Principal Engineer (Java) - Trading Systems

They are seeking a highly experienced Principal Engineer (Java) to join their Trading Systems team in London. This is a senior role focused on designing and building proprietary trading infrastructure from the ground up, working closely with traders, quants, and operations teams to deliver high-performance solutions., * Develop and enhance real-time trading systems with a focus on performance and scalability.

• Integrate and support FIX connectivity with brokers, exchanges, and liquidity providers.
• Troubleshoot and resolve FIX session issues, including connectivity and protocol compliance.
• Design and maintain solutions for position management, order flow, and PnL tracking.
• Implement upgrades to market data feeds and trading system components for high availability and failover.
• Participate in second and third-level support, including on-call rotation for global systems.
• Implement monitoring solutions using tools such as Grafana and Prometheus.

• 7+ years of development experience, including real-time trading systems.
• Experience at an investment management, systematic trading or high-frequency trading firm is required.
• Strong Java skills (multi-threading, sockets, memory management) and understanding of distributed architectures.
• Bachelor's degree in a STEM subject; Master's degree is a plus.
• Deep knowledge of FIX protocols (4.2, 4.4, 5.0) and experience with FIX engines (e.g., QuickFix/J, Appia, Chronicle FIX).
• Familiarity with open-source technologies that scale (Kafka, Ignite, Spark) is a plus.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.

Our client is a leading multi-strategy investment firm with a strong global presence and a reputation for innovation and technical excellence. They operate across multiple asset classes and have built a collaborative culture that attracts top talent.