Lead Backend Engineer – Trading Platform, Low-Latency Java

About Bullish

Bullish is an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. These include:

• Bullish Exchange – a regulated and institutionally focused digital assets spot and derivatives exchange, integrating a high‑performance central limit order book matching engine with automated market making to provide deep and predictable liquidity. Bullish Exchange is regulated in Germany, Hong Kong, and Gibraltar.
• CoinDesk Indices – a collection of tradable proprietary and single‑asset benchmarks and indices that track the performance of digital assets for global institutions in the digital assets and traditional finance industries.
• CoinDesk Data – a broad suite of digital assets market data and analytics, providing real‑time insights into prices, trends, and market dynamics.
• CoinDesk Insights – a digital asset media and events provider and operator of Coindesk.com, a digital media platform that covers news and insights about digital assets, the underlying markets, policy, and blockchain technology.

Reports to: Vice President, Engineering

Engineering Organization & Culture

At Bullish, we are engineering the institutional standard for the digital asset industry. Our mission is to build a platform centered on security and compliance, requiring a commitment to technical excellence that extends beyond delivering code. As a global organization, we set a high bar for those driven to do their best work alongside experienced, deeply specialized peers. Engineers here treat development as a craft and own the outcome from concept to deployment. Our teams bring structure to ambiguity and shape the frameworks that support a global organization. We refuse to compromise on quality and seek problem solvers who thrive on complex technical challenges with real market consequences.

The Team: Trading Product Engineering

The Trading Product Engineering team builds the core distributed systems that drive the global trading experience on Bullish Exchange. We own the end‑to‑end order lifecycle, orchestrating a hybrid matching engine that combines a Central Limit Order Book with proprietary Automated Market Making. Our high‑throughput APIs enable trading across Spot, Futures, and Options. The work demands absolute correctness in managing complex financial state transitions, translating intricate market structures into scalable solutions.

The Role

We are looking for a Lead Engineer to drive backend development of the applications, frameworks, and tools at the core of Bullish Exchange. You will design and build high‑performance trading engine components alongside a distributed team based primarily in Hong Kong and Singapore. This is a hands‑on technical role with leadership expectations: setting the technical bar, mentoring engineers, and shaping how the team works. Bullish Engineering operates on an AI‑first principle, using LLMs throughout the SDLC to speed up development, review, and automation.

What You’ll Do

• Design and deliver reusable, reliable, low‑latency Java code that powers the Exchange.
• Apply deep TradFi product knowledge across Spot and Derivatives to ensure functional correctness and market fit.
• Identify bottlenecks and engineer solutions that improve throughput, latency, and reliability.
• Set the bar for code quality, automation, and design across the team.
• Mentor engineers and define what good looks like across the organization.
• Collaborate closely with engineers, product, and project management across Hong Kong, Singapore, and other Bullish hubs.

What You’ll Bring

• 12+ years of Java backend engineering experience, with a focus on front‑office execution and trading technologies.
• Expert‑level Java (17+), including the JVM, concurrency primitives, and collections.
• Proven track record of architecting and building low‑latency trading systems from the ground up.
• Strong command of data structures, algorithms, and TDD/BDD practices, including thorough unit test coverage with JUnit and Mockito.
• Hands‑on experience with Spring or Micronaut, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Working knowledge of messaging technologies such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, or Solace.
• Solid understanding of Spot, Futures, and Options markets.
• Hands‑on experience with agentic AI development: LLM integration, prompt engineering, and SDLC automation.
• Familiarity with Git/GitHub, JIRA, Confluence, and CI/CD practices.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with TypeScript.
• Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Experience in the cryptocurrency or digital asset space.

Equal Opportunity

Bullish is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are fast evolving and striving toward a globally diverse community. With integrity at our core, our success is driven by a talented team of individuals and the different perspectives they are encouraged to bring to work every day.