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- Tasks: Lead API design and architecture, ensuring reliability and security for Alpaca's applications.
- Company: Join Alpaca, a dynamic fintech company revolutionising financial services globally.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, stock options, health benefits, and monthly stipends for home-office setup.
- Other info: Work remotely with a diverse team across the globe and enjoy excellent career growth opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a significant impact in a fast-growing company with a mission to democratise finance.
- Qualifications: 8+ years of backend engineering experience and strong API design skills required.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 ÂŁ per year.
Who We Are: Alpaca is a US‑headquartered self‑clearing broker‑dealer and brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, fixed income, 24/5 trading, and more. Our recent Series D funding round brought our total investment to over $320 million, fueling our ambitious vision. Amongst our subsidiaries, Alpaca is a licensed financial services company, serving hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries with our institutional‑grade APIs. This includes broker‑dealers, investment advisors, wealth managers, hedge funds, and crypto exchanges, totalling over 9 million brokerage accounts. Our global team is a diverse group of experienced engineers, traders, and brokerage professionals who are working to achieve our mission of opening financial services to everyone on the planet. We’re deeply committed to open‑source contributions and fostering a vibrant community, continuously enhancing our award‑winning, developer‑friendly API and the robust infrastructure behind it.
Your Role: We’re looking for a Staff Backend Engineer to lead API design, governance, and application‑layer architecture across Alpaca. This role acts as the technical owner of Alpaca’s APIs—both internal and external—ensuring they are consistent, reliable, secure, and easy to evolve. You will define standards, guide architectural decisions, and own critical orchestration and aggregation services that power Alpaca’s applications. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role with a strong architectural focus. While you won’t be writing every line of code, you will contribute to shared frameworks, review designs, and own key application‑level services.
Things You Get To Do:
- Drive Alpaca’s API design principles and governance across internal and external APIs.
- Lead application‑layer architecture, including orchestration and aggregation services.
- Own and evolve critical services powering application experiences (e.g., portfolio history, account views).
- Define standards for API versioning, security, backward compatibility, and documentation.
- Drive best practices for observability, performance, and reliability at the application layer.
- Partner with platform engineering on service templates and shared infrastructure.
- Review API and architectural designs across teams and guide complex technical decisions.
- Contribute to shared frameworks, libraries, and tooling.
- Mentor senior engineers and raise the bar for backend and API craftsmanship.
Who You Are (Must‑Haves):
- 8+ years of backend engineering experience, including Staff‑level technical leadership.
- Strong expertise in API design and distributed systems.
- Proficiency in Golang or Java (or equivalent backend experience).
- Experience with service orchestration, aggregation patterns, and BFF architectures.
- Deep understanding of observability and operational excellence.
- Experience in defining and influencing engineering standards across teams.
- Strong architectural judgment and ability to balance long‑term design with delivery.
- Excellent communication skills and a collaborative mindset.
- Familiarity with frontend systems (React/TypeScript) and API consumption patterns.
- Algo trading experience (either professional or personal).
Who You Might Be (Nice‑to‑Haves):
- Experience or understanding of financial markets.
- Experience working at a startup.
- Experience working remotely.
How We Take Care of You:
- Competitive Salary & Stock Options
- Health Benefits
- New Hire Home‑Office Setup: One‑time USD $500
- Monthly Stipend: USD $150 per month via a Brex Card
Alpaca is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace dedicated to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce.
Staff Software Engineer employer: Alpaca
Contact Detail:
Alpaca Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Staff Software Engineer
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to current or former employees at Alpaca on LinkedIn. A friendly chat can give you insider info and maybe even a referral, which can really boost your chances.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills in real-time! Consider contributing to open-source projects or creating a personal project that showcases your API design expertise. This not only builds your portfolio but also demonstrates your passion for the field.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for the interview by brushing up on your technical knowledge and soft skills. Practice explaining complex concepts simply, as communication is key in a collaborative environment like Alpaca.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in joining the team.
We think you need these skills to ace Staff Software Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion: When writing your application, let your enthusiasm for the role and our mission shine through. We want to see that you’re genuinely excited about contributing to Alpaca's growth and making financial services accessible to everyone.
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV highlights relevant experience that aligns with the Staff Backend Engineer role. Focus on your API design expertise and any leadership roles you've held. We love seeing how your background fits with what we do!
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Use your cover letter to tell us why you’re the perfect fit for Alpaca. Share specific examples of your work in backend engineering and how you’ve driven architectural decisions. This is your chance to connect your skills with our needs!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it shows you’re keen on joining our team!
How to prepare for a job interview at Alpaca
✨Know Your APIs Inside Out
As a Staff Backend Engineer, you'll be the technical owner of Alpaca's APIs. Make sure you understand their design principles and governance thoroughly. Prepare to discuss your experience with API versioning, security, and documentation during the interview.
✨Showcase Your Architectural Skills
This role requires strong architectural judgment. Be ready to share examples of how you've balanced long-term design with delivery in past projects. Discuss specific orchestration and aggregation patterns you've implemented and how they improved system performance.
✨Communicate Clearly and Collaboratively
Excellent communication skills are a must-have for this position. Practice articulating complex technical concepts in a clear and concise manner. Be prepared to demonstrate how you've mentored others and collaborated across teams to drive engineering standards.
✨Demonstrate Your Curiosity and Empathy
Alpaca values curiosity and empathy. During the interview, express your eagerness to learn and adapt, as well as your understanding of team dynamics. Share experiences where you've shown empathy towards colleagues or users, especially in high-pressure situations.