QFEX Verified
Backend Engineer
LondonOnsiteFull Time$150,000–$250,000 /yrPosted 25 days agoHidden Gem · YC Startup
Required skills
- Rust
- C++
- 3+ years
- Exchanges
- HFT Systems
- tests
- metrics
- graceful degradation
- STEM degree
Nice to have
- Fintech
- exchange
- low-latency
- Kubernetes
- infrastructure-as-code
Role summary
QFEX is a rapidly growing fintech company building the first perpetual futures exchange for traditional financial assets, aiming to disrupt the $100bn TradFi exchange, clearing, and brokerage industry. They are seeking a Backend Engineer with experience in high-performance languages like Rust, C, or C++ and 3+ years of experience building real-time production exchanges or HFT systems. The role involves designing fault-tolerant, low-latency services, implementing automated testing and CI/CD, guiding architectural decisions, and contributing to a responsible culture of testing and metrics. Bonus points for fintech, exchange, low-latency experience, or deep Kubernetes/IaC expertise.
# Backend Engineer
---
## How Markets Should Be
Traditional financial markets are broken. We are fixing them.
QFEX is the first perpetual futures exchange to allow 24/7, high leverage on traditional financial assets.
Our vision: this kind of exchange will replace the entire $100bn TradFi exchange, clearing and brokerage industry
Our mission: make QFEX that exchange.
We were founded by Cambridge Maths duo Annanay Kapila and Joshua Wharton, who previously worked at Tower Research Capital and Citadel, respectively. The team also includes former staff from Jump, Barclays, and more.
QFEX raised $9.5m from a group of investors including General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners and Paul Graham.
## What You’ll Do
**Reliability & performance** \
Design fault-tolerant, low-latency, always-available services; write load tests and chaos suites; tune until p99 is boring.
**Testing**\
Set up and carry out automated test suites including CI/CD and minimize technical debt.
**Technical direction**\
Evaluate tools, set coding standards, and guide architectural decisions as we scale.
**Culture & hiring**\
Share and receive new knowledge and experiences, set impeccable cultural standards, and help interview the next engineers.
## What You’ll Need
* A **STEM degree** from a University that is highly ranked in your home country (at the level of Oxbridge/ Imperial in the UK, HYMPS in the US, or a top IIT in India).
* Experience with a **high-performance language** like **Rust**, **C or C++**.
* **3+ years** building and working on real-time production **Exchanges** or **HFT Systems**.
* The desire to create and impose a responsible culture of **tests, metrics, and graceful degradation**.
* Impeccable **levels of trust in yourself and others**, including the ability to make **decisions in minutes**, not days.
### Bonus points
* Fintech, exchange, or low-latency experience.
* Deep Kubernetes or infrastructure-as-code experience.
## Benefits
* Lunch allowance and regular company events.
* The ability to grow alongside some of the best minds in fintech, as well as set standards and culture.
* 25 days holiday + bank holidays.
---
## How Markets Should Be
Traditional financial markets are broken. We are fixing them.
QFEX is the first perpetual futures exchange to allow 24/7, high leverage on traditional financial assets.
Our vision: this kind of exchange will replace the entire $100bn TradFi exchange, clearing and brokerage industry
Our mission: make QFEX that exchange.
We were founded by Cambridge Maths duo Annanay Kapila and Joshua Wharton, who previously worked at Tower Research Capital and Citadel, respectively. The team also includes former staff from Jump, Barclays, and more.
QFEX raised $9.5m from a group of investors including General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners and Paul Graham.
## What You’ll Do
**Reliability & performance** \
Design fault-tolerant, low-latency, always-available services; write load tests and chaos suites; tune until p99 is boring.
**Testing**\
Set up and carry out automated test suites including CI/CD and minimize technical debt.
**Technical direction**\
Evaluate tools, set coding standards, and guide architectural decisions as we scale.
**Culture & hiring**\
Share and receive new knowledge and experiences, set impeccable cultural standards, and help interview the next engineers.
## What You’ll Need
* A **STEM degree** from a University that is highly ranked in your home country (at the level of Oxbridge/ Imperial in the UK, HYMPS in the US, or a top IIT in India).
* Experience with a **high-performance language** like **Rust**, **C or C++**.
* **3+ years** building and working on real-time production **Exchanges** or **HFT Systems**.
* The desire to create and impose a responsible culture of **tests, metrics, and graceful degradation**.
* Impeccable **levels of trust in yourself and others**, including the ability to make **decisions in minutes**, not days.
### Bonus points
* Fintech, exchange, or low-latency experience.
* Deep Kubernetes or infrastructure-as-code experience.
## Benefits
* Lunch allowance and regular company events.
* The ability to grow alongside some of the best minds in fintech, as well as set standards and culture.
* 25 days holiday + bank holidays.
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