Staff Software Engineer, New Markets Middle East

Your Role

As a Staff Software Engineer at Alpaca Middle East, you will be a strategic technical leader responsible for architecting, designing, and establishing the foundational software systems that power Alpaca's financial infrastructure in the region. Your primary responsibility will be setting the technical direction for our software engineering practices, establishing architectural standards and patterns, and ensuring our systems meet regulatory compliance requirements while maintaining world-class reliability, scalability, and performance.

You will demonstrate exceptional technical depth and breadth across software engineering, serving as the recognized expert in system design, architecture, and performance optimization. You will independently lead complex, multi-team software initiatives, resolve systemic issues that impact the entire organization, and establish high standards for quality through innovative design solutions and engineering excellence. Your influence extends across the entire engineering organization, shaping software strategy, setting organizational processes and standards, and driving long-term technical vision.

In addition to software development, you will establish strategic approaches for infrastructure coordination with regional deployments and cloud or data center operations as needed for UAE and Saudi markets. While day-to-day infrastructure work may be performed, you will define infrastructure coordination frameworks,, and ensure strategic alignment between software requirements and infrastructure capabilities. Occasional on-site or regional travel may be required for strategic technical reviews, and ensuring infrastructure meets operational and regulatory standards.

This role requires exceptional problem-solving abilities, deep software engineering expertise recognized across the industry, and genuine care for system reliability, team dynamics, and organizational impact. You will serve as the ultimate technical authority on challenging software engineering issues, driving architectural decisions that impact multiple teams and systems. Your work will have organization-wide impact, influencing how software is designed, developed, and operated across Alpaca's Middle East operations.

 

Things You Get To Do

Software Architecture and Strategic Development

• Architect and establish foundational software systems using Go or similar languages, setting technical direction for organizational software development

• Design and establish event-driven architectures, message queues, and asynchronous processing patterns that serve as organizational standards

• Build and maintain APIs, services, and integrations that power Alpaca's financial infrastructure, establishing architectural patterns and best practices

• Optimize system performance at scale, identifying bottlenecks and implementing efficient solutions that influence organizational performance standards

• Ensure systems meet reliability, scalability, and regulatory compliance requirements, establishing compliance frameworks for the organization

• Establish coding standards and best practices, writing clean, maintainable, and well-tested code that serves as examples for the organization

• Design and implement scalable, maintainable, and performant systems that meet business requirements and serve as architectural blueprints

Technical Leadership and Strategic Expertise

• Demonstrate exceptional technical competency recognized across the organization and industry, serving as the ultimate authority across multiple areas including design, architecture, and performance optimization

• Lead complex, multi-team software initiatives from conception to delivery, establishing organizational standards and best practices

• Resolve systemic issues that impact the entire organization, applying deep technical knowledge and innovative problem-solving approaches

• Serve as the recognized expert on challenging technical issues, providing strategic guidance and solutions that influence organizational technical direction

• Establish and maintain high standards for quality across the organization, ensuring robust testing, code review, and efficient design solutions

• Evaluate and recommend strategic technical solutions, considering trade-offs between performance, maintainability, cost, and long-term business objectives, influencing organizational technical decisions

Infrastructure Coordination and Strategic Management

• Establish infrastructure coordination frameworks and strategies with DevOps and vendors for regional deployments.

• Define organizational approaches for ensuring infrastructure meets software requirements, operational standards, and local data residency or regulatory requirements

• Establish vendor management strategies for infrastructure services, ensuring service level agreements (SLAs) are met and defining organizational vendor relationship standards

• Coordinate with cloud providers, data center vendors, and managed service providers for infrastructure-related activities, establishing organizational coordination practices

• Define communication frameworks and coordinate activities between software development needs and infrastructure capabilities

• Lead vendor meetings and strategic technical discussions to ensure alignment between software and infrastructure at the organizational level

• Travel occasionally within the region to conduct strategic technical reviews and coordinate with vendors and DevOps on-site as required

Mentoring and Organizational Knowledge Sharing

• Actively mentor engineers across all levels (junior, intermediate, and senior), fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous improvement across the organization

• Provide strategic technical guidance and architectural review feedback that helps engineers grow their skills and make better technical decisions

• Share knowledge through comprehensive documentation, technical talks, and organizational discussions that influence technical direction

• Create learning opportunities across the organization through pair programming, design reviews, technical workshops, and establishing mentorship programs

• Establish and evolve best practices and coding standards that improve organizational productivity and code quality

Organizational Influence and Strategic Collaboration

• Influence software practices, project direction, and cross-team collaborations across the entire engineering organization

• Play a leading role in setting organizational processes and standards, shaping long-term software strategies and technical vision

• Demonstrate leadership within executive and strategic discussions, driving architectural decisions and technical roadmaps that impact the entire organization

• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams including product, design, business stakeholders, and executive leadership

• Bridge technical and business perspectives at the strategic level, translating business requirements into technical solutions and technical vision