At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the design and delivery of innovative trading platform solutions.
- Company: Join TP ICAP, a global leader in market infrastructure and financial services.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, flexible working, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Be part of a diverse team that values inclusivity and innovation.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in the financial sector with cutting-edge technology.
- Qualifications: 10+ years in financial services with strong technical leadership skills.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 £ per year.
The TP ICAP Group is a world leading provider of market infrastructure. Our purpose is to provide clients with access to global financial and commodities markets, improving price discovery, liquidity, and distribution of data, through responsible and innovative solutions. Through our people and technology, we connect clients to superior liquidity and data solutions. The Group is home to a stable of premium brands. Collectively, TP ICAP is the largest interdealer broker in the world by revenue, the number one Energy & Commodities broker in the world, the world’s leading provider of OTC data, and an award winning all-to-all trading platform. Founded in London in 1866, the Group operates from more than 60 offices in 27 countries. We are 5,200 people strong. We work as one to achieve our vision of being the world’s most trusted, innovative, liquidity and data solutions specialist.
About ICAP RVICAP Relative Value (ICRV) is a dedicated global execution division specializing in US Treasuries (USTs), Futures, and Options markets. Operating around the clock, the unit consists of a dedicated team that executes complex, multi-leg synthetic strategies on behalf of institutional clients.
Role Overview: ICRV are seeking an exceptional Principal Engineer to own the architecture, design and hands-on delivery of desktop platform automating and streamlining trading desk workflows. This is a high-visibility player-coach role: you will apply deep technical expertise with architectural leadership, to transform desk operations and have a significant influence on the technology direction of this new platform working with offshore partners. It may evolve to include formal people management.
Role Responsibilities:
- Act as the primary hands-on technical leader: architect the platform, write correctness-critical code, and set the engineering bar through your own output.
- Own the technical direction of the ICRV greenfield project, developing high-performance, scalable, and robust solutions from first principles through to production operation.
- Design for hard non-functional requirements: latency and responsiveness budgets as acceptance criteria, crash containment, least-privilege isolation between sub-applications.
- Work effectively with a matrix management structure, taking designs through group-wide governance, while delivering business value ensuring adherence to group wide technology standards and mandates.
- Mentor and coach other team members to achieve optimum performance and career growth. Work effectively to leverage offshore staffing vendors.
- Establish AI-assisted development as a disciplined team practice using company wide tooling, workflow integration, and the review rigour that makes AI-generated code safe to ship.
- Communicate technical trade-offs clearly to trading, compliance, infrastructure and middle-office stakeholders; manage risk and escalate honestly.
- Identify and drive refactoring toward the target architecture as the platform grows.
Experience / Competences:
Essential Experience:- 10+ years Financial Services building complex front-office trading systems, with demonstrated technical leadership through multi-year delivery.
- Demonstrated success leading engineering teams through complex, multi-year transformation programmes.
- Hands-on experience across the full software development lifecycle.
- Practical experience using AI tools across the development lifecycle, including the review discipline for AI-generated code.
- Excellent written and verbal communication; effective in a matrixed, global organisation; self-motivated and proactive.
- Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or a relevant analytical discipline.
- Understanding of relative-value execution: cash/futures basis, calendar spreads, curve trades, and how that translates into workflow and system requirements.
- Familiarity with futures market structure (exchange, clearing, margining) and US Treasury market structure (cash bonds, primary dealers, settlement).
- Knowledge of futures clearing/margin systems (e.g. CME) and Treasury settlement rails.
- Experience with execution/order connectivity protocols (FIX or equivalent) in an interdealer, agency, or execution-desk context.
- Understanding of 24-hour, multi-region trading operations (follow-the-sun handover, timezone-aware processing across London/New York/Singapore).
- Expert-level C# / .NET (LTS): back-end services with ASP.NET Core.
- Experience designing and delivering event-driven, service-oriented back-end systems (message brokers, async workflows, API design) in a production trading environment.
- Experience building desktop applications that host web content (e.g., Electron, Tauri, or custom .NET host); comfortable with WebSocket bridges, local service APIs, or IPC mechanisms to connect web UIs with native desktop applications.
- Sufficient front-end literacy (React, TypeScript, Node) to make architectural decisions, review code, and collaborate effectively with dedicated front-end teams.
- Demonstrated ability to leverage coding agents in spec-driven development workflows.
- Strong grasp of process isolation, information security, and identity/access management; experience with event-driven messaging and least-privilege service boundaries.
- Familiarity with modern build pipelines and tools.
- Experience designing within formal governance and architecture-review frameworks.
- Experience with desktop interop frameworks and protocols (FDC3, OpenFin, or custom IPC/message-bus implementations).
- WPF or other rich-client .NET UI experience.
- Experience interfacing with third-party desktop APIs (e.g., Bloomberg DAPI).
- Performance engineering: profiling and holding hard latency budgets.
- Experience with high-throughput trade/market-data processing at scale.
- Cloud platform experience (AWS or equivalent); containerisation and orchestration.
- Relational data and canonical/JSON data contract design.
- Design-system principles and component-library development.
Location: UK - 135 Bishopsgate - London
Principal Software Engineer - C# in London employer: TP ICAP Group Services
TP ICAP is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment in the heart of London where innovation and inclusivity thrive. As a Quant Analyst, you will benefit from a culture that values diverse perspectives, alongside opportunities for professional growth through collaboration with industry leaders. With access to cutting-edge technology and a commitment to employee development, TP ICAP empowers you to make meaningful contributions while enjoying a supportive and engaging workplace.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Software Engineer - C# 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 TP ICAP Group Services 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 TP ICAP Group Services.
✨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 TP ICAP Group Services.
✨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 TP ICAP Group Services 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 Principal Software Engineer - C# 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 TP ICAP Group Services.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at TP ICAP Group Services 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 TP ICAP Group Services
✨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 TP ICAP Group Services 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.