Senior Software Engineer, Core

Job description

INSTITUTIONAL FABRIC FOR THE DIGITAL ASSET MARKET Founded in 2018, Talos provides institutional-grade trading technology for the global digital asset market, powering many of the major players in the crypto ecosystem. Our mission is clear: to advance the mass adoption of digital assets by seamlessly connecting institutions to the digital asset ecosystem. We are committed to building the most innovative and trusted platform in the world, supporting the entire trading lifecycle. At Talos, you’ll find an environment that champions kindness and respect, values diverse perspectives, and upholds inclusivity at every turn. We believe every member of our team brings invaluable insights and abilities that drive Talos forward. In our pursuit of excellence, we foster a culture of trust, integrity, collaboration, and mutual growth. We are a tight-knit yet globally distributed team of highly experienced engineers and business leaders, with hubs in New York, London, Singapore, and Cyprus. You’ll be part of a hybrid-friendly environment where your unique talents and insights will play a crucial role in building something extraordinary. SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER – CORE Talos is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join the Core team, focused on building and maintaining the foundational platform infrastructure that powers the entire Talos trading ecosystem. This role centers on high-performance, distributed systems engineering: designing low-latency messaging infrastructure using Aeron, building and evolving the API layers (FIX, WebSocket, REST) consumed by product teams across the firm, and maintaining the sequencer and market data distribution pipelines that sit at the heart of Talos’ architecture. You will work on deeply technical problems at the intersection of distributed systems, financial protocols, and infrastructure reliability. This is an opportunity to go deep on platform craft — shaping the infrastructure that every team at Talos builds on, and solving problems where the margin for error is low and the design space is wide open. RESPONSIBILITIES - Design, develop, and maintain high-performance platform services including API gateways (FIX, WebSocket, REST), and the core libraries that product teams across Talos build on. - Build and evolve Aeron-based messaging infrastructure for reliable, low-latency communication. - Tackle hard distributed systems problems end-to-end: ordering and determinism guarantees, zero-downtime deployments, active-active architectures spanning cloud regions, and crash-consistent recovery. - Work cross-functionally to ensure platform primitives meet the throughput and latency requirements of real-time trading workflows, including market data distribution at scale. - Provide product teams with reusable service infrastructure to build scalable, reliable, and cost-efficient services. QUALIFICATIONS - 7+ years of backend engineering experience with deep proficiency in Go, C++, Java, Rust or similar systems languages. - Demonstrated ownership of large-scale distributed systems, from initial design through deployment, scaling, and long-term operations. - Strong systems-level fundamentals: concurrency primitives, memory layout, I/O models, database design, network protocols, and the performance implications of each. - Experience designing systems with stringent correctness guarantees — ordering, consistency, durability — not just ones that work under normal conditions. - Own projects end-to-end: take work from problem definition through design, implementation, and rollout, and see it through to completion without needing to be chased. - Track record of leading technical decisions: navigating ambiguity, defining architecture, making meaningful trade-offs, and bringing a team along on the reasoning. - Comfortable operating at multiple levels of abstraction, from API contract design down to diagnosing latency spikes at the socket or disk layer. PREFERRED - Experience with Aeron or comparable low-latency messaging frameworks (e.g., Chronicle, LMAX Disruptor, ZeroMQ). - Hands-on experience building geo-distributed or multi-site systems with active-active replication and regional failover. - Familiarity with FIX protocol (4.x/5.x) or other structured financial messaging formats. - Background in trading infrastructure, market data systems, or other latency-sensitive financial platforms. - Experience with sequencer design, write-ahead logging, or custom persistence engines. Check out these videos and links to learn more about Talos and our culture! - Spotlight Article: Talos Snapshot by DRW https://www.drw.com/vc/updates/drw-vc-portfolio-company-spotlight-anton-katz-talos/ - Podcast: 2023 episode with co-founders Anton & Ethan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gDUxXkBMr8&t=62s/ - Website: Explore Talos: Products, Investors, Team & More https://www.talos.com/ - Case Studies: Real world examples of client solutions https://www.talos.com/insights?insight-category=Case+Studies - Awards: Talos Wins Hedgeweek Global Digital Assets Award 2024 https://www.talos.com/insights/talos-wins-best-trading-platform-at-hedgeweek-global-digital-assets-awards-2024/ - Culture: Award-winning, Forbes-listed, low-attrition team https://www.talos.com/insights/forbes-names-talos-one-of-americas-best-startup-employers-for-the-second-year-in-a-row/ Andreessen Horowitz re: Talos: "The company best suited to drive institutional adoption is one that understands traditional capital markets deeply and is forward-thinking enough to fully grasp the promise of crypto. Talos is that company." BENEFITS You will also enjoy a comprehensive array of competitive benefits, regardless of your location, within our warm, welcoming, and ambitious company culture. Some of our benefits include: - Retirement plan contributions - Unlimited Vacation + a PTO bonus: Employees that take 15 days of vacation, with 5 days being consecutive, receive a $2000 USD bonus. - Bonus and stock ownership - Medical, dental, and vision insurance - Paid parental leave for 20 weeks, after 1 year of service - Global offsites and team outings - A one-time stipend towards at-home office set-up for all employees - A wellness credit of $50 accrued monthly, to go towards things like gym memberships, ski-passes, and work out classes. - A lunch credit of $25 USD towards lunches for days in-office - Donation matching up to $100 USD annually - Other in-office perks: Catered lunches on Tuesdays, snacks, and drinks Check out other open positions https://talos.com/company/#join-the-team listed on our website! Talos is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. Talos is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at careers@talos.com. To protect the interests of all parties, Talos Trading, LLC and its affiliates (“Talos”) strongly discourage submission of unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from a candidate. Talos will NOT pay fees, commissions or compensation of any kind (“Fees”) for any placement or hire resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. Talos will consider any candidate for whom an Agency has submitted an unsolicited resume to have been referred by the Agency free of any charges or fees and Talos reserves the right to contact, interview, and hire the candidate directly. Agencies, search firms, recruitment firms and similar organizations (“Agencies”) must obtain advance written approval from Talos’s internal recruiting team to submit resumes, AND must sign a valid fully executed placement agreement with Talos in order to be eligible to receive any Fees from Talos. Talos will not pay a Fee to any Agency that does not have such agreement in place. By submitting a resume without a signed agreement, you acknowledge and accept these terms. © Talos Trading, careers@talos.com By submitting your application and pursuing job candidacy, you consent to the processing of your personal information in connection with our Applicant & Employee Privacy Notice https://www.talos.com/legals/employee-privacy-policy.