Senior (Rust/C++) Backend Engineer

Job Description

Location: Remote - Europe

Remote | Full-time

Compensation: $120K - $200K

We are hiring on behalf of our client, a fast-paced, dynamic, and fully remote team in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 space who is seeking an experienced Senior Backend Engineer. The employer operates with an ambitious roadmap and a strong commitment to engineering rigor, high-grade security, and rapid execution.

As a Senior Backend Engineer, the selected candidate will play a critical role in designing, developing, and maintaining robust, high-throughput, and scalable backend systems. This role extends beyond writing code to architecting resilient, secure systems optimized for low-latency, real-time processing in financial services.

The ideal candidate brings over eight years of engineering experience, a deep interest in Web3 and DeFi, and a strong dedication to high code quality and state-of-the-art software testing methodologies.

Key Responsibilities

Backend Development

• Design, develop, and maintain core backend systems powering high-throughput trading, exchange, and network infrastructure using clean, efficient, and maintainable code.
• Index on-chain data into event queues and persistence layers to serve WebSockets and scalable APIs consumed by user interfaces and risk dashboards.

System Architecture

• Define the high-level backend structure, data flow, and interactions between components, focusing on event-driven architecture and messaging patterns common in financial systems.

Reliability, Performance & Availability

• Ensure architectural designs meet strict performance, high availability, and reliability standards.
• Implement failover mechanisms, redundancy strategies, and disaster recovery plans to minimize potential downtime.

Security

• Implement and maintain robust security measures to protect backend infrastructure and APIs against DDoS attacks, data breaches, injection vulnerabilities, and other threat vectors.

Data Storage Strategy

• Define data storage strategies and select appropriate databases and models tailored for financial applications.
• Evaluate trade-offs across relational databases, key-value stores, and messaging queues.

Testing Strategy

• Develop and execute a comprehensive testing strategy covering unit, integration, security, load, and performance testing.
• Collaborate with the broader engineering team to establish test reporting and maintain standardized testing processes.

Technological Evaluation & Documentation

• Stay informed on emerging backend technologies, evaluating new tools, frameworks, and methodologies to elevate system performance and scalability.
• Document architectural designs clearly for both technical team members and non-technical stakeholders.

Code Review & Team Collaboration

• Participate in code reviews, mentor engineering team members, and enforce coding standards and best practices.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including on-chain engineers, frontend developers, product managers, quantitative specialists, and executive leadership.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications

• Experience: 8+ years of backend engineering experience within the financial services industry.
• Core Languages: 6+ years of hands-on experience using Rust or C++ to build highly scalable web services.
• Concurrency: Mastery of asynchronous programming and advanced concurrency patterns, with an emphasis on thread safety and lock-free data structures.
• Databases: 6+ years of experience designing and maintaining relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL).
• Messaging & Caching: 4+ years of experience with low-latency persistence and messaging technologies (e.g., Kafka, Redis, RabbitMQ).
• High Availability: Proven track record of building and maintaining high-availability systems managing significant transaction volumes.
• Security: Strong proficiency in securing and hardening backend systems and APIs against evolving security threats.
• Testing & Cloud: Strong knowledge of software testing methodologies alongside experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerization tools (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to work effectively in a collaborative, remote environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with low-level network programming, including asynchronous I/O, direct socket programming, and Linux kernel optimizations (e.g., epoll, zero-copy, or kernel bypass techniques).
• Hands-on experience fine-tuning latency-sensitive components in trading systems, such as order-matching engines and risk engines.
• Familiarity with blockchain technology, smart contracts, and decentralized systems.
• Fundamental understanding of finance and derivatives trading.

Ideal Profile Fit

• Comfort operating within a compact, agile team navigating complexity, unknowns, and technical ambiguity.
• Enthusiasm for rapid prototyping, iterative development, and building the future of financial technology.

Benefits

• Work Setup: 100% remote working environment.
• Opportunity: High-impact technical ownership within a cutting-edge DeFi/Web3 ecosystem.
• Culture: Collaborative, performance-driven culture with high standards for engineering excellence.

Due to the high volume of applications we anticipate, we regret that we are unable to provide individual feedback to all candidates. If you do not hear back from us within 4 weeks of your application, please assume that you have not been successful on this occasion. We genuinely appreciate your interest and wish you the best in your job search.

Commitment to Equality and Accessibility:

At MLabs, we are committed to offer equal opportunities to all candidates. We ensure no discrimination, accessible job adverts, and providing information in accessible formats. Our goal is to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace with equal opportunities for all. If you need any reasonable adjustments during any part of the hiring process or you would like to see the job-advert in an accessible format please let us know at the earliest opportunity by emailing [email protected].

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