Staff HFT Rust Engineer Freelance

 Staff HFT Rust Engineer | London – On-site | Up to £175,000 base + significant stock options and performance bonuses

About Our Client

Our client is an innovative fintech startup revolutionizing digital asset markets through cutting-edge high-frequency trading systems. Recently backed by a £1.6M seed round led by Lightspeed Faction, they’re on a mission to make digital asset markets more efficient and transparent. Their team combines expertise in quantitative finance, systems engineering, and blockchain technology to build the next generation of trading infrastructure.

The Role

Our client is seeking an exceptional Staff-level Rust Engineer with deep expertise in high-frequency trading systems to join their core engineering team. As a Staff Engineer, you’ll provide technical leadership, architectural guidance, and help define engineering standards while implementing mission-critical components of their low-latency trading platform. You’ll work closely with quantitative researchers and infrastructure engineers to design and deliver high-performance trading solutions that give the company a competitive edge.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect, design, and implement high-performance, low-latency trading systems in Rust
• Lead technical design discussions and make key architectural decisions for critical systems
• Mentor junior engineers and establish best practices for performance-critical software
• Drive optimization initiatives to achieve nanosecond-level performance in the trading stack
• Develop robust, fault-tolerant systems that can operate reliably in volatile market conditions
• Work with quantitative researchers to translate complex trading algorithms into efficient implementations
• Design and build sophisticated exchange connectivity layers and market data systems
• Establish technical standards and review processes that ensure code quality and performance
• Participate in strategic planning for the technology roadmap
• Lead incident reviews and establish reliability improvements

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional experience with Rust in production environments
• Proven track record building and optimizing high-performance, low-latency systems
• Deep understanding of systems programming, memory management, and concurrency patterns
• Expert-level knowledge of computer science fundamentals, data structures, and algorithms
• Extensive experience with network programming and protocol design
• Prior experience in a technical leadership role
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience)

Why Join This Team

• Opportunity to provide technical leadership in cutting-edge trading technology
• Exceptional compensation package with significant upside potential
• Work with a world-class team of engineers and researchers
• Shape the architectural direction of a next-generation trading platform
• Influence the future of digital asset markets
• Modern tech stack and commitment to engineering excellence
• Professional development opportunities and conference attendance

Technology Stack

• Primary language: Rust
• Additional tools: C++, Python, Kubernetes, Kafka, ClickHouse
• Infrastructure: AWS, bare metal colocation in strategic locations
• Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, custom observability tools