Founding Engineer

MLabs • New York, NY

4d • Hybrid

About The Position

Our client, a high-growth fintech venture backed by leading industry accelerators, is developing a next-generation institutional trading venue for foreign exchange (FX) hedging. To drive this technical vision forward, our client is seeking a Founding Engineer with co-founder-level ownership to architect and build core financial infrastructure. This role offers up to 5% equity and is designed for an ambitious, highly skilled engineer who thrives in an intense startup environment, works at an exceptional speed using modern AI-native development workflows, and is based in, or willing to relocate to New York City.

Requirements

• Expert Rust Fluency: Deep, hands-on experience in Rust is strictly required.
• Core Financial / Trading Infrastructure Background: Demonstrated experience building derivatives, margin/netting systems, high-frequency trading (HFT) venues, clearing engines, or protocol security architectures.
• Entrepreneurial Ownership: Prior experience as a founder, CTO, or founding engineer (or fewer than 5 years of professional experience with exceptional output).
• AI-Native Workflow: Proficiency in high-velocity shipping using agentic AI orchestration (managing parallel AI agents to accelerate development).
• Ability and willingness to work full-time on-site in New York City (or relocate immediately) and thrive in a 6+ day/week startup culture.

Nice To Haves

• Domain Expertise: Highly valuable exposure to one or more of the following: DeFi protocols, High-Frequency Trading (HFT) systems, Kernel development, Compilers, Operating systems, Physics engines

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and optimize high-performance, low-latency core trading and clearing infrastructure using Rust.
• Take end-to-end ownership of the technical roadmap, working closely with the executive leadership team to shape system architecture and execution strategy.
• Leverage AI-native development practices and agentic orchestration (running parallel AI agents) to maximize engineering velocity and output.
• Design and implement risk management, margin, netting, or settlement engines suitable for institutional-grade financial instruments.
• Maintain rigorous standards for protocol security, system reliability, and low-level code performance.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary accompanied by significant equity (up to 5%).
• Co-founder-level technical ownership and direct influence over company strategy.
• Opportunity to build foundational financial infrastructure alongside experienced industry leaders from major software vendors and high-volume protocols.
• Rapidly moving, high-growth environment supported by top-tier accelerators.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed