Front End Lead Engineer

Reactive Markets is the 2026 OTC Trading Platform of the Year (Risk.net). Our network handles over $50 billion in daily trading volumes across FX, Equities, and Cryptocurrency, connecting 40+ of the world's leading liquidity providers.

We build trading systems that operate at the edge of what's technically possible — where nanoseconds matter and a dropped message costs real money. Our engineering team is small, senior, and deeply invested in the craft of building cutting-edge, reliable, high-performance systems.

We're looking for a hands-on engineering leader to own our Frontend team — the full-stack application engineers who build the trading platform our clients use. Despite the "frontend" name, this is not a UI-only role. The team works across the whole application stack in TypeScript and Rust, from the trader-facing interfaces down to the services behind them. It's distinct from our Backend team, who own the low-latency C++/Go trading engine.

You'll still write code, review the work that matters, and make the architectural calls that keep the platform fast and maintainable — while owning the team's delivery, its standards, and the development of the engineers in it. The role only works if you can hold two things at once: hands on the platform (credible to your engineers because you understand the work) and off the critical path (leading with depth and raising the team up, so nothing depends on you alone at the keyboard).

This is not a role where you write code and throw it over a wall: our engineers own the full lifecycle, and when something breaks, you lead the team that investigates and fixes it. Occasional hours outside the normal working day are required for production releases, scheduled maintenance windows, and Level 3 support during critical incidents.

Key Responsibilities:

• Driving the technical direction of the frontend application stack — architecture, standards, and the trade-offs that keep the platform fast and maintainable.
• Hands-on TypeScript and Rust — building and reviewing the most critical or complex work yourself.
• Real-time, data-dense trading interfaces across FX, Equities, and Cryptocurrency, and the application services behind them.
• Owning code quality across the team through review, design sessions, and the standards you set and enforce.
• Developing the engineers on the team — technical craft and the non-coding skills that let people scale.
• Shaping the roadmap with the CTO, CDO, Technical Delivery, and Client facing teams, and turning priorities into delivered software.
• Ensuring the team owns its Level 3 support, observability, and operational readiness — reliability is not optional.

Requirements:

• Strong full-stack engineering background with deep TypeScript / JavaScript (ES6+) (5+ years, including time leading or setting technical direction for a team).
• Familiarity with React and reactive state management (RX, MobX, or similar).
• Solid grasp of distributed systems, API design, and real-time data (REST, WebSockets, network protocols) — you understand what it takes to build software that's fast and reliable under load.
• Experience in financial services or trading technology.

How you lead:

• You lead by example. Engineers respect a lead who understands the work, not one who manages it from a distance.
• You lead with depth and raise the others up, rather than being the single point of failure.
• You take responsibility for the team's delivery, quality, and production reliability — not just your own output. When something breaks, you lead the investigation and fix.
• You give specific, timely feedback, and you hold a quality line without becoming a bottleneck.
• Clear, proactive communication — especially during incidents and in stakeholder updates — is essential.
• You embrace AI tooling. We use AI tools (Claude, Gemini) to amplify our engineering capability — from code review and debugging to incident investigation and documentation.

Competitive package — up to 30 days leave + bank holidays, private health insurance, pension, life insurance, dental/optical cashback, cycle to work, socials and offsites. Remote-friendly — work from home with flexibility. Growth — career progression to senior roles, performance specialisation, or technical leadership. We believe in transparency, honest feedback, and writing things down. We frame AI as empowering people — removing toil, amplifying capability, enabling higher-value work.

Application Process:

• Stage 1: Initial Conversation with Talent Acquisition - Video call, ~30-45 minutes.
• Stage 2: Hiring Manager Conversation with the relevant team lead or hiring manager - Video call, ~60 minutes.
• Video call, interactive session, ~60 minutes.

What to expect in each stage will be explained by Talent Acquisition if you're invited to interview. Please apply directly via this job posting — all applications, including those submitted via LinkedIn, are managed through our applicant tracking system, so you'll always land in the same place regardless of where you found this role.

We welcome applications from all qualified candidates regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Data Protection: By applying, you consent to Reactive Markets processing your personal data for recruitment purposes.