C++ Engineer, Trading Systems (Chicago)
talismanChicago (IL)
C++ Engineer, Trading Systems (Chicago)
Posted yesterday
talismanChicago (IL)
SENIORITY
Lead
About the role
Software Engineer, C++ Trading Systems We're partnering with a proprietary trading firm making who is looking to add a C++ Software Engineer to design and build the low-latency systems that power live trading, risk, and pricing across the firm.
Responsibilities:
- Build and maintain high-performance distributed systems that process real-time and historical market data at scale
- Design low-latency C++ (C++17/20) components supporting core trading infrastructure, including execution and order handling
- Partner with traders and engineers to turn strategy and modeling requirements into production-grade code
- Apply multithreaded and lock-free programming techniques to improve throughput and reduce latency across the stack
- Use profiling and diagnostic tooling to identify bottlenecks and guide performance improvements
Requirements:
- Background at a proprietary trading firm, market maker, or similar electronic trading environment is required.4+ years of professional C++ experience in a high-performance, real-time trading environment
- Solid foundation in data structures, algorithms, concurrency, and memory management
- Linux-based system-level programming experience, including networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, UDP, sockets)
- Hands-on debugging/profiling skills (GDB, Wireshark, tcpdump, or equivalent)A plus: exposure to options/derivatives pricing models, quantitative research platforms, or KDB+/q for time-series analysis
Before you apply
Applying takes about a minute. These four things decide how fast it moves after that.
Your profile is current
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Two examples you can talk through
Not a portfolio — just two pieces of work where you can explain the decisions and what you'd change.
A number in mind
What you're on now and what would make you move. We negotiate better when we know both.
Your notice period
Employers plan around it, and it's the question that stalls offers most often.
Once you apply, someone reads it and calls you before anything reaches the employer — usually within two working days.