Senior C++ Engineer in London

About the role: We are hiring a senior, hands-on C++ engineer to build and optimize the low-latency hot path for a top-tier global trading firm. This is a headhunting search for one exceptional engineer, not a volume hire. You will own performance-critical trading and market-data systems in production, working alongside traders and quant researchers. If you are motivated by genuinely cutting-edge, latency-obsessed engineering, this is built for you.

Location and eligibility:

• Fully remote from the UK (primary), Netherlands, or France
• You must already hold the right to work in your country of residence (no sponsorship offered)

Engagement:

• 12-month contract, convertible to a full-time/permanent role after 12 months by mutual agreement
• Employment/engagement vehicle handled per country

Compensation:

• Highly competitive, benchmarked to top-of-market trading-firm rates for senior low-latency engineers
• Exact range confirmed at screening

What you will do:

• Design, build, and optimize the low-latency hot path for automated/electronic trading in modern C++ (C++17/20)
• Build and maintain market-data infrastructure: feed handlers, ticker plant, order-book construction, and normalization
• Implement exchange connectivity and FIX-based order flow, including smart-order-routing components
• Drive down tick-to-trade latency using lock-free data structures, cache- and NUMA-aware design, and kernel-bypass networking (Solarflare/Onload, DPDK)
• Profile, measure, and eliminate latency and jitter across the full stack
• Translate strategy and execution needs from traders and quants into performant, reliable production code
• Own components end-to-end: reliability, observability, and incident response

Required:

• ~6+ years of professional C++ engineering in production low-latency systems
• Modern C++: C++17 minimum, C++20 preferred
• Low-latency experience from traditional financial services: proprietary trading firm, market-maker, HFT shop, investment-bank e-trading desk, or systematic hedge fund
• Direct market-data, feed-handler, or electronic-trading exposure
• Hands-on with lock-free programming, multicast, low-level networking, and performance profiling
• Comfortable with fully remote work and a 12-month contract structure

Nice to have:

• Kernel-bypass (Solarflare/Onload, DPDK) and NUMA/cache-aware design
• Order book, ticker plant, smart-order-router, and exchange connectivity
• Deep tenure in a single demanding low-latency environment

Not a fit:

• Low-latency C++ experience derived solely from crypto exchanges or crypto market-makers (traditional trading backgrounds required)
• Purely academic or research C++ with no production low-latency systems
• A pattern of very short tenures with no depth in one low-latency environment

Screening focuses on:

• ~6+ years of professional C++ / low-latency engineering
• Low-latency C++ built inside traditional financial services
• Direct market-data, feed-handler, or electronic-trading experience
• Current base in the UK, NL, or FR and openness to a remote 12-month contract

How we hire: We use AI-assisted tools in parts of our recruitment process, including candidate sourcing and initial screening support. In line with the EU AI Act and GDPR, we want you to know:

• Human oversight: A qualified human makes every shortlisting, interview, and hiring decision. No candidate is rejected or advanced by an automated system alone.
• No solely automated decisions: You will not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing.
• Transparency: You will be told when you are interacting with an AI system and what it does.
• No prohibited practices: We do not use emotion-recognition or biometric-categorization tools in hiring.
• Fairness: Our screening is based on job-relevant skills and experience only; we monitor for and act against discriminatory outcomes.
• Your rights: You may request human review of any AI-assisted step, an explanation of how it works, and access to or correction/deletion of your personal data.