Full-Time

Lead Software Engineer

Platform

Posted on 12/2/2024

Alpaca

Alpaca

201-500 employees

API-first brokerage for stock trading

Fintech
Financial Services

Senior, Expert

Remote in USA

Category
Backend Engineering
Software Engineering
Required Skills
Kubernetes
Postgres
Docker
Go
Requirements
  • Kubernetes experience
  • deep understanding of K8S objects and cloud-native application development
  • written Helm charts
  • Docker experience
  • written highly optimized Dockerfiles
  • Golang experience (or other modern compiled statically typed languages)
  • concurrent programming
  • writes well-structured / good abstraction / 'object-oriented' code
  • writes well-covered code (unit/integration/e2e tests)
  • experience with relational databases (Postgres)
  • with a focus on optimized queries on huge tables
  • tech-lead and team-lead experience
Responsibilities
  • leading a talented group of software engineers in designing, implementing, and maintaining the systems and services that form the foundation of Alpaca
  • be the tech lead engineer of the platform team
  • design and architect our platform
  • write tons of code
  • make critical decisions about delivering the best experience to our internal engineering teams and customers
  • write well-structured applications in Go with testing and observability in mind
  • containerize these into optimized Docker images
  • design helm charts for deploying to Kubernetes

Alpaca Securities LLC operates in the stock brokerage industry by providing an API-first brokerage service that allows other businesses to create their own trading applications. This service enables companies to integrate stock trading functionality into their platforms without needing to become brokers themselves, which saves them time and resources. Alpaca's API also supports Local Currency Trading, allowing international investors to trade US stocks in their local currency. Additionally, Alpaca offers crypto wallets and coin pair trading, expanding the financial services available to its clients. Unlike traditional brokers, Alpaca focuses on a business-to-business model, catering primarily to other companies that want to offer trading services to their customers. The goal of Alpaca is to simplify the trading process for businesses and their users while providing a secure and efficient platform for executing trades.

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

$84.5M

Headquarters

San Mateo, California

Founded

2015

Growth & Insights
Headcount

6 month growth

7%

1 year growth

9%

2 year growth

11%
Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Alpaca's self-clearing capability opens up new business opportunities, including seamless asset transfers and securities lending.
  • The support for limit orders and extended hours trading for fractional shares enhances Alpaca's appeal to global investors, providing more trading flexibility.
  • Strategic partnerships and investments, such as the $15M from SBI Group, accelerate Alpaca's expansion into Asian markets, broadening its global footprint.

What critics are saying

  • The fintech and stock brokerage sectors are highly competitive, requiring Alpaca to continuously innovate to maintain its edge.
  • Transitioning to self-clearing involves complex business processes and compliance requirements, posing operational risks.

What makes Alpaca unique

  • Alpaca's API-first brokerage service allows businesses to integrate stock trading functionality without becoming brokers themselves, a unique offering in the fintech space.
  • The Local Currency Trading API simplifies trading for international investors by allowing them to trade US stocks in their local currency, a feature not commonly found among competitors.
  • Alpaca's transition to self-clearing at DTCC positions it as a mature player in the fintech industry, reducing intermediary layers and enhancing operational efficiency.

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Benefits

Competitive salary & stock options

Medical, dental, & vision

Home office setup stipend

Monthly Brex Card stipend