Software Engineer, Backend Systems – Crypto Trading - Rust

Our client is seeking a Software Engineer, Backend Systems with production Rust experience to help build the backend infrastructure behind a real-time crypto trading platform. This role is designed for a backend engineer with strong asynchronous programming and systems knowledge, a performance-driven mindset, and a genuine interest in trading and financial markets. You will work on technically challenging systems involving live market data, risk management, trading venues, and millisecond-level response times. The company has engineering teams in New York City and San Francisco. Candidates must work from the applicable office 5 days per week. What You’ll Do Build and maintain risk and liquidation engines that manage risk and improve capital efficiency in volatile markets. Design and implement blockchain state machines supporting trading, settlement, and risk operations. Develop services that maintain consistent state across asynchronous processes using voting, consensus, and coordination mechanisms. Process live market data and coordinate time-sensitive actions across trading venues. Manage WebSocket streams and other real-time workflows. Build high-performance REST and WebSocket APIs with millisecond-level response times.

2–4 years of relevant backend software engineering experience. Meaningful, hands-on production experience with Rust. Experience with asynchronous programming, including Tokio or directly comparable Rust-based asynchronous systems. Experience building backend services for real-time, high-throughput systems. Experience with low-latency or trading systems. Proficiency with multiple database types, including relational, time-series, or key-value databases. Meaningful experience working in a startup environment. Experience in fintech, crypto, trading, high-frequency trading, or blockchain. Genuine, demonstrable interest in trading and financial markets. Meaningful personal side projects, especially in Rust or C. Strong backend and systems-engineering fundamentals. Ability to thrive in a fast-moving, highly collaborative, in-person environment. Willingness to work from the San Francisco office 5 days per week. Authorization to work in the United States without current or future visa sponsorship. What Strong Candidates Will Demonstrate The ability to explain what they personally built using Rust and how the system operated in production. A strong understanding of asynchronous and concurrent systems. Experience processing live data streams and other time-sensitive workflows. Knowledge of distributed systems and the challenges of maintaining consistent state across asynchronous processes. Experience building REST and WebSocket APIs. Experience identifying and resolving performance bottlenecks. Personal Rust or C projects that demonstrate curiosity and technical depth. A sincere interest in trading, financial markets, and web3. Motivation to solve difficult engineering problems within a small startup rather than work within a large, highly structured organization. Technical Environment The technical environment includes: Rust Tokio Distributed systems Blockchain REST APIs WebSocket APIs Docker Asynchronous programming Low-latency systems Real-time data High-throughput backend infrastructure Relational databases Time-series databases Key-value databases Production Rust is a core requirement. General backend experience or work in another systems language does not replace the required Rust experience. Work Environment This is a high-bandwidth, collaborative, in-person engineering environment. The company is looking for engineers who are hungry to improve, motivated by difficult technical problems, and comfortable working at startup speed.