---
title: 'Senior Backend Engineer, Exchange Core at Polymarket'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-exchange-core-polymarket-new-york-xqyf03mbcen6'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-13'
---

# Senior Backend Engineer, Exchange Core at Polymarket

- **Company:** Polymarket
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-02-17
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/polymarket/27509c31-5cfe-4191-87eb-e993cb500b8a/application

**Skills:** Backend Development, C/C++, Systems Programming, Algorithms, Data Structures, Concurrency, Memory Management, Linux, Distributed Systems, Low-Latency Systems, Go, Rust, Java, Kafka, Pulsar, RabbitMQ, gRPC, Protobuf, ZeroMQ, AWS

> Build and scale core exchange infrastructure using high-performance backend systems. Design low-latency services, optimize for performance, and ensure reliability under real-world trading loads with minimal bureaucracy.

## Job description

## About Polymarket

Polymarket 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 role

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.

## What you’ll do

We’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 for

- 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.
- (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 containers

## Benefits

- Competitive salary & equity
- Unlimited PTO
- Full Health, Vision, & Dental coverage
- 401k match
- Hardware 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.

## About Polymarket

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Polymarket is the world's largest prediction market platform, enabling users to trade on the outcomes of real-world events to surface a crowd‑driven signal of what people actually believe will happen.
- **Entity Type**: Private (multiple funding rounds; latest $2B corporate round led by Intercontinental Exchange in November 2025)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States
- **Founded**: 2020
- **Founders**: Not publicly available

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Prediction markets / Information markets / Financial technology
- **Target customers**: B2C (30 million monthly visitors) and B2B (institutional investors, media, financial firms using data for research and hedging)
- **Mission or purpose**: “Become the new front page of the internet” and “Define the coming era of finance” by rewarding conviction and bringing private insight to life in the public forum [careers.polymarket.com](https://careers.polymarket.com/)

## Products & Services
- **Polymarket Platform (Prediction Markets)**: A decentralized platform where users trade on the probabilities of future events across politics, geopolitics, business, culture, and breaking news. Real‑time, crowd‑driven forecasts often more accurate than polling. [polymarket.com](https://polymarket.com/)
- **Event‑Data Feeds**: Aggregated market probabilities distributed via partnerships with X, Substack, Yahoo Finance, and other media to provide “the true signal in world events.” [careers.polymarket.com](https://careers.polymarket.com/)
- **Institutional & Media Solutions**: Partnerships with Dow Jones (official information market for WSJ, Barron’s, MarketWatch) and Intercontinental Exchange (owner of NYSE) to distribute event‑driven data to global markets and power next‑generation hedging strategies. [careers.polymarket.com](https://careers.polymarket.com/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed; total funding exceeds $2.87B (see below)
- **Key Metric**:
  - **Annual Revenue**: $17.9M (as reported by LinkedIn)
  - **Total Funding**: $2.874B (including a $2B corporate round from Intercontinental Exchange in November 2025, a $45M Series B led by Founders Fund in May 2024, and earlier rounds)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**:
  - Intercontinental Exchange (lead in 2025 corporate round)
  - Founders Fund (lead in Series B)
  - Dow Jones (official data partnership)
  - Key acquisitions: QCEX ($112M), Brahma, Dome
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Monthly visitors: ~45 million (global rank #816, traffic up +373% year‑over‑year)
  - Headcount: 201 employees (+775% YoY)
  - Active job postings: 42 (monthly +44.8%, yearly +1300%)
  - Expanded to 20 countries; offices in New York, United States (HQ), plus remote presence

## Competitive Advantages
- **First‑mover and market dominance** in prediction markets with the deepest liquidity and widest event coverage.
- **Institutional credibility** through partnerships with Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE owner) and Dow Jones – an unmatched bridge between retail prediction markets and traditional finance.
- **Real‑time, crowd‑sourced accuracy** that is often faster and more reliable than polls or experts, attracting both retail users and institutional clients.
- **Network effects**: 30M monthly visitors provide the liquidity that makes the platform useful; data feeds are increasingly embedded in major media and financial platforms.

## Strategic Focus
- **Institutional expansion**: Leveraging partnerships with ICE and Dow Jones to integrate Polymarket data into financial research, hedging, and media.
- **Becoming the “front page of the internet”** – making market probabilities the default way to understand any breaking news event.
- **Defining the next era of finance** by merging real‑time information markets with traditional financial instruments.
- **Talent acquisition**: Actively hiring quantitative traders, data analysts, derivatives experts, AML compliance officers, and engineering roles to scale platform, security, and institutional support. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/polymarket)

## Why Work Here
- **High‑growth environment**: 775% headcount growth in the past year; massive traffic scaling and institutional adoption create exciting challenges.
- **Mission‑driven culture**: Build the “information market” that cuts through noise and empowers better decision‑making – a blend of finance, tech, and media.
- **Engineering & data focus**: Tech stack includes blockchain, PostgreSQL, ClickHouse, Terraform, Python, and JavaScript; roles span application security, AI ops, data engineering, and Android development.
- **Remote & office flexibility**: Headquarters in New York, NY; operates in 20 countries. Hybrid/remote policy not specified but international presence suggests flexibility.
- **Compensation & culture**: Employer rating 4.3/5 (perfect scores for work‑life, compensation, culture, career). Senior Accounting Manager salary listed at $225k–$240k (New York). [indeed.com](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Polymarket)
- **Notable perks / engineering culture**: Emphasis on decentralized finance, open‑source principles, and “rewarding conviction” – a fast‑paced, intellectually stimulating environment.

## Sources
1. [careers.polymarket.com](https://careers.polymarket.com/)
2. [polymarket.com](https://polymarket.com/)
3. [linkedin.com (company profile)](https://www.linkedin.com/company/polymarket/jobs)
4. [indeed.com (salary data)](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Polymarket)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com (open roles)](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/polymarket)

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