The role involves developing a decentralized darkpool with high-performance matching engine, cross-chain liquidity aggregation, and fault-tolerant architecture while ensuring cryptographic privacy and low latency.
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.
Similar Jobs
Cloud • Information Technology • Productivity • Security • Software • App development • Automation
Build and ship backend features end-to-end using Ruby on Rails and SQL. Lead complex technical projects, solve architecture challenges, establish standards, conduct meaningful code reviews, resolve high-risk bugs, document systems, collaborate across engineering teams, and mentor junior engineers.
Top Skills:
RubyRuby On RailsSQL
Cloud • Digital Media • News + Entertainment • On-Demand
Design, build, deploy, and operate Philo’s scalable server-side ad insertion and programmatic advertising services. Develop resilient data pipelines, ad integrations, identity and measurement solutions, monitoring tools, and highly available microservices. Collaborate with ad ecosystem partners, video delivery, ad operations, data science, and business stakeholders to optimize ad delivery, reliability, performance, security, and compliance with industry standards.
Top Skills:
C++Cloud ComputingData WarehousingDockerGoHeader BiddingHlsJavaKubernetesMicroservicesMpeg-DashNode.jsNon-Relational DatabasesOpenrtbPythonRelational DatabasesRubySsaiVastVmap
Big Data • Fintech • Mobile • Payments • Financial Services
Lead technical vision and strategy for Affirm’s Cards backend engineering organization. Architect scalable and reliable platforms, guide cross-team initiatives, champion AI adoption and engineering excellence, influence technical roadmaps, and mentor engineers through Staff level. The role requires strong architectural expertise, organizational leadership, project management, communication, and cross-functional collaboration.
Top Skills:
AIJavaScriptKotlinReact Native
What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene
San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area attracts more startup funding than any other region in the world. Home to Stanford University and UC Berkeley, leading VC firms and several of the world’s most valuable companies, the Bay Area is the place to go for anyone looking to make it big in the tech industry. That said, San Francisco has a lot to offer beyond technology thanks to a thriving art and music scene, excellent food and a short drive to several of the country’s most beautiful recreational areas.
Key Facts About San Francisco Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
- Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
- Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
