Senior Backend Engineer, Exchange Core

About PolymarketPolymarket is the world’s largest prediction market platform. We enable individuals to express views on real-world events by trading on outcomes across politics, economics, sports, culture, and current affairs. Built as a peer-to-peer marketplace with no centralized “house,” Polymarket aggregates diverse opinions into transparent, market-based probabilities that reflect collective expectations about the future.We’re growing fast: both in volume ($21B traded in 2025) and in adoption as an alternative news source. Our ambition is to become a ubiquitous beacon of truth in global media, powered by fast, reliable, and deeply technical market infrastructure.About the rolePolymarket 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.What you’ll doWe’re looking for an experienced backend engineer who enjoys working close to the metal and solving hard distributed systems problems.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.What we’re looking for4–7+ 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.(Plus) Experience in trading systems, HFT, gaming, telecom, or other latency-sensitive domains(Plus) Production experience with Kafka, Pulsar, or similar streaming platforms at scale(Plus) Familiarity with gRPC, Protobuf, ZeroMQ, or similar technologies(Plus) Experience deploying systems in cloud environments (AWS/GCP) and using containersBenefitsCompetitive salary & equityUnlimited PTO Full Health, Vision, & Dental coverage401k matchHardware setup — new MacBook Pro, big display, & accessories Pay Transparency Base salary range: $250,000 to $500,000, plus equity and benefits.This is a good-faith range for the level we're hiring at. Experience varies widely within a title here, so if your expectations fall outside it, reach out anyway. We're always happy to talk it through.LocationNew YorkEmployment TypeFull timeLocation TypeOn-siteDepartmentEngineeringEngineering, US