Head of Trading Technology

As Head of Trading Technology at Tokka Labs, you lead the core and platform engineering team responsible for building next-generation low-latency trading infrastructure. This is a hands-on technical leadership role where you own the end-to-end architecture and delivery of high-performance trading systems, combining deep low-latency expertise from traditional finance HFT with the demands of on-chain DeFi and RWA trading. You directly manage and mentor a team of elite software engineers, DevOps, and architects while remaining actively involved in design, coding, and performance optimization.

What you'll do

• Lead the green-field design and implementation of a high-performance, low-latency trading platform that meets the rigorous demands of off-chain and on-chain trading
• Write and review critical code, make and own architectural decisions, and personally resolve complex performance and latency issues
• Build and inspire a high-performing engineering team and redesign workflows, tooling, and delivery to be AI-native
• Lead, grow, and mentor a team of elite engineers with hands-on guidance, especially to junior and mid-level talent
• Set clear timelines, manage dependencies across components, track progress, and ensure high-quality delivery of the full trading stack
• Maintain strong understanding of the entire trading infrastructure, from market data ingestion through order execution and risk systems, and manage specialized engineers across individual layers
• Drive continuous optimization for latency, throughput, reliability, and scalability in a competitive trading environment
• Collaborate closely with traders, quants, and business stakeholders to ensure technical solutions directly support trading strategies
• Establish and enforce engineering best practices, including testing, CI/CD, monitoring, and operational excellence

What you bring

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 5 years in technical leadership roles (Lead, Head of, or Director level) within trading firms
• Proven hands-on experience building or optimizing high-performance trading systems in traditional finance HFT (equities, futures, commodities) or other high-frequency markets
• Deep proficiency as a hands-on programmer in high-performance languages such as C++, Rust, or similar, with a track record of delivering production low-latency systems
• Demonstrated success managing and mentoring elite engineering teams in fast-paced trading environments
• Solid end-to-end understanding of trading infrastructure including market data, execution, risk, and clearing, and the ability to manage engineers across specialized components
• Strong ability to set priorities, manage timelines, and drive complex technical projects to completion
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to make sound technical decisions under ambiguity

About Tokka Labs

Tokka Labs is a proprietary trading firm focused on collaboration, rigorous research, and cutting-edge technology. The firm acts as a market maker, searcher, and solver for top protocols on leading blockchains, designing and implementing its own trading systems and strategies to provide liquidity in diverse and challenging on-chain and off-chain environments.