VP/Director, Operations Technology (Middle & Back Office Systems)

Who You Are:

You are a senior hands-on engineering lead with deep roots in middle and back office systems — someone who has spent your career building in-house trade lifecycle infrastructure alongside the ops and trading users who depend on it. You write code (or direct AI tools to write it), review PRs, and step into production issues when they happen. You are fluent in Java and can hold your own in a room with non-technical business stakeholders without losing your engineering instincts.

You thrive in fast-paced, sometimes ambiguous environments and bring clarity and accountability to complex multi-stream initiatives. You have managed small-to-medium engineering teams — hands-on leads who still build — and you are not looking to step into a broad portfolio or program management role. You are the person engineers want in the room to sanity-check architecture decisions, and the person business stakeholders trust to translate what they need into systems that actually work.Demand currently outstrips capacity and priorities shift. Establishing the discipline that makes delivery predictable is part of the job.

This role is based in New York City, working closely with global teams. You will report to the Head of Operations Technology, based in Hong Kong, and represent Operations Technology to our US business stakeholders.

What You’ll Do:

• Own and evolve in-house middle and back office systems - modernizing legacy platforms, redesigning architecture, and building new systems where the business needs them. This is not vendor platform configuration.
• Work directly and daily with ops, trading, and finance users to iterate on trade booking, reconciliation, settlement, and reporting workflows — understanding their pain points and driving engineering solutions that address them.
• Write code, use AI coding tools, review pull requests, and engage in production issue resolution. You should be able to walk us through technical decisions you have personally made recently - a design you shaped, a review where you changed the outcome, an incident you worked.
• Lead 2-3 teams, roughly 6-10 engineers in total, managing team leads while remaining deeply engaged in the technical work.
• Represent the technology organization in front of senior business stakeholders (Trading, Operations, Finance, Compliance) — translating business needs into architectural decisions and engineering outcomes.
• Provide technical guidance on system design, architecture, and best practices for scalable and resilient trade systems, with Java as the primary stack.
• Partner with global leadership to align priorities, manage dependencies, and ensure consistent execution across US and Asia teams.
• Bring structure to complex, multi-stream initiatives — clarity of ownership, tracking, and communication across time zones.
• Take an active role in how work arrives and gets prioritised for your teams - shaping scope, sequencing and trade-offs directly with Operations. We are building out a dedicated TPM function and you will be a close partner to it.
• Embrace and champion the thoughtful adoption of AI to improve team performance and business outcomes.
• Leverage AI tools (e.g., generative AI, automation platforms, data copilots) to improve productivity, decision-making, and output quality in your day-to-day work.

What We’re Looking For:

• 13+ years of software engineering experience, with meaningful time spent in middle and back office systems at a bank, hedge fund, or comparable capital markets firm.
• Java as your primary language. Python as a secondary. We are not a .NET environment.
• Recent, hands-on technical engagement - you should be able to speak in specifics about code you have written, PRs you have reviewed, or production incidents you have worked.
• Direct experience building in-house trade lifecycle systems working alongside operations users — not vendor platform ownership, implementation consulting, or transformation program management.
• Team management experience with teams of 5–15 engineers. We are not looking for a manager of managers overseeing 30+ people across multiple functions.
• Strong instincts for what good trade infrastructure looks like — trade booking, reconciliation, settlement, reporting — built from real experience, not theory.
• Exposure to more than one engineering environment or platform. Adaptability matters more here than depth in a single standardized setup.
• Excellent communication skills — able to engage with senior non-technical business leaders clearly and credibly, without losing engineering rigor.
• High degree of ownership, follow-through, and comfort operating with autonomy in an ambiguous environment.

Bonus Points: 

• Experience in digital assets, DeFi, or crypto markets.
• Familiarity with both traditional finance and emerging market infrastructures.
• Experience scaling global engineering teams or driving operational/process maturity.
• Exposure to trade capture and settlement systems in multi-asset environments.
• Prior experience working in a global organization with 24/7 business operations.

What We Offer:

• Competitive base salary and discretionary bonus
• Flexible Time Off (i.e. unlimited paid vacation days)
• Company paid Holidays (11)
• Company paid sick leave
• Company-paid health and protective benefits for employees, partners, and other dependents
• 3% 401(k) company contribution
• Generous paid Parental Leave
• Free virtual coaching and counseling sessions through Headspace 
• Opportunities to learn about the Crypto industry
• Free daily snacks in-office
• Smart, entrepreneurial, and fun colleagues
• Employee Resource Groups

Apply now and join us as we grow the economy that runs on code.