Defi Quant Trader

**About the Role**:
We are seeking a **DeFi Quant Trader** to join our firm. In this role, you and your team will take ownership of a set of high-impact trading strategies, including (but not limited to) **DeFi-CeFi arbitrage**, **on-chain RFQ execution**, and **funding/basis arbitrage** across multiple ecosystems and protocols.

You’ll be responsible for the **operationalization, improvement, and expansion** of these strategies—bringing sharp judgment, deep protocol understanding, and a quantitative mindset to the table. Over time, your responsibilities will grow to include **the design and deployment of new trades** as we continue to scale our strategy set.

This is a high-impact role at the intersection of trading, technology, and protocol innovation—ideal for someone who thrives in fast-moving environments and wants to work at the cutting edge of decentralized finance.

**Key Responsibilities**:
**1.**Trade Operationalization & Execution**:

- Deploy, monitor, and refine **automated DeFi-CeFi arbitrage**, funding basis, and RFQ-style strategies.
- Monitor **order books, price feeds, mempool activity**, and on-chain events to identify profitable trading opportunities.
- Ensure robust **execution across DEXs, bridges, and centralized venues**, minimizing latency, slippage, and failure rates.
- Collaborate with the engineering team to maintain and enhance **real-time execution infrastructure**, dashboards, and monitoring systems.

**2.**Quantitative Research & Strategy Improvement**:

- Perform **post-trade analysis** and **PnL attribution**, working closely with quant researchers to improve alpha capture and reduce leakage.
- Integrate **predictive models, risk filters**, or transaction cost models to refine execution logic.
- Contribute to **backtesting, simulation, and live trading frameworks** to validate new hypotheses and iterate on strategy logic.

**3.**Protocol and Ecosystem Awareness**:

- Stay up to date with emerging **DeFi protocols, AMMs, bridges, and yield markets** across chains (e.g., Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, etc.).
- Assess and act on **changes to protocol mechanics, liquidity flows, and incentive structures** that may impact strategies.
- Proactively propose new trade ideas based on **market structure dislocations**, technical developments, or protocol opportunities.

**4.**Risk & Capital Management**:

- Monitor and mitigate **smart contract, custody, and counterparty risks**.
- Track **gas costs, slippage, bridging delays**, and **MEV risks** to ensure optimal execution quality.
- Ensure **real-time position tracking** and safe handling of collateral, liquidity, and trade failures.

**Qualifications**:
**Domain Knowledge**:

- Strong interest in **DeFi markets and trading** with hands-on exposure to protocols such as Uniswap, Curve, Aave, and cross-chain bridges.
- Solid understanding of blockchain execution models, including concepts like **mempools, MEV, PGAs, reorg risk, atomicity, and finality**.
- Familiarity with various blockchain ecosystems (e.g., **EVM, Solana, MOVE-based chains**) and their respective DeFi protocols.
- Ability to read and write **Solidity** or another smart contract language; comfortable reasoning about smart contract behavior and risks.

**Technical & Analytical Skills**:

- Proficient in **Python** (pandas, numpy, scipy); comfortable analyzing large datasets and building trading tools or monitoring systems.
- Experience designing or supporting **automated trading strategies**, including multi-leg or cross-venue execution.
- Strong analytical rigor—able to decompose trade profitability, execution risks, and performance drivers.

**Mindset & Soft Skills**:

- **Entrepreneurial mindset** with a bias for action; thrives in fast-paced, high-ambiguity environments.
- Self-starter who takes **ownership and responsibility** for strategies from idea to deployment.
- Strong communicator with the ability to collaborate across trading, research, and engineering teams.
- Willingness to **hustle, iterate, and adapt**—staying on top of protocol upgrades, market changes, and novel arbitrage opportunities.

**Bonus Points**:

- Prior experience in **high-frequency or proprietary trading**, especially in crypto or emerging markets.
- Familiarity with **on-chain analytics**, **simulation frameworks**, or tools like Tenderly, Dune, or Flipside.
- Contributions to DeFi protocols, open-source tools, or smart contract audits.

**Why Join Us?**:

- Be part of a **small, elite team** at the frontier of crypto and DeFi trading.
- Work in a highly autonomous and meritocratic environment.
- Access to **cutting-edge infrastructure**, **strategy capital**, and **protocol relationships** to support your ideas.
- Competitive compensation with meaningful **performance-based upside**.

**About Caladan**:
Caladan makes digital asset markets more efficient and fair. We support exchanges, tokens, and institutional investors with on-exchange liquidity, DeFi expertise, treasury solu