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.
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 opportunityLead 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
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 commitmentPayward 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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