Staff Back End Developer

Company: Futureheads
Apply for the Staff Back End Developer
Location: London
Job Description:

Staff API Trading Engineer

Location: London (preferred) or Remote EU. Salary: Competitive (market‑aligned by location, strong total comp)

We’re partnering with a leading trading firm to hire a Senior API Trading Engineer to own and build out their API trading capability from the ground up. This is a high‑impact hire with a clear path to becoming a team lead. You’ll report directly to the Head of Engineering (who reports to the CTO) and work closely with teams handling OTC, credit and loans, ensuring the API trading stack meets – and exceeds – top‑tier competitor standards.

What you’ll do

  • Design, build and evolve high‑performance public trading APIs (REST, WebSocket, FIX is a big plus)
  • Own API documentation: clear, developer‑friendly specifications and guides
  • Collaborate with trading, engineering and OTC teams to align API features with business needs
  • Drive reliability, performance and security of low‑latency trading integrations
  • Influence future team structure; potentially hire and lead an API trading team

What we’re looking for

Must‑haves

  • Proven experience working on public APIs at an exchange or trading company (non‑crypto is fine)
  • Strong background with OpenAPI (FastAPI or similar may be acceptable if the rest is strong)
  • Hands‑on experience with WebSocket and REST APIs; FIX is a major plus
  • Experience with Rust or another low‑latency language (e.g. C/C++) – you must be comfortable enough for a Rust take‑home exercise
  • Solid understanding of security and authentication for APIs
  • Good communication skills and comfort working cross‑functionally
  • Typescript exposure is a plus

Nice‑to‑haves

  • Experience in crypto or traditional finance trading platforms
  • Worked on an algo / matching engine at a trading firm
  • Strong security affinity beyond the basics

Location & Work Setup

London 3x p/w

Salary

Salary is £130-160,000 plus bonus.

Equal Opportunity

We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, so if there is anything we can do to make our recruitment processes better for you and to allow you to show your best self, let us know. We also understand that some people require extra time to complete assessments, require alternative application methods and can also benefit from having interview questions or a guide to the type of questions pre‑interview. We are open to any suggestions or requests that you may have and are always looking for creative ways to assess talent. Our commitment to you is that you should always feel safe and secure when you’re working with us.

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Posted: April 17th, 2026