Senior Backend Engineer, Exchange Core

Polymarket is looking for a backend engineer to help build and scale the core exchange infrastructure that powers our markets. This role is focused on high-performance, low-latency backend systems that must be correct, fast, and resilient under real-world trading load. You’ll be a core individual contributor working with other senior engineers to design, implement, and optimize the systems that sit at the heart of Polymarket’s exchange. This is a high-ownership role with minimal bureaucracy and a strong bias toward execution.

Responsibilities

Build the exchange backend: Design and implement scalable, low-latency backend services that power Polymarket’s exchange, using C/C++ or other performance-oriented systems languages (Go, Rust, Java); Optimize for performance & scale: Profile, tune, and debug systems with a focus on latency, throughput, memory usage, and correctness in production; Design distributed systems: Build and operate robust APIs, data pipelines, and event-driven systems using messaging and streaming platforms (Kafka, Pulsar, RabbitMQ); Own reliability & operations: Reinforce security, availability, performance, and scalability across backend systems, and participate in diagnosing and resolving production issues; Collaborate cross-functionally: Work closely with engineers across product, infra, and data to ensure tight integration between the exchange and the broader platform; Contribute to code quality: Participate in code reviews, design discussions, and architectural decisions to maintain a high bar for engineering excellence

Requirements

4–7+ years of professional backend development experience, with strong proficiency in C/C++ (preferred) or another systems language (Go, Rust, Java); Solid understanding of algorithms, data structures, concurrency, memory management, and experience building low-latency, high-throughput systems; Comfortable working on complex systems end-to-end, debugging production issues on Linux, and taking responsibility for correctness and performance

Nice to have

Experience in trading systems, HFT, gaming, telecom, or other latency-sensitive domains; Production experience with Kafka, Pulsar, or similar streaming platforms at scale; Familiarity with gRPC, Protobuf, ZeroMQ, or similar technologies; Experience deploying systems in cloud environments (AWS/GCP) and using containers

Benefits

Competitive salary & equity; Unlimited PTO; Full Health, Vision, & Dental coverage; 401k match; Hardware setup — new MacBook Pro, big display, & accessories