At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and build ultra-high-performance systems with a focus on latency and throughput.
- Company: Join a highly technical team dedicated to innovative systems engineering.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, guaranteed cash bonus, equity, and meaningful technical ownership.
- Other info: Work in a fast-paced setting with real technical autonomy and growth potential.
- Why this job: Tackle challenging performance-driven problems in a greenfield environment.
- Qualifications: 5+ years in systems engineering with expertise in low-latency, high-throughput software.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 £ per year.
Our client is a highly technical team building a greenfield, performance‑critical systems platform from first principles. This is a senior‑level role for engineers who have deep experience designing and optimising latency‑sensitive, high‑throughput production systems and enjoy operating close to the metal. The environment is fast‑moving and adversarial, with a heavy emphasis on correctness, performance, and clear engineering thinking. Engineers are expected to take ownership of substantial parts of the system end‑to‑end.
What you'll be working on:
- Designing and building ultra‑high‑performance systems where latency and throughput matter
- Optimising software with a strong understanding of hardware interaction
- Owning critical components across the full lifecycle: design, implementation, optimisation, and production
- Solving novel, non‑obvious systems problems in a greenfield environment
- Working in a setting with real ambiguity and technical autonomy
What they're looking for:
- 5+ years' experience building and optimising high‑performance production systems
- Strong background in systems engineering, not general application development
- Experience with low‑latency, high‑throughput, or performance‑critical software
- Proficiency in Rust, or strong C/C++ experience with willingness to switch
- Sharp problem‑solving ability and comfort reasoning through complex, unstructured problems
Backgrounds that tend to fit well:
- Engineers from top HFT, trading, or market‑making firms
- Engineers from large‑scale infrastructure teams at top technology companies
- PhDs or candidates with evidence of deep technical work (research, simulations, compilers, systems)
- Competitive programmers or engineers with substantial low‑level side projects
Why this role:
- Greenfield build with meaningful technical ownership
- Work on genuinely hard performance‑driven systems problems
- Small, highly technical team with high engineering standards
- Higher upside: Base salary + guaranteed cash bonus + equity
If you're driven by deep systems work, performance optimisation, and building critical infrastructure from scratch, this is a rare opportunity to do so.
Senior Systems Engineer (Greenfield, Ultra High Performance) in London employer: Selby Jennings
As an Investment Banking M&A Associate in the Industrials sector, you will thrive in a dynamic and collaborative environment that prioritises professional growth and development. Our firm offers comprehensive training, mentorship from experienced Directors and Managing Directors, and exposure to high-profile transactions that enhance your expertise in the industry. Located in a vibrant financial hub, we foster a culture of innovation and teamwork, ensuring that every employee feels valued and empowered to make a meaningful impact.
