Lead Java Engineer

About us:

Luno is the crypto investment app you can rely on, enabling you to buy, store and explore crypto securely. We’re committed to putting the power of cryptocurrency in everyone's hands sensibly and responsibly.

Since 2013, we’ve helped millions of people around the world invest safely in crypto. We do this by cutting through the hype and supporting customers at every step of the way. All products and cryptocurrencies on our platform must first meet stringent legal, risk and technical security standards.

Transparency is key for us. Luno stores all crypto on a 1:1 basis and we have rigorous processes in place so you can be confident your investment is secure. We’re available in more than 40 countries around the world and we work closely with respective regulators in all of these markets to be fully compliant, as we believe this is the best way to help everyone, everywhere, invest safely.

The role in a nutshell:

As a Lead Java Engineer at Luno, you’ll be at the core of our financial exchange transformation, through migrating and modernising our architecture to deliver resilient, high-performance trading systems. You’ll help design the backbone of our global exchange infrastructure, ensuring it scales reliably for millions of customers worldwide. Join us and make a tangible impact on building a new global financial system.

Your mission will be:

• Architecture Migration: Lead the design and implementation of core exchange services as we migrate legacy components into a modern, modular Java-based architecture.
• System Optimisation: Analyse and optimise matching engine, order routing, and settlement workflows for latency, throughput, and fault tolerance.
• Scalable Design: Contribute to a globally distributed, high-availability trading platform with a strong focus on resilience, monitoring, and observability.
• Collaborative Delivery: Work closely with product managers, architects, and fellow engineers to ensure features are delivered on time and aligned with business and compliance needs.
• Technical Leadership: Guide design patterns, performance tuning, and best practices in large-scale system development.
• Code Quality & Governance: Maintain high-quality code standards with strong test coverage, documentation, and adherence to regulatory and operational controls.
• Continuous Improvement: Identify opportunities to improve system reliability, reduce technical debt, and streamline deployment pipelines.
• Mentorship: Coach and mentor engineers across the team, with a focus on scalable Java development and financial systems design.

A little about you:

• Proven Seniority: Proven experience as a senior or lead-level software engineer, with deep expertise in large-scale, distributed Java systems—ideally within financial markets, trading, or exchange infrastructure.
• Java Expertise: Java Expertise: Strong proficiency with Java, JVM internals, flyweights, performance tuning. Experience with event sourcing using event streaming platforms such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, etc.
• Financial Systems Understanding: A solid understanding of trading and exchange systems (order books, matching engines, risk management, or settlement workflows).
• Computer Science Fundamentals: Strong foundations in algorithms, data structures, networking, and global-scale system design.
• Architecture & Technical Change: A track record of driving architectural change, including re-platforming or migrating legacy systems to modern, scalable architectures.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Strong collaboration, leadership, and mentoring skills, with proven ability to guide teams through complex system migrations.
• Customer & Compliance Focus: Ability to balance technical design with reliability, compliance, and operational governance in a regulated financial environment

Don’t be put off if you don’t tick all of the boxes – they’re a guide based on what we’d love to see.

Life at Luno:

• Remote but reachable work policy gives you the freedom to choose between working from home or the office.
• Plus the option to buy and sell up to 5 days leave
• Improve body and mind, with excellent private medical insurance
• Access to Learnably and our additional learning platforms for your personal and professional development
• 6 months primary care-giver leave
• Paw-ternity leave for your furry friend
• Annual Inspiration Day in addition to your annual leave which increases based on your length of service!
• A collaborative, friendly work community, with regular social events.
• 0 fees up to a certain amount with Luno from the day you start.*

*Offer only available on Luno Instant Buy, not Luno Exchange

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.