Solidity Jobs in New York, New York, United States

DEX Lead Engineer

⚡ DeFi / Web3 / Blockchain Engineering / Quantitative Trading

📍 Remote (Preference for New York-based candidates - EST / CET Time)

💰 $150,000 – $300,000 USD base salary + equity

🎓 Extensive Solidity experience with production deployments

About The Role:

We’re looking for a DEX Lead / Founding Engineer to join an incredibly exciting startup and lead the build of a perpetual futures decentralised exchange (DEX).

This is a rare opportunity to join a newly funded, high-conviction project at Day 0 — owning the build of a decentralised exchange product from scratch.

The successful candidate will be responsible for building and shipping the first version of the platform, shaping its technical direction, and growing the engineering team. This is a hands-on role that will evolve into a leadership position, with a clear path to becoming the CTO or technical co-founder.

You’ll work directly with the founding CEO and help turn a strong technical foundation into a commercially viable, secure, and scalable product.

Your Role:

✅ Build and deploy a secure, scalable perpetual futures DEX on Ethereum or other EVM-compatible blockchains.

✅ Architect on-chain trading systems for features like perpetuals, AMMs, or order books.

✅ Own protocol upgrades, governance integration, and audit-readiness.

✅ Write high-quality, secure smart contracts in Solidity, and develop backend components in Rust or Golang.

✅ Collaborate closely with the founding team and our blockchain partner to define and iterate on the product roadmap and deliver an end-to-end trading experience.

✅ Ensure protocol and contract-level security, scalability, and audit-readiness.

✅ Play a hands-on role in hiring and scaling the engineering team.

✅ Transition over time into a technical leadership role, such as CTO or Technical Co-Founder, based on performance and interest.

What You’ll Need:

• Extensive Solidity experience, including production deployments.
• Proficiency in Rust or Golang, with experience in backend systems or crypto protocol development.
• Strong understanding of DeFi primitives, especially perpetuals, margin, and liquidity mechanisms.
• Experience with DeFi protocols such as Uniswap, dYdX, GMX, or similar.
• Proven track record of building and launching blockchain products.
• Proven ability to lead complex technical projects and manage timelines.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with product intuition and the ability to align tech with user needs and commercial goals.
• Prior experience as a founder or early-stage startup engineer is strongly preferred.
• Long-term commitment to building, growing, and owning a core product line.
• Passion for decentralised finance and a strong grasp of tokenomics, trading mechanics, and liquidity models.

Why Join Our Client?

• Opportunity to build a flagship DeFi product from the ground up.
• Potential to grow into a Co-Founder or Chief Technology Officer (CTO) position.
• Join a team of smart, motivated, and independent problem-solvers passionate about tackling complex challenges.
• Flexible and customisable benefits.
• Equity - stake in the products overall success and profitability
• Put your dent in the universe: continuous push the boundaries of financial technology, developing robust blockchain infrastructure.

Apply Now to be considered and we will endeavour to reach out to discuss the role and client in further detail should you be a suitable fit.

If you do not hear back from us within 2 weeks of applying, please consider your application unsuccessful. We thank you for your interest and encourage you to apply for future opportunities.