Find a job 
Featured Companies 
Featured Universities 
For Companies At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the development of a critical trading dashboard and optimise complex SQL queries.
- Company: Join a top-tier algorithmic trading hedge fund with a 25-year track record.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, performance-based bonus, 25 days holiday, and pension.
- Other info: Collaborative culture with high engineering standards and excellent career growth.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in a tech-led environment with direct trader interaction.
- Qualifications: Strong SQL Server skills, C#/.NET experience, and front-office buy-side background.
The predicted salary is between 140000 - 180000 £ per year.
Our client, an algorithmic trading hedge fund with a 25-year track record in systematic trading, are hiring a Principal SQL Developer to join their trading desk tech team. It's a 20-person business with roughly half the team in engineering and technical roles, so you're in a genuinely tech-led environment where trading is fully programmatic and engineers work closely with the desk day to day.
They’re hiring a Principal SQL Developer to become the lead engineer responsible for their most business-critical platform: the internal trading dashboard that sits at the centre of the desk's day-to-day activity. You’ll work closely with traders, quantitative researchers and the Founder, helping shape how financial market data is stored, modelled, queried and surfaced across the business.
The environment spans long-running futures trading systems, crypto trading infrastructure built over the last decade, and increasingly complex options datasets. A big part of the role is understanding what the business is trying to achieve with the data, then designing the right structures, workflows and tooling around it.
This is not a traditional ETL or pipeline engineering role. The systems are highly concurrent, transactional and real-time, with correctness and consistency being absolutely critical. A lot of the core business logic sits in SQL stored procedures, and the role spans both the database and application layers across SQL Server and C#/.NET systems while acting as a key link between the trading desk and wider engineering team.
Non-Negotiables
- SQL Server
- Concurrent SQL environments
- Stored Procedures
- Complex query optimisation
- Data modelling
- C# / .NET
- Front-office buy-side experience (hedge funds, asset management, systematic trading, OMS/PMS environments)
- Strong academics (2:1 or above in a technical discipline)
What You'll Work With
- SQL Server on Windows VMs in Azure
- C# / .NET
- Trading dashboard
- Portfolio and order management systems
- Real-time trading desk tooling
- Futures, crypto and options datasets
- Data visualisation
- Reporting and monitoring tools
Nice to Haves
- Front-office buy-side experience
- Systematic trading environments
- Quant research support
- OMS / PMS platforms
- Distributed systems exposure
- Legacy platform modernisation
- SQL Server performance tuning
- Trading desk interaction
Why Join
You’ll be joining a small team with high engineering standards, working alongside some very sharp people who care about doing things properly. There’s a strong culture of peer review and technical debate, and you’ll have real ownership from day one. You’ll also be working directly with traders and senior leadership, so your work is closely tied to how the business performs. The problems themselves are genuinely interesting, centred around correctness in a concurrent, real-time environment rather than scale.
Benefits
- Bonus up to 100% (performance-based, genuinely paid)
- 25 days holiday + bank hols
- Pension
Principal SQL Developer employer: PRISM DIGITAL LIMITED
Contact Detail:
PRISM DIGITAL LIMITED Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal SQL Developer
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Get out there and connect with people in the industry. Attend meetups, conferences, or even online webinars. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can refer you directly to hiring managers.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! If you’ve got a portfolio or any projects that highlight your SQL Server and C#/.NET expertise, make sure to share them. A well-documented GitHub repo or a personal website can really set you apart from the crowd.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for those interviews! Research the company and understand their trading systems. Be ready to discuss how your experience aligns with their needs, especially around complex query optimisation and data modelling. Confidence is key!
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! We’re always on the lookout for talented individuals like you. Plus, applying directly can sometimes give you a better chance of getting noticed by the hiring team.
We think you need these skills to ace Principal SQL Developer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV highlights your experience with SQL Server, C#/.NET, and any relevant front-office buy-side roles. We want to see how your skills align with the needs of our trading desk!
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Use your cover letter to tell us why you're passionate about algorithmic trading and how your background makes you the perfect fit for the Principal SQL Developer role. Show us your personality and enthusiasm!
Showcase Your Technical Skills: In your application, be specific about your experience with complex query optimisation and data modelling. We’re looking for someone who can hit the ground running in our concurrent SQL environment.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you don’t miss out on any important updates from our team!
How to prepare for a job interview at PRISM DIGITAL LIMITED
✨Know Your SQL Inside Out
Make sure you brush up on your SQL skills, especially around stored procedures and complex query optimisation. Be ready to discuss specific examples of how you've tackled performance issues in concurrent SQL environments.
✨Understand the Business Context
Familiarise yourself with how trading desks operate and the role of data in decision-making. Being able to articulate how your technical skills can directly impact trading strategies will set you apart.
✨Showcase Your C#/.NET Experience
Prepare to discuss your experience with C# and .NET, particularly in relation to building applications that interact with SQL databases. Highlight any projects where you've integrated these technologies in a real-time environment.
✨Engage in Technical Discussions
Be ready for a technical debate! The interviewers will likely want to see how you think through problems. Don’t hesitate to ask clarifying questions and share your thought process when discussing potential solutions.