Head of Engineering (Perp Equity Dex (invested by Citadel, Jane Street and HRT)

About the Role

We are a fast-growing derivatives exchange seeking a Head of Engineering to lead the development of our core trading infrastructure. In this role, you will define the technical vision, lead a high-performing engineering organization, and ensure our platform delivers low-latency, high-reliability execution for a global client base.

What will make you successful here

We operate in an environment with more high-value opportunities than we can execute at once. Success in this role requires comfort with ambiguity, strong prioritization instincts, and the judgment to decide when a quick tactical solution is appropriate versus when to invest in long-term architectural quality.

Responsibilities

• Own architecture and technical strategy across all trading systems (matching engine, risk, clearing, market data, APIs).
• Lead and scale engineering teams across backend, infrastructure, security, and QA.
• Deliver a high-performance, low-latency trading platform with strong reliability and fault tolerance.
• Collaborate with product, quant, and compliance teams to drive the roadmap.
• Oversee system monitoring, incident response, and operational excellence.
• Ensure security, regulatory alignment, and robust risk controls.
• Build a strong engineering culture focused on ownership, quality, and efficiency.

Qualifications

Required

• 10+ years of engineering experience, with 5+ years in leadership roles.
• Prior experience building or leading core systems at an exchange, trading venue, or similarly demanding, low-latency environment.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems, high-performance computing, and event-driven architectures.
• Demonstrated experience with high-volume, low-latency trading systems (matching engine, risk engine, order routing, FIX/WebSocket APIs, etc.).
• Strong background in systems programming (C++, Rust, Go, or Java) and low-level performance optimization.
• Working knowledge of real-time market data systems and financial protocol design.
• Proven ability to scale engineering organizations from early to mature stages.

Preferred

• Experience with crypto derivatives or perpetual swaps.
• Familiarity with regulatory frameworks for derivatives exchanges.
• Experience with exchange audits, incident response processes, and security hardening.
• Background in quantitative systems, market microstructure, or algorithmic trading.