At a Glance
- Tasks: Build and scale systems for trading billions in assets, focusing on market data architecture.
- Company: Join Alpaca, a leading tech company revolutionising financial markets.
- Benefits: Enjoy a competitive salary, stock options, health benefits from day one, and a home-office setup.
- Other info: Collaborative environment with opportunities for growth and innovation.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in the fintech space while working with cutting-edge technologies.
- Qualifications: 4+ years in software engineering, experience with scalable systems, and a passion for finance.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 80000 £ per year.
As a senior software engineer, you will help build and scale the systems and services that form the foundation of Alpaca and empower millions of users who are trading billions of dollars worth of assets. The market data team is responsible for improving the overall architecture of Alpaca connected to data products such as stocks, options, crypto, and foreign exchange markets.
Responsibilities include:
- Overseeing the public API structure and documentation on both streaming and historical endpoints.
- Building a cohesive developer-first API and planning, ideating, experimenting, and putting into production new services and libraries.
- Influencing the overall architecture of Alpaca’s market data systems.
- Designing highly scalable, mission-critical systems.
- Obsessing over latency (every nanosecond counts).
- Implementing backend services and leading architecture where scalability and resilience matter.
- Maintaining good software quality and test coverage.
- Participating in code reviews.
- Troubleshooting incidents and reported bugs.
- Being on-call to assist with engineering projects that are timely in nature.
Benefits include:
- New Hire Home-Office Setup: One-time USD $500.
- Monthly Stipend: USD $150 per month via a Brex Card.
- Work with awesome people, clients, and partners from around the world.
- Stock Options.
- Medical, Dental, Vision.
- Supplemental health care.
- Health benefits from day 1 (internationally, this includes a stipend value to offset medical costs).
We are looking for senior or staff engineers who are keen on providing quality solutions, have great fundamentals, proven experience building and architecting at scale, and are not afraid of challenging conventions.
Required qualifications:
- Proficient with Linux/BSD and shell scripting.
- At least 4 years of experience working on systems at scale.
- Experience with Kubernetes or other workload orchestration and scheduling systems (we primarily use Kubernetes via GKE).
- Experience with at least compiled imperative languages (e.g. Go, C, C++, Rust, etc.). Most of our critical services are written in Go.
- Familiarity with TCP/IP and UDP networking.
- Proven track record of architecting and leading medium-scale projects involving multiple teams.
- SQL or relational database skills.
- A passion for financial markets.
- Experience with major cloud platforms (we primarily use GCP).
- Knowledge of microservice architectures.
- DevOps mindset is an asset.
- Knowledge of clean code principles.
- Experience in building low-latency applications.
- Cloud Networking experience (BGP, VPC peering).
- Experience with CI/CD.
- Experience with distributed key-value stores.
- Knowledge of Agile/Scrum methodologies.
- Experience with observability, tracing, continuous profiling.
- Experience with capacity planning and benchmarking.
Senior Software Engineer (Market Data) in London employer: Alpaca
Alpaca is an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative work culture, particularly for the Acquisition Engineering Lead role based in the UK. Employees benefit from competitive salaries, comprehensive health benefits, and support for home-office setups, all while having ample opportunities for professional growth and development within a dynamic team focused on enhancing user experiences.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Software Engineer (Market Data) in London
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Alpaca or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Alpaca.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Alpaca.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Alpaca that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Software Engineer (Market Data) in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Alpaca.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Alpaca and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Alpaca
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Alpaca uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
