Crypto Markets Founding Engineer (Python, C++, AI/ML) | Palo Alto | Visa Sponsorship | Up to $300K + Equity

Crypto Markets Founding Engineer (Python, C++, AI/ML) | Palo Alto | Visa Sponsorship | Up to $300K + Equity

About the company

A 10-person, well-funded startup building AI for markets is hiring three founding engineers. The company trains reasoning systems on social media, Reddit and prediction market data to help its traders read markets faster, and the technology is already live: it trades real money through an internal 8-figure hedge fund anchored by the founder of one of the world's largest proprietary trading firms.

The founding team includes engineers from leading AI labs and a top hedge fund, IMO medalists, and top-ranked crypto and prediction market traders. The company is backed by a $20M seed round led by a top-tier fintech and crypto venture firm, with other well-known funds and angels from prediction markets, fintech and a major Chicago trading firm.

The team is small by design. No rigid structures, high autonomy, and a strong performance culture.

Why crypto and markets engineers should look at this

Crypto runs through this company. The team actively trades crypto and prediction markets, and prediction market data sits at the core of its models. Some prediction markets run on crypto rails and settle in stablecoins onchain, while others are regulated fiat exchanges in the US. This role sits across both worlds, so engineers who understand how onchain markets behave and how regulated venues work will feel right at home.

The investors have a long history backing crypto exchanges, DeFi protocols and onchain analytics firms, and experience at a crypto-native startup or crypto trading firm is explicitly valued.

Unlike most crypto startups, there's no token and no "is this a real business" question. It's a venture-backed company running a live fund.

What you'll build

• Data pipelines that turn messy, real-world signals (social, prediction market and market data) into research-ready inputs
• Trading signals and the research infrastructure behind them
• Automated execution systems and tooling that let the team go from idea to live experiment extremely fast
• Systems across trading and HFT infrastructure, security and ML, working directly with quant and AI researchers

You'll take projects from first idea through to production and own them end to end.

Tech stack

• Python: data pipelines, signals and research tooling
• C++: low-latency execution and trading infrastructure
• AI/ML: building and deploying the reasoning models behind the prediction engine

What we're looking for

• 1 to 5 years of experience as a software engineer or quant developer
• Degree in computer science, mathematics, statistics or physics
• Exceptional Python or C++
• A track record of building and shipping a project end to end, from idea to production, as the owner
• Strong statistical intuition and comfort working with noisy real-world data
• Experience with AI-driven development
• Deep curiosity about markets and the ability to thrive in ambiguity

Backgrounds that stand out

• Engineers at crypto trading firms and market makers, especially on execution, data or infrastructure
• MEV searchers and DeFi bot builders with real, measurable results
• Builders of trading tools, analytics or bots on prediction markets
• Onchain data engineers who have also built signals or traded
• Early engineers at crypto-native or fintech startups who shipped entire systems
• Quant developers, or interns from firms like IMC, Citadel, Jane Street, HRT or Optiver

Exceptional new grads will be considered if they bring real-world exposure such as shipped products, real trading results or serious internships.

This role is not

• A Web3 or smart contract role. No Solidity, protocol design or tokens. Crypto here means crypto markets as a trading venue and data source.
• A senior or staff position
• Frontend, product or business development
• Remote or hybrid
• Pure ML research. You'll work alongside researchers as the builder.

Location and logistics

• Location: Palo Alto, California
• Work arrangement: fully onsite, 5 to 6 days a week. This is an intense, in-person team.
• Relocation: welcome
• Visa: open to visa transfers (OPT, H1B transfers) and new sponsorships (new H1B, TN). If you're on J1 or O1, mention it when you apply.

Compensation

• Up to $300K base plus equity plus performance bonus

Interview process

1. Intro call
2. Technical screen
3. Take-home
4. Work trial

Why join

• A founding seat at a company already trading real capital through an 8-figure fund
• Serious backing from top-tier fintech and crypto investors
• A tiny, elite team where you own what you build
• Crypto, prediction market and trading problems without the token risk
• Up to $300K base plus equity, with visa support available

Apply

Send your CV with a short note on something you've built end to end, ideally involving trading, quant development or data infrastructure. Let us know your visa status and whether you can be onsite in Palo Alto.