Senior Software Engineer - Liquidity Platform

About OKX

At OKX, we believe that the future will be reshaped by crypto, and ultimately contribute to every individual's freedom.

OKX is a leading crypto exchange, and the developer of OKX Wallet, giving millions access to crypto trading and decentralized crypto applications (dApps). OKX is also a trusted brand by hundreds of large institutions seeking access to crypto markets. We are safe and reliable, backed by our Proof of Reserves.

Across our multiple offices globally, we are united by our core principles: We Before Me, Do the Right Thing, and Get Things Done. These shared values drive our culture, shape our processes, and foster a friendly, rewarding, and diverse environment for every OK-er.

About the Role

We are hiring software engineers across the Liquidity Platform’s engineering teams. You will design, build, and operate the systems that price, execute, monitor, and safeguard our liquidity-providing business 24/7. You will work closely with liquidity managers, product managers, and desk developers — developing strategies, services, and infrastructure using in-house toolkits — while growing capabilities in inventory and risk management, strategic problem solving, cross-functional collaboration, and effective communication.

These roles are open to Senior and Staff-level candidates; scope and title are calibrated based on experience and impact. Specializations span Delta One Systematic Trading, Cash OTC, Option Market Making, Trading Infra Service, Data Engineering and Risk & Analytics.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, build, and operate scalable, fault-tolerant, low-latency trading infrastructure and microservices that handle 24/7 crypto market operations.
• Build and maintain connectivity to centralized exchanges, DeFi venues, and counterparties using FIX 5.0+, WebSocket, HTTP/2, and REST — handling the real-world complexities of external integrations and on-chain data.
• Develop and maintain core services across the trading lifecycle: strategy and execution engines, automated pricing and trading bots, order execution and position tracking, trade & position data platforms, and risk & analytics systems.
• Architect and optimize high-throughput order execution with sub-millisecond latency targets, and build real-time market-data pipelines aggregating order books and price feeds across multiple venues.
• Implement pre-trade risk controls, circuit breakers, rate limiters, position/PnL and risk calculations, automated alerting, and high-availability architecture.
• Implement robust monitoring, alerting, and auto-recovery so strategies remain stable, scalable, and self-healing in a 24x7 trading environment.
• Build trusted data models, reconciliation workflows, and data-quality controls with clear lineage, reproducibility, and documentation — delivering outputs for the trading desk, Finance, and Operations.
• Profile and eliminate latency hotspots using garbage-free coding and lock-free concurrency; continuously improve system performance and user experience.
• Collaborate with liquidity managers, product managers, desk developers, risk, finance, and operations to design, implement, and roll solutions into production.
• Conduct code reviews, mentor junior engineers, and uphold scalability, resiliency, maintainability, and security best practices across all development activities.

Requirements:

• **STEM foundation: **Bachelor’s degree or above in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical discipline; a combined finance background is advantageous.
• **Experience: **Typically 3–8 years in software or data engineering (level-dependent), ideally with exposure to trading, OMS, middle/post-trade, or latency-sensitive systems.
• **Languages: **Strong proficiency in one or more of Java (17+), Rust, C++, or Python, with a focus on code quality and operational reliability.
• **Systems: **Strong understanding of high-performance, low-latency distributed systems, multi-threaded/concurrent programming, and — where relevant — JVM internals and GC behavior.
• **Connectivity & protocols: **Hands-on experience with FIX 5.0+, WebSocket, HTTP/2, and REST APIs, plus network protocol and TCP/UDP optimization.
• **Data & messaging: **Strong SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL — schema design and performance tuning); experience with Redis and Kafka.
• **Infrastructure: **Comfortable in Linux/Unix environments; familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud platforms (AWS, AliCloud, GCP) and on-premise infrastructure.
• **Markets: **Understanding of market microstructure, order lifecycle, and core trading concepts such as PnL, margin, leverage, and market risk.
• **Mindset: **Strong analytical thinking, ownership, and attention to detail; able to work effectively under pressure in a fast-paced environment; a controls mindset around data quality and reproducibility.
• **Communication: **Excellent communication and collaboration skills across business and technical teams; fluency in English required, with Chinese/Mandarin a strong plus for global, cross-functional work.
• **Passion: **Genuine interest in crypto markets, blockchain, and the broader financial industry, and a drive to keep learning new technologies.

Nice to Haves:

• Prior experience in proprietary trading, market making, quantitative research, or front-office technology at exchanges, banks, or investment institutions.
• Experience with execution algorithms (TWAP, VWAP, iceberg, sniper, smart order routing) and backtesting / strategy-simulation frameworks.
• Low-latency tooling and IPC: Aeron, Chronicle Queue, Disruptor, shared-memory messaging, Agrona Collections, Protocol Buffers, SBE.
• Frameworks and libraries such as Spring, Netty, and Vert.x.
• Modern data platforms (Spark/PySpark, Iceberg, ClickHouse, InfluxDB), workflow orchestration (Airflow, Celery), and ML tooling (MLflow, TensorFlow).
• Strong understanding of DeFi, blockchain, smart contracts, and crypto exchange APIs; exposure to event-contract / prediction markets.
• Agentic programming fluency — hands-on use of AI coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex) on real production work.
• Risk and compliance experience; professional certifications such as CFA or FRM.  

Technical Environment:

• **Languages: **Java 17+, Rust, Python, C++
• **Protocols: **FIX 5.0+, WebSocket, HTTP/2, REST
• **Stack: **Spring, Netty, Aeron, Chronicle Queue, Disruptor, Kafka, Redis, etcd, MySQL, PostgreSQL, InfluxDB, ClickHouse, Iceberg, Spark
• **Infrastructure: **Linux/Unix, Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, AWS / AliCloud / GCP

Team Specializations:

The Liquidity Platform comprises several engineering teams. Depending on your strengths and interests, you may join one of the following:

• **Delta One – Systematic Trading: **Build cross-venue liquidity and market-making strategies with deep market-microstructure and execution-optimization focus.
• **Option Market Making: **Build and operate automated option market-making strategies and pricing systems — managing volatility, greeks, and inventory risk while quoting continuously across crypto options venues.
• **Cash OTC: **Develop and own OTC trading strategies and their production environment, partnering closely with liquidity and product managers.
• **Trading Infra Service: **Build and maintain the core strategy engine and trading-infrastructure microservices on a distributed, enterprise-grade architecture. Deliver high-throughput, sub-millisecond order execution, market-data pipelines, and exchange connectivity.
• **Data Engineering: **Own the trade & position platform end-to-end — venue connectors, the Python + SQL data model, reconciliation, and data-quality controls.
• **Risk & Analytics: **Build a greenfield, next-generation risk platform — real-time risk monitoring, PnL/risk calculation, alerting, and circuit-breaking strategies.

Perks & Benefits

• Competitive total compensation package
• L&D programs and Education subsidy for employees' growth and development
• Various team building programs and company events
• Wellness and meal allowances
• Comprehensive healthcare schemes for employees and dependants
• More that we love to tell you along the process!