Software Engineer - Pre-trade analytics, risk, portfolio optimization

About this role

Clear Street is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to build the Alpha Platform, an AI-driven system for pre-trade analytics, risk management, and portfolio optimization. You'll own end-to-end development across data pipelines, analytics, and APIs on a high-performance financial platform serving institutional clients.

What you'll do

• Design and implement scalable backend services for pre-trade analytics, risk assessment, and portfolio optimization
• Own full-stack development from data ingestion pipelines to client-facing APIs on a high-SLA platform
• Define system architecture and technical approaches for complex financial problems
• Mentor team members and establish engineering standards and best practices
• Collaborate across teams to evolve the Alpha Platform with cutting-edge technologies
• Balance performance, reliability, and user experience in API and service design

What they're looking for

• Java with Spring Framework (or Python with FastAPI/Pydantic/async patterns)
• PostgreSQL and relational database design
• Data processing with Pandas or Polars
• AI-assisted development and Spec-Driven Development
• System design and architectural paradigms
• Design patterns, data structures, and algorithms
• gRPC, Redis, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS (preferred)
• Financial domain knowledge: risk, instruments, trade lifecycle (preferred)

Benefits

• Competitive base salary ($170,000–$220,000) plus equity and bonuses
• 401(k) matching
• Full medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Gender-neutral parental leave
• Modern, high-quality codebase with minimal technical debt
• Collaborative, meritocratic culture with strong DevOps and observability practices