidelines, and partner with QA to embed automation and validation in the delivery pipeline.
• Manage technical debt, lead refactoring initiatives, and ensure long‑term maintainability and operational excellence.
• Work closely with product managers, designers, and QA engineers to define scope, refine requirements, and plan delivery in a transparent and predictable manner.
• Anticipate technical risks, dependencies, and trade‑offs early, and propose mitigations to safeguard delivery timelines.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years in a Technical Leadership position guiding teams, shaping architecture, and driving delivery of complex projects.
• Demonstrated expertise in architecting and maintaining high‑concurrency, low‑latency trading systems at scale.
• Advanced proficiency in Rust; working knowledge of Node.js (JavaScript / TypeScript) and Python is an advantage.
• Deep experience with data‑intensive architectures and real‑time data pipelines.
• Proven track record deploying, optimising and operating AWS environments for ultra‑low‑latency workloads.
• Hands‑on experience containerising applications and managing Kubernetes clusters in production.
• Familiarity with GitOps workflows to automate infrastructure provisioning, configuration and deployments.
• Solid command of software engineering best practices, including Agile methodologies, DevOps principles and end‑to‑end CI / CD pipelines.
• Knowledge of DevSecFinOps principles to embed security, compliance and cost‑governance throughout the delivery lifecycle.
• Demonstrated leadership of engineering teams, with a commitment to fostering collaboration, mentorship and continuous professional growth.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder‑management skills, able to partner effectively with Product, Architecture, Quantitative Research and Operations.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving mindset, with a passion for building scalable, reliable and secure systems.
• Deep domain knowledge of finance and trading, particularly within the cryptocurrency sector.
• Experience in fast‑paced, dynamic financial or fintech environments is highly desirable.

Soft Skills & Competencies

• Ownership & Reliability – Take full responsibility for your work. Deliver high‑quality service, meet deadlines, and follow through on commitments.
• Initiative & Problem‑Solving – Approach challenges with a problem‑solving entrepreneurial mindset.
• Operational Diligence – Respond strategically to technical and operational challenges, ensuring robust and reliable trading infrastructure.
• Curiosity & Growth Mindset – Continuously seek to improve your technical skills and knowledge.
• Excellent Communication Skills with a team‑player mindset, collaborating within a fully remote global team.

Recruitment Philosophy

We value self‑awareness in our recruitment process.

We seek people who understand themselves and their career goals.

We're after those with the right skills and a conscious choice to join our field.

The perfect fit?

A crypto enthusiast who's driven, collaborative, and delivers solid, scalable outcomes.

Offer

A competitive salary package, with various benefits depending on the method of engagement (employee or freelancer).

Autonomy in time management thanks to flexible working hours and the opportunity to work remotely.

The freedom to create your own entrepreneurial experience by being part of a team of people in search of excellence.

EEO Statement

As an employer we are committed to build an inclusive, diverse and non‑discriminating work environment.

We welcome employees of all backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, creed and sexual orientation.

We hire, reward and promote entirely based on merit and performance.

Background Check

Due to the nature of our business and external requirements, we perform background checks on all potential employees, passing which is a prerequisite to join Keyrock.