Staff Performance Engineer, Trading Infrastructure

Helius

North America, North America

Remote

Who this role is best for

Aimed at senior systems engineers with deep Rust/C++ expertise who thrive in latency-sensitive environments and want high-impact work in crypto infrastructure.

Best fit for

Senior engineers who obsess over microsecond-level optimizations in distributed systems.
— “Design systems for low-latency environments where microseconds matter”
Technical leaders comfortable driving ambiguous cross-team performance initiatives.
— “Track record of leading ambiguous, cross-team technical projects”
Systems engineers with hands-on hardware and network tuning experience.
— “Strong intuition for hardware, operating systems, and network performance”

Things to consider

Performance expectations are extreme, not just meeting baseline requirements.
— “A desire to push performance to the limit, not just make it 'good enough'”
Ownership extends beyond code to company-wide architectural influence.
— “Set technical direction for performance across Helius' most latency-critical systems”

How to stand out

Quantify past latency reductions in similar high-throughput systems.
— “Deep experience tuning high-throughput, latency-sensitive systems”
Highlight experience mentoring teams on performance best practices.
— “Mentor engineers and raise the bar on performance engineering”
Demonstrate systems you've kept simple at scale under load.
— “Own foundational systems end-to-end and keep them simple, reliable, and easy to operate”

Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · CompanyLevel · Senior

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

optimized latency-critical systems
led cross-team initiatives to eliminate performance bottlenecks
designed systems for low-latency environments

Typical background

8+ years of systems-level engineering experiencedeep experience in high-throughput, latency-sensitive systems

Skills & requirements

Required

RustC++Performance-tuningSystem-architectureOperational-rigor

Preferred

Trading-systemsPerformance-obsessed-environments

Stack & domain

RustC++Finance

About the role

Original posting from Helius via Ashby

ABOUT HELIUS
Helius is building the core infrastructure for Solana - empowering developers to create the next generation of crypto-powered applications. Our mission is to accelerate the development of internet capital markets by making it easier, faster, and more intuitive to build on-chain.
Thousands of teams - from early-stage startups to industry leaders like Coinbase, Phantom, and Jupiter - rely on Helius APIs, webhooks, and indexing tools to power their products. Backed by Haun Ventures, Founders Fund, and Foundation Capital, we’re a small, senior team obsessed with performance, simplicity, and scalability in decentralized systems.
Read our Helius Manifesto https://www.helius.dev/blog/manifesto to see how we work and what we value.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We're looking for a Staff Performance Engineer to own the most latency-critical systems at Helius. These services are responsible for streaming Solana's state changes across our global network and providing real-time data APIs to traders, exchanges, and DeFi protocols. They handle massive throughput, and small optimizations create outsized impact. You'll lead performance strategy, drive cross-team architectural decisions, and dig into the hardest bottlenecks to make our products faster and more efficient. The problems are challenging, the expectations are high, and the improvements you ship will be felt across the Solana ecosystem.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Set technical direction for performance across Helius' most latency-critical systems, influencing architecture and engineering standards company-wide
Profile, tune, and optimize the low-level Rust services that power traders and financial institutions
Design systems for low-latency environments where microseconds matter
Lead cross-team initiatives to identify and eliminate systemic performance bottlenecks
Own foundational systems end-to-end and keep them simple, reliable, and easy to operate
Mentor engineers and raise the bar on performance engineering and operational rigor
WHAT YOU'LL BRING
8+ years of systems-level engineering in Rust or C++
Deep experience tuning high-throughput, latency-sensitive systems
Track record of leading ambiguous, cross-team technical projects and shipping durable systems
Strong intuition for hardware, operating systems, and network performance
Ability to operate with high ownership on difficult technical problems and make decisions legible to stakeholders
A desire to push performance to the limit, not just make it "good enough"
NICE TO HAVE
Experience in trading systems (DeFi or TradFi)
Background in performance-obsessed environments like Cloudflare, Netflix, or similar
WHY HELIUS?
High-impact work: Your code will power applications used by millions across the Solana ecosystem, including Coinbase, Jupiter, and Phantom
Serious engineering: Build fast, reliable systems and user experiences across distributed infra and high-throughput backends
Ownership & growth: Lead critical initiatives, influence architecture and product direction, and take on more responsibility as the company scales
Remote-first flexibility: Work where you’re most effective with a flexible, fully distributed team
Competitive comp & perks: Market-leading salary, meaningful equity, generous vacation, wellness budgets, and support for learning and travel
Mission-driven team: Join ambitious builders who move fast, take ownership, and are shaping the future of decentralized apps

Source: Helius careers (Ashby)