Head of Data Platform (Data/AI/ML)

The Bullish Group has built an ecosystem focused on developing financial services for the digital assets sector through technology and investment businesses. These include: Bullish Exchange - digital asset trading services that utilize central limit order matching and proprietary market making technology to deliver deep liquidity and tight spreads within a compliant framework. The business is licensed by the Hong Kong SFC, German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFIN), and the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission. Since its launch in November 2021, Bullish Exchange has surpassed US$1.1 trillion in total trading volume, with 2H 2024 volume exceeding US$2 billion per day. Bullish Capital - an investment company which offers strategic capital, industry expertise and an extensive network of resources to support initiatives that connect conventional finance with the revolutionary possibilities of the digital economy. CoinDesk - an award-winning media, events, indices and data business servicing the global crypto economy. 

Reports to:

We are seeking an experienced, hands-on leader to spearhead our AI/ML and data initiatives by creating a scalable, reliable, and cost-effective data platform. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in the data lifecycle and excel in cross-functional collaboration to meet business goals and drive innovation. With a clear vision of excellence, they will lead efforts to achieve it by building and nurturing teams, advancing the mission of democratizing data and AI/ML technologies to drive informed decision-making.

Role & Responsibilities

Data Platform:

The candidate will oversee the creation of a core data platform that seamlessly integrates storage, ETL, and compute capabilities, ensuring data integrity, security, and performance. They will design robust data pipelines to efficiently manage and store large volumes of both structured and unstructured data, using advanced techniques like sharding, replication, and compression to optimize performance and cost. With experience in transitioning from centralized data teams to an enabling data platform, they will have strong opinions on data schemas and contracts. Their approach will incorporate data mesh concepts, treating data as a product and emphasizing the importance of SLOs and SLAs. 

AI/ML Platform:

The candidate will lay the groundwork for developing LLMs and RAGs, consistently evaluating and implementing tools that support their creation, such as those for prompt engineering workflows and knowledge graphs.

Data Discovery and Governance:

The candidate will work closely with teams to ensure effective, secure, and compliant data usage, addressing challenges like data lineage, discovery, and access/policy controls across datasets.

Leadership:

The candidate will collaborate with teams to identify data needs, enabling exploration and analysis to drive informed decision-making. 

Experience & Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in AI/ML, data science, and software engineering roles.

• Proven experience in transitioning from centralized data teams to enabling data platforms.

• Dedicated to delivering value with a product-focused and user-centric mindset.

• Hands on with a strong sense of ownership. Cares a great deal about what it is they are building.

• Ability to operate and thrive in a dynamic startup environment.

• Familiarity with a range of data lake ecosystems e.g. ClickHouse, Databricks and Snowflake.

• Familiarity with a range of big data technologies e.g. Kafka, Flink, Mantis, Spark, Presto, Trino, and Druid.

• Familiarity with a range of databases e.g. Redis, Postgres, MongoDB and BigQuery.

• Proficient in Python.

• Proficient in SQL.

• Well versed with standard practices and tooling for effective data engineering.

• Well versed with standard SDLC practices and tooling around build, test, deploy etc.

• Solid and opinionated knowledge of coding standards.

• Solid and opinionated knowledge of testing methodologies.

• Understands the value of quality.

• Understands why XP is important in software engineering i.e. outcomes over features, CI/CD, pairing etc.

• Computer Science or engineering related degree.

• Available to work in Hong Kong. VISA sponsorship and relocation package available. 

Bullish is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are fast evolving and striving towards being a globally-diverse community. With integrity at our core, our success is driven by a talented team of individuals and the different perspectives they are encouraged to bring to work every day.