As a Trading Systems Software Engineer at SF Compute, your primary role will involve building and optimizing systems that facilitate the trading of compute resources. You'll work on a variety of tasks including improving our shape-packing solver for trades, scaling up APIs for quote generation and order-laying, and implementing compliance pipelines. Your work directly impacts how efficiently we can serve our traders and compute providers.

To excel as a Trading Systems Software Engineer at SF Compute, you should have a robust background in engineering, with experience in building highly fault-tolerant systems. Understanding of finance or trading concepts is a plus, as well as proficiency in Rust. Previous experience in startups or managing financial systems will put you at an advantage!

In your role as a Trading Systems Software Engineer at SF Compute, you can expect to work on exciting projects that include optimizing trading algorithms, managing API scalability, and designing mechanisms for a rapidly growing market. Your contributions will help streamline the trading process, improve system reliability, and ultimately enhance the user experience.

At SF Compute, Trading Systems Software Engineers enjoy a competitive salary along with a generous equity grant. We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement matching up to 4%, unlimited paid time off, and even daily lunches. Our commitment to employee well-being extends to parental leave and a supportive, inclusive workplace.

SF Compute strongly believes in fostering a diverse work environment. We base our hiring decisions solely on qualifications, experience, and business needs—regardless of race, gender identity, or any other status protected by law. We actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds, ensuring that everyone has a fair chance to succeed in roles like Trading Systems Software Engineer.

When answering this question, ensure that you discuss specific projects where you developed or optimized trading systems. Highlight any challenges faced and how you overcame them, along with technologies used. Relate your experience directly to the requirements mentioned in the job description.

Your answer should reflect your understanding of fault tolerance principles, such as redundancy, error handling, and testing. Discuss approaches you've taken in past projects to ensure that systems remained durable and reliable under various failure scenarios.

Be ready to share specific programming languages you excel in, especially Rust if applicable. Provide examples of projects where you applied these languages to build efficient and scalable applications, tying them back to how they would relate to the work of a Trading Systems Software Engineer.

Discuss your strategies for API optimization, such as analyzing request/response times, implementing caching, and minimizing payload size. Share real-life examples of how you've improved API performance in past projects to give your answer substance.

Explain your approach to testing, whether it be unit testing, integration testing, or end-to-end testing. Describe how you prioritize testing during development phases and any tools you typically utilize, reassuring the interviewer of your experience in ensuring code quality.

If you have experience in this area, detail what compliance regulations you've worked with and how you ensured adherence to them. If you're less familiar, express your readiness to learn and your understanding of the importance of compliance within a financial context.

Focus on a project where you were responsible for handling financial data or transactions. Discuss the design considerations you took into account to ensure security and reliability, and how you navigated the technical challenges involved.

Share your insights on key features like real-time data processing, order management, compliance mechanisms, and user-friendly interfaces. Justify why these features are important based on your knowledge and experiences in trading systems.

Demonstrate your commitment to continuous learning by sharing how you keep abreast of industry trends—whether through conferences, online courses, or relevant literature. Mention any communities you engage with that are centered around trading technologies.

Craft a personalized response that aligns your career goals with SF Compute's mission. Discuss how your skills and experience are a good match for the company, and share your enthusiasm about the impact you could make in financializing computation.