Staff Backend Engineer

Polymarket

. Own the design, build, and operation of critical backend systems end to end, from architecture to production .

Posted 10/16/2026full-timeNew York City • New York • United StatesLead💰 $250,000 - $400,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates expertise in backend engineering with a strong focus on designing, building, and operating high-scale distributed systems. Proficient in Go, with a commitment to correctness and reliability in systems impacting financial outcomes.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Backend Engineering ExperienceProficiency In GoDistributed Systems DesignTechnical LeadershipProduction Reliability

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Backend EngineeringProficiency In GoProficiency In PythonProficiency In JavaDistributed SystemsConcurrencyData StructuresAlgorithmsIncident ResponsePerformance Tuning

Soft Skills

MentoringProblem SolvingIndependent WorkJudgment On TradeoffsCollaboration

Tools & Technologies

KafkaPulsarGRPCProtobufAWSGCPContainersModern Deployment Tooling

Industry Keywords

Trading SystemsExchange SystemsConsumer Product PlatformsRisk EngineeringFraud EngineeringFintechPaymentsCryptoGamingLatency-Critical Domains

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSDistributed SystemsGoogle Cloud PlatformGRPCJavaKafkaPulsarPythonGo

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own the design, build, and operation of critical backend systems end to end, from architecture to production
Set technical direction and influence architecture across teams, considering scale, failure modes, and graceful degradation
Solve complex, open-ended technical problems and turn them into shippable plans
Build fast, correct, and reusable services and APIs, mainly in Go
Own production reliability by profiling and tuning performance, leading incident response, and preventing recurring issues
Maintain a high bar for correctness in systems where bugs have financial consequences
Partner with Product, Infrastructure, Data, and business stakeholders to turn ambiguous requirements into working systems
Mentor engineers, lead design reviews, and help establish engineering standards

Requirements

What you’ll need

7+ years of professional backend engineering experience, with strong proficiency in Go, Python, or Java (Go preferred)
Deep knowledge of distributed systems, concurrency, data structures, and algorithms
Track record of designing, shipping, and operating high-scale distributed systems in production
Obsession with correctness and reliability, especially where failures have financial consequences
Proven technical leadership, including setting direction for systems spanning teams and helping engineers improve
Ability to work independently, handle ambiguity, and drive work forward without waiting for direction
Sound judgment on tradeoffs between speed, quality, and long-term maintainability
Plus: experience in trading or exchange systems, consumer product platforms at scale, risk/fraud/compliance engineering, or derivatives and risk engines
Plus: background in latency-critical or financial domains such as HFT, fintech, payments, crypto, or gaming
Plus: production experience with Kafka, Pulsar, gRPC/Connect, or Protobuf
Plus: experience running services on AWS or GCP with containers and modern deployment tooling

Benefits

Comp & perks

Competitive salary and equity
Unlimited PTO
Health, vision, and dental coverage
401(k) match
Full hardware setup: new MacBook Pro, large display, and accessories