Software Engineer, Backend Systems

About the Role

This role sits at the core of a fast-growing crypto trading startup that is building a unified, portfolio-margin trading experience spanning perpetual swaps, cross-chain spot, and prediction markets. The backend engineer in this seat will own the real-time infrastructure that processes live market data and coordinates execution across trading venues, writing production Rust across risk engines, blockchain state machines, and high-throughput APIs. The company is well-funded, moves fast, and works on genuinely hard distributed-systems problems where ownership and impact are immediate.

The ideal candidate skews earlier in their career (roughly two to four years of experience), is hungry to grow, and wants to work on hard problems rather than coast. Production Rust or strong C is the core technical requirement, and a genuine interest in trading or financial markets matters here, whether that shows up as active trading, programmatic finance work, or just keeping a close eye on markets. Side projects in Rust or C are a strong signal. US work authorization without need for visa sponsorship is required; the company does not offer H-1B or visa transfer support.

Key Responsibilities

1. Build and maintain risk and liquidation engines that manage exposure and improve capital efficiency in volatile market conditions.
2. Design and implement blockchain state machines that power trading, settlement, and risk operations across the platform.
3. Develop services that maintain consistent state across asynchronous processes using voting, consensus, and coordination mechanisms.
4. Process live market data and coordinate actions across trading venues, managing WebSocket streams and time-sensitive workflows.
5. Build high-performance REST and WebSocket APIs that power the trading interface with millisecond-level response times.
6. Write and maintain production Rust across the full trading stack with a performance-driven, low-latency mindset.
7. Own features end to end, from design through production, in close collaboration with the CTO and senior engineers.

Required Skills & Experience

• 2 to 4 years of backend software engineering experience; exceptional candidates with less experience will be considered when passion and skill are clear
• Production Rust experience in real-time, high-throughput systems, including asynchronous programming with Tokio
• Track record building backend services for performance-critical, real-time environments
• Proficiency across multiple database types: relational, time-series, and key-value
• Genuine, demonstrable interest in trading or financial markets (active trading, programmatic finance, or informed market awareness all count)
• Ability to work onsite 5 days per week in San Francisco
• US work authorization without need for employer visa sponsorship now or in the future; H-1B and visa transfers are not offered

Preferred Skills

• Strong C experience as a signal of systems-level depth, especially for candidates who are ramping on Rust
• Low-latency or trading-systems background (trading firm, high-performance infrastructure environments, etc.)
• Startup experience, including VC-backed companies, founding-engineer roles, or solo technical projects
• Domain experience in fintech, trading, or blockchain and web3
• Personal side projects, particularly anything built in Rust or C out of curiosity or personal interest