Low-Level C++ Software Engineer for Ultra-Low Latency Market Making

Low-Level C++ Software Engineer - Ultra-Low Latency Market Making (HFT) - Elite High-Frequency Trading Firm - New York (Relocation Supported) - Top performer can earn up to $1.5M TC

A top-tier HFT firm is hiring elite low-level C++ engineers into its ultra-low latency market making stack, the systems spanning market data → pricing/execution → capture where determinism, jitter, and microseconds matter in production. This is not a “support” role: you’ll work on the core infrastructure that directly shapes trading performance.

The Role

You’ll be operating at the intersection of:

• Market data feed handlers + exchange connectivity: normalising and reacting to venue-specific feeds at line rate without introducing jitter, back-pressure, or hidden latency under burst conditions
• High-fidelity exchange simulations: reproducing queue behaviour, matching logic, throttling and rejects accurately enough that results transfer from sim to production
• Microstructure performance: optimising not just average latency, but tails driven by queue dynamics, message spikes, and venue quirks
• Trade capture + tick data pipelines: capturing every event deterministically without polluting the critical path, while keeping downstream replay/research/compliance usable
• Low-level Linux tuning: CPU pinning, NUMA awareness, kernel/network tuning, and memory strategy, choices that change determinism and throughput in production

The trade-offs are real: improving one part of the stack can regress another, and the “right” architecture shifts as venues, strategies, and market structure evolve.

What you’ll do

• Build and optimise multi-threaded C++ components for market data, order entry, and execution
• Own performance work end-to-end: profiling, debugging, instrumentation, and proof (not “it feels faster”)
• Scale core systems across venues and regions while protecting latency, determinism, and correctness
• Work in tight feedback loops with traders/quants/systems peers to ship improvements quickly and safely

Engineering Culture

Engineers sit in senior leadership meetings and contribute to architecture strategy and design—you’ll help set direction (not just execute it), then own delivery and measurement in production.

What we’re looking for

• Expert C++ in performance-critical environments (hot paths, allocation, contention, tail latency)
• Strong fundamentals in concurrency, low-latency design, and CPU/memory behaviour
• Solid Linux/Unix skills; comfortable with performance tooling and system-level debugging
• High ownership mindset: you ship, measure, iterate

Bonus points

• HFT / market connectivity experience (feed handlers, gateways, exchange protocols)
• Familiarity with FIX/OUCH/ITCH (or similar)
• Deterministic capture/replay, simulation frameworks, or research-to-production integration

Why join

• Work on true ultra-low latency market making systems where engineering choices show up in production performance
• Real voice in direction-setting via regular leadership touchpoints on architecture and strategy
• Top-of-market upside: a top performer can earn up to $1.5M total comp in their first year
• Relocation support and an engineering culture that values measurement, rigor, and craft