Pros
Truly impactful, challenging work with equally weighted rewards and ownership at every single level. This company isn't for everyone but if you like to be challenged and take pride in your work from design to implementation to delivery you will find no red tape or bureaucracy here to hold you back. Paradigm is designed for driven, exceptional people to have the largest ability to influence the space around them. This requires a large amount of buy in and ownership but is rewarded with a nearly blank check of trust to change the product, internal processes or tools, or ways of working assuming you can gather support from your peers. Speaking of peers, they are equally talented! We have members of dozens of backgrounds, countries, and timezones represented which creates a diverse range of views and experiences to balance. This can be a blessing and a curse as finding consensus is challenging in both Engineering and Business cases, but when it's found the outcome is rewarding. Stepping outside of the individual view - Paradigm is exceptionally positioned in their market of crypto derivatives and the future of the company is dizzyingly high. A relentless focus on customer needs is the secret sauce that has gotten them this far - it sounds simple but to witness a feedback loop between ideas and customers this fine tuned is refreshing having worked in many places where this is abstracted away into oblivion and never truly felt by Engineers.
Cons
This company doesn't have an easy mode. There are no roles to coast in, or positions to be a backup player. We hire for exceptional talent and potential and give the resources and space to achieve that potential. This can be a culture shock for some, and it equally can create a high barrier to entry for others. Working at Paradigm feels like joining an elite force in a new and untested domain between high finance, high technology and a rapidly shifting regulatory environment across the globe. The speed of feedback and iteration of both internal efforts and client facing work can leave some stressed, over-worked, or unable to keep up. While it would be nice to be somewhere that anyone can succeed, the simple fact is Paradigm is not for everyone.