Koinly is a cryptocurrency tax software company helping investors manage the complexity of crypto taxation. We're looking for a Backend Staff Engineer to take ownership of our distributed data platform, the engine behind our products at the intersection of cryptocurrency, finance, and tax.
You'll lead the development of a high-performance backend built with modern TypeScript, responsible for ingesting, normalizing, and reconciling large volumes of blockchain and exchange data. Since this data directly affects tax calculations, accuracy, reliability, and performance are essential.
This is a hands-on technical leadership role for an engineer who combines deep expertise in distributed systems with strong architectural judgment and product ownership. You'll write production code, make critical architectural decisions, and help raise engineering standards across the backend team.
Koinly is a remote-first, async-first company that values autonomy, technical excellence, and clear communication.
Role at a glance
Position: Backend Staff Engineer
Location: Remote, Europe only (EU and UK time zones)
Employment type: B2B contract
Compensation: $80,000–$120,000 per year
Paid time off: 32 days, including public holidays
Experience: 8+ years in software engineering, with a focus on complex, data-intensive distributed systems
\<text color\="secondary" size\="sm">Applications from candidates outside Europe will not be considered.\</text>
What you'll do
Backend Architecture & Distributed Systems
Own the architecture, performance, and scalability of Koinly's distributed backend data-processing platform.
Design, optimize, and maintain high-throughput data pipelines using queues, workers, retries, idempotency, and backpressure.
Make architectural decisions that improve system reliability, availability, and deterministic execution.
Identify performance bottlenecks and lead refactoring initiatives across core backend services.
Data Engineering & Financial Accuracy
Build and maintain systems that ingest, normalize, and reconcile complex on-chain and exchange data.
Ensure the accuracy and consistency of financial data used in cryptocurrency tax calculations.
Design advanced data models and optimize PostgreSQL queries for large datasets.
Develop robust integrations with third-party APIs, blockchain nodes, and data providers.
Implement reliable error handling, monitoring, and recovery mechanisms for business-critical data processing.
Technical Leadership & Product Ownership
Take end-to-end ownership of core backend services, from architectural design through deployment and scaling.
Collaborate closely with product and engineering leaders to evaluate technical proposals and define solutions.
Lead by example through high-quality code, thorough testing, and sound engineering practices.
Identify technical risks and proactively improve the reliability and maintainability of the platform.
Help establish engineering standards and raise the technical bar across the backend team.
Performance & Engineering Excellence
Optimize high-volume data processing and improve system throughput.
Use Rust for performance-critical components where necessary.
Leverage modern AI development tools, including Claude, Codex, and Cursor, to improve engineering workflows.
Maintain robust unit and integration testing practices and use monitoring tools to identify and resolve production issues.
Requirements
8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including substantial experience building complex backend systems.
Expert-level proficiency in modern TypeScript and Node.js, with a strong understanding of strict typing and advanced TypeScript patterns.
Deep knowledge of distributed systems architecture, including RabbitMQ, Redis, asynchronous processing, idempotency, retries, and rate limiting.
Production-level experience with DeFi protocols, including AMMs, lending, staking, liquidity pool positions, and blockchain bridges.
Strong understanding of blockchain transactions, smart contract execution, event logs, ABIs, and on-chain data decoding.
Advanced SQL and PostgreSQL expertise, including schema design, query optimization, and large-scale data migrations.
Professional experience with Rust, including the ability to write and maintain production-quality code.
Experience building high-volume ETL pipelines and integrating inconsistent third-party APIs.
Strong architectural judgment and the ability to independently own complex technical initiatives.
Familiarity with modern AI-assisted development tools, such as Claude, Codex, or Cursor.
Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to communicate technical decisions clearly in a remote, async-first environment.
Tech stack
Core technologies
TypeScript (strict, modern) and Node.js
RabbitMQ and Redis (ioredis)
PostgreSQL
node for unit and integration testing
Sentry for error monitoring
Data & Blockchain
Blockchain libraries, RPC providers, and node/indexer APIs
ABIs, event logs, traces, token standards, and transaction semantics
csv-parse, SheetJS (xlsx), and node-html-parser
Third-party API and file-format integrations
Infrastructure & Tools
Heroku
GitHub
JIRA
Nice to have
A public portfolio of engineering projects on GitHub or similar platforms.
Advanced Rust expertise, particularly in performance-critical data processing.
Experience with financial products, double-entry accounting, or tax systems.
Familiarity with Ruby and working with services built on a Ruby codebase.
Previous experience using Koinly or familiarity with its product.
Essential qualifications
We don't expect candidates to meet every single requirement. However, this role has two essential technical requirements:
Expert-level TypeScript: Strong typing and advanced TypeScript practices must be second nature. The role involves complex financial data where accuracy and predictable behavior are critical.
Deep distributed systems and DeFi expertise: You should have substantial experience designing asynchronous queue architectures, implementing idempotent processing, and understanding smart contract execution. You'll be working with a complex, high-throughput data platform and will need to take ownership from the start.
Why join Koinly?
Established product: Work on a cryptocurrency tax platform with a strong product-market fit and a large international user base.
Meaningful impact: Your work will directly affect the accuracy and reliability of financial data used by crypto investors for tax reporting.
Technical ownership: Take responsibility for core backend services, from architecture and development to deployment and scaling.
Autonomy: Make important technical decisions and lead initiatives without unnecessary layers of approval.
Remote-first culture: Work in a distributed, async-first environment with minimal unnecessary meetings and dedicated time for deep work.
Koinly values diversity and strives to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels supported and respected. We welcome different perspectives, backgrounds, and approaches and are committed to continuous learning and improvement as our team grows.
Compliance & Privacy
Due to the nature of our business, background checks are required before joining. By submitting an application, you consent to the processing of your personal data for recruitment purposes in accordance with our privacy policy.
How to apply
If you're interested in taking ownership of a complex backend data platform and contributing to the future of cryptocurrency taxation, submit your application through Koinly's recruitment process.
