Senior Backend Engineer

Location: Remote / Americas Preferred Compensation: $160k — $240k USD base, 0.4-0.8% equity  Today, if you’re trading onchain, you’re broadcasting your trades to the world before they happen. Sophisticated actors systematically front-run all trades (MEV, stat arb), resulting in most high value trading activity remaining within the confines of centralized exchanges that share all the downsides of the system crypto was meant to replace. At Tristero, we're building the world's first performant decentralized darkpool, where your trades are private until they clear, and you maintain full autonomy through the entire trade cycle. What you'll work on: High-Performance Matching Engine & Zero-Knowledge Privacy - At the core of our darkpool lies a custom-built, low-latency matching engine that processes orders with microsecond precision while maintaining cryptographic privacy guarantees. You'll work on optimizing order matching algorithms, implementing efficient data structures for order books, and building zero-knowledge proof systems that hide order details until settlement. Our matching engine handles cross-chain order routing across 15+ EVM chains plus Solana, with strict performance targets: <100ms p99 latency for quote generation and <500ms for order matching. Cross-Chain Liquidity Orchestration at Scale - Our liquidity layer intelligently aggregates across Jupiter (Solana), DEX aggregators, Binance, CCTP, and more. You'll build adaptive pathfinding algorithms that dynamically route orders through optimal liquidity sources, implement real-time slippage management systems, and develop cross-chain settlement protocols. The system processes complex multi-hop trades with automatic fallback routing and maintains sub-second response times across 10+ blockchain networks. Fault-Tolerant Distributed Architecture - Our microservices architecture includes specialized components for real-time pricing, industry-leading order execution, and distributed order routers with Redis-backed state management. You'll work on horizontal scaling patterns, implement circuit breakers and backpressure control, build real-time WebSocket feeds for market data, and design async processing pipelines capable of handling many concurrent orders. All systems include comprehensive telemetry, structured logging, and observability. What we expect: 4+ years of professional back-end engineering experience (we’re hiring at multiple seniority levels) Strong proficiency with modern back-end systems design Deep understanding of API design, databases, and distributed systems Familiarity with DeFi protocols and crypto infrastructure—or a proven ability to ramp up quickly Strong ownership of your work We’ve got unlimited PTO, a full suite of healthcare options, and some swag with your name on it. We foster a high-trust, high-autonomy culture. If you’re looking for a no-nonsense team to build groundbreaking financial products with—Tristero may be the place for you. We're looking forward to hearing from you! If you do not have any direct crypto experience, please make sure to include a brief cover letter that explains why you think you can onboard to a new domain smoothly. This can be very short - we do read these.