Lead Backend Engineer/Technical Lead--Java Trading Systems

Candidates who are primarily looking for task-based development work may not be the right fit; this role requires technical ownership before, during, and after implementation.We are seeking a hands-on Lead Backend Engineer / Technical Lead to help design, evolve, and extend the backend and middleware systems that support our trading and market data infrastructure.This is not a ticket-only development role. We are looking for someone who can take business needs, operational problems, and high-level requirements and turn them into clear technical designs, implementation plans, acceptance criteria, and production-ready code.You will work on real trading systems involving market data ingestion, exchange connectivity, clearing and regulatory workflows, pre-trade and post-trade processing, and internal services that must be correct, fast, observable, and resilient.The right person is a strong Java engineer who can also think at the system level: understand tradeoffs, design service boundaries, challenge incomplete requirements, define edge cases, guide other developers, and own technical outcomes from concept through production.What You’ll OwnTranslate business and operational requirements into technical designs, implementation plans, and acceptance criteriaDesign backend services and middleware components for trading, market data, clearing, regulatory, and post-trade workflowsLead technical design discussions and make practical architecture decisions across services, databases, APIs, and integrationsWrite high-quality code for low-latency, high-reliability systemsDefine service contracts, data flows, error handling, observability, retry behavior, and failure modesDesign and optimize SQL schemas, queries, stored procedures, and data integrity rulesIntegrate with exchanges, clearinghouses, regulatory systems, internal platforms, and third-party servicesReview code and designs from other engineers with a focus on correctness, maintainability, performance, and operational riskIdentify architectural gaps, technical debt, production risks, and opportunities to simplify or harden the systemPartner with business stakeholders, product owners, operations, QA, and other developers to clarify requirements before implementation beginsSupport production systems when needed and use incidents as feedback for better architecture and designHelp establish engineering standards, design patterns, documentation practices, and development best practicesWhat We’re Looking For8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with significant backend Java experienceStrong Java expertise, including concurrency, collections, memory behavior, performance tuning, and production debuggingProven experience designing systems, not just implementing assigned ticketsExperience writing or contributing to technical design documents, architecture proposals, implementation plans, or RFCsAbility to define acceptance criteria, edge cases, failure scenarios, and testable technical requirementsExperience with trading systems, market data platforms, financial infrastructure, or other high-throughput/low-latency systemsStrong understanding of distributed systems, messaging, service-oriented architecture, APIs, and data consistencyStrong SQL experience, including schema design, query tuning, indexing, data modeling, and transactional integrityAbility to communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholdersStrong judgment around when to build, refactor, simplify, harden, or deferComfort working in regulated or compliance-driven environmentsPreferred ExperienceExchange connectivity, FIX protocol, proprietary exchange APIs, or market data feedsClearing, settlement, allocation, give-up, regulatory, or post-trade workflowsPre-trade risk, order routing, execution workflows, or brokerage/trading operationsLinux-based server environmentsMessage queues, streaming systems, event-driven architecture, or real-time processingObservability tools, logging standards, metrics, alerting, and production diagnosticsCloud or hybrid infrastructure experienceExperience mentoring developers or serving as a technical lead on complex backend systemsWhat Success Looks LikeWithin the first 30 days, you will understand the core architecture, major data flows, production risks, and current development process.Within 60 days, you will be contributing production code, reviewing designs, improving acceptance criteria, and helping shape implementation plans before development starts.Within 90 days, you will be leading design for meaningful backend changes, identifying architectural risks, and helping the team move from ticket execution to better technical ownership.This Role Is a Fit If YouAsk “what problem are we solving?” before jumping into codeCan turn ambiguity into a clear technical planCare about correctness, latency, resilience, and maintainabilityKnow how to make practical architecture decisions without over-engineeringAre comfortable challenging unclear requirements respectfullyCan still write serious production code while operating at a higher design levelWant ownership of systems, not just a queue of tickets