Director, Backend Engineering

About the role

You will own the design and delivery of scalable, secure back-end systems that power Galaxy Digital's digital asset and data center infrastructure businesses. You will architect and implement high-performance APIs and databases that underpin web and mobile applications serving institutional and retail clients. You will collaborate closely with product, front-end, and infrastructure teams to define technical direction and ensure reliable, secure, and compliant fintech-grade solutions. You will foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, and transparent feedback within a fast-moving, mission-first environment. You will evaluate and champion the thoughtful adoption of AI and emerging technologies to optimize team performance and product outcomes. You will drive best practices in code quality, testing, deployment, and automated testing frameworks across the backend lifecycle. You will stay current with blockchain, fintech, and infrastructure trends to recommend innovative improvements that scale with business growth.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Design, develop, and maintain high-performance back-end systems, APIs, and databases that support the business's web and mobile applications.
• Help foster a culture of technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous learning across engineering teams.
• Collaborate with front-end developers, product managers, and DevOps teams to ensure seamless integration and delivery of features and services.
• Architect scalable, secure, and efficient server-side solutions that meet fintech industry standards and handle high transaction volumes.
• Implement best practices for code quality, testing, and deployment, including code reviews and automated testing frameworks.
• Stay current with emerging technologies and trends in back-end development, blockchain, and fintech to recommend innovative improvements.
• Embrace and champion the thoughtful adoption of AI to improve team performance and product outcomes.
• Translate complex business requirements into robust technical specifications and back-end architectures.
• Optimize application performance, reliability, and security through monitoring, logging, and proactive incident response.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers by providing clear technical direction, feedback, and growth opportunities.
• Partner with data infrastructure teams to align back-end systems with data platform strategies and operational standards.
• Participate in on-call rotations and support plans to ensure high availability and rapid resolution of production issues.
• Evaluate third-party tools, libraries, and services to ensure they meet security, compliance, and scalability requirements.
• Contribute to technical documentation, design reviews, and long-term roadmap planning for backend platforms.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with a strong focus on back-end development.
• 8+ years of hands-on experience designing, building, and operating scalable, high-availability systems.
• 8+ years of proficiency in server-side programming languages such as Java, Go, Python, or equivalent.
• 8+ years of experience with relational and NoSQL databases, including schema design, optimization, and query tuning.
• 8+ years of experience with cloud platforms, infrastructure as code, and container orchestration tools such as Kubernetes.
• 8+ years of experience implementing secure APIs, authentication, and authorization mechanisms in production environments.
• 8+ years of demonstrated ability to analyze complex problems and deliver robust, performant, and maintainable software solutions.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, networking, and concurrency models relevant to fintech workloads.
• Familiarity with financial services, digital assets, or regulated environments is valued but not required.
• Willingness to relocate to New York, NY, and comply with employment eligibility requirements as applicable.
• Commitment to following Galaxy's values of excellence, transparency, independent decision-making, and collaborative ownership.

Nice to have

• Experience contributing to open-source projects or public code repositories.
• Familiarity with blockchain protocols, consensus mechanisms, or cryptographic libraries.
• Knowledge of AI/ML tooling, MLOps practices, or large language model integrations in production systems.
• Experience with real-time data streaming, event-driven architectures, or message queues.
• Background in building consumer-facing fintech, trading, or payment platforms.
• Demonstrated ability to perform under tight deadlines in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

Practical notes

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Location: New York, NY