Java Developer – Front Office / Trading Systems
Join MARGO in the UK (London) – Perm & Contracting Opportunity*
MARGO is a tech-native consultancy delivering high value-added IT expertise to the financial services industry.
We specialise in complex software engineering environments where performance, robustness and scalability are critical: low latency systems, real-time data processing, distributed architectures and high-volume flows.
Joining MARGO means working in demanding Front Office and Risk IT environments, while benefiting from a human-sized structure, close follow-up and tailor-made training paths.
Business Context
You will join the Front Office / Trading IT environment of one of our tier-1 investment banking partners.
The teams design and maintain mission-critical Java systems supporting electronic trading activities across multiple asset classes (e.g. Equities, Fixed Income, Commodities, FX, Derivatives).
The environment is characterised by:
- Real-time and event-driven architectures
- High performance and low-latency constraints
- Close interaction with trading, quantitative and risk teams
- Short delivery cycles and high engineering standards
Role Overview
We are looking for an experienced Java Developer to work on real-time trading and risk systems.
The role is primarily technical , focused on software engineering excellence rather than business analysis.
Candidates are expected to have prior exposure to Front Office, Trading or Risk environments , regardless of the underlying asset class.
Key Responsibilities
Design & Development
- Design, develop and maintain high-performance Java applications
- Work on real-time data processing (market data, pricing, orders, analytics)
- Implement multithreading and concurrency patterns adapted to performance-critical systems
- Participate in system design, architecture discussions and technical specifications
- Continuously optimise performance (latency, throughput, memory, GC behaviour)
Engineering & Delivery
- Contribute to the full software lifecycle: design, development, testing and release
- Produce clean, maintainable and well-tested code
- Participate in sprint planning, estimations and technical reviews
- Collaborate closely with developers, quant and infrastructure teams
Production & Support
- Provide 3rd line support on production systems when required
- Participate in production releases (including occasional out-of-hours interventions)
- Contribute to system stability, monitoring and incident prevention
Technical Environment
Core Technologies
- Java (expert level)
- Multithreading & concurrency
- Performance optimisation & low latency techniques
- Garbage Collection awareness
- Linux / UNIX environments
- Distributed systems and messaging architectures
- Performance monitoring and profiling tools
Valued Technical Exposure
- Event-driven or real-time systems
- Messaging middleware (Kafka, Solace or equivalent)
- FIX or other market connectivity protocols
- Networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, multicast)
Required Experience & Skills
Essential
- Strong experience as a Java Developer in performance-critical environments
- Proven background in low-latency or high-throughput systems
- Solid understanding of concurrency, threading and memory management
- Experience working in Front Office, Trading or Risk IT environments
- Comfortable working in Linux production environments
- Clear communication and structured problem-solving skills
Valued (but not restrictive)
- Exposure to one or more asset classes (Equities, Fixed Income, Commodities, FX, Derivatives)
- Experience in trading, pricing, risk or market data systems
Why Join MARGO
- Access to multi-asset Front Office environments
- Highly technical and challenging engineering assignments
- Strong emphasis on skill development and long-term career progression
- Human-sized consultancy with close support and high-quality missions
Please note - We do not offer visa sponsorship for this position.
Interested? Motivated? Apply on our website or at staff.uk@margo.com
