Founding Software Engineer – Python / Real-Time Systems
First engineering hire at a profitable, self-funded company building real-time pricing and trading systems. You'll work directly with the founders to build Python pricing/bidding engines, data pipelines, A/B testing frameworks and AI-assisted research tooling, in-office in New York five days a week.
- Compensation
- $200K–$400K / yr
- Location
- New York, United States
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- 3+ years
- Category
- Software engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 3+ years professional software engineering experience with strong backend, systems or platform background
- Strong hands-on Python development skills
- End-to-end experience building scalable Python-based real-time pricing or trading systems and data pipelines
- Experience designing and operating data-intensive production platforms
- Extensive use of agentic AI development workflows for development, testing and iteration
- Examples of building new systems or products from concept to production with quantifiable business impact
- Track record of rapid career progression and increasing technical ownership
- Strong data intuition and ability to connect technical decisions with commercial outcomes
- Experience in technology companies with strong engineering standards
- Confident communicating ideas and challenging assumptions
- Able to work from the New York office five days per week
- Able to work in the US without employer visa sponsorship or visa transfer
Nice to have
- Experience in financial or market-making environments, CS degree from a leading program, or interest in live events
Full description
Founding Software Engineer – Python / Real-Time Systems
A fantastic opportunity for an experienced Software Engineer to join a profitable, self-funded technology company developing advanced pricing and trading systems. As the first engineering hire, you will work directly with the founders to build core infrastructure, improve real-time decision-making and turn research into reliable production systems. This role requires hands-on Python experience building real-time pricing or trading platforms, alongside extensive use of agentic AI development workflows.
Location: New York, NY. In-office, five days per week.
Salary: $200,000 - $400,000 annual base salary + up to 2% equity
Requirements for Founding Software Engineer:
- 3+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong backend, systems or platform engineering background
- Strong hands-on Python development skills
- Proven end-to-end experience building scalable, Python-based real-time pricing or trading systems and data pipelines
- Experience designing and operating data-intensive production platforms
- Extensive use of agentic AI development workflows to accelerate development, testing and iteration while maintaining production quality
- Clear examples of building new systems or products from initial concept through to production, with quantifiable business impact
- A track record of rapid career progression and increasing technical ownership
- Strong data intuition and the ability to connect technical decisions with commercial outcomes
- Experience within technology companies with strong engineering standards
- Confident communicating ideas, challenging assumptions and adapting when an approach does not work
- Able to work from the New York office five days per week
- Able to work in the US without employer visa sponsorship or a visa transfer, neither of which is available
- Experience in financial or market-making environments, a Computer Science degree from a leading program, or an interest in live events is beneficial
Responsibilities for Founding Software Engineer:
- Build and own pricing engines, bidding systems and supporting data infrastructure
- Develop scalable Python systems supporting real-time trading decisions
- Turn interactive AI-assisted research into continuously running research pipelines
- Build A/B testing frameworks to evaluate pricing improvements
- Improve bidding throughput, reliability and production performance
- Develop AI-powered tools for operational triage and incident response
- Implement model drift detection and monitoring
- Work directly with the founders to prioritize engineering projects and measure their commercial impact