Java eTrading Strategist - Rates VP Front Office London - McGregor Boyall

A leading global investment bank is seeking a talented Java Developer / eTrading Strategist to join its high-performing Rates Electronic Trading team in London.

This is a front-office role at the intersection of trading, quantitative research, and technology, offering the opportunity to work on business-critical pricing and execution platforms that support a global Rates franchise. You will partner directly with traders, quants, and technology teams to design and deliver low-latency trading systems that drive electronic market-making, pricing, and execution across multiple Rates products.

This position is ideal for an experienced Java engineer with a passion for electronic trading, market microstructure, and building high-performance systems in a revenue-generating environment.

The Opportunity

As part of a globally distributed eTrading team, you will play a key role in the design, development, and optimisation of next-generation execution and pricing infrastructure. You will help transform quantitative models and trading strategies into scalable, production-grade systems capable of operating in highly competitive electronic markets.

The successful candidate will gain direct exposure to front-office decision-making, electronic market-making strategies, and the ongoing evolution of algorithmic trading technologies.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop low-latency, high-throughput Java applications supporting real-time pricing and electronic execution.
• Partner closely with quantitative researchers and traders to implement pricing models and execution algorithms.
• Enhance and optimise market-making, auto-quoting, smart order routing, and execution framework components.
• Drive performance improvements across latency-sensitive systems, including profiling, memory optimisation, concurrency tuning, and garbage collection analysis.
• Develop real-time monitoring, observability, and diagnostic tooling to support production trading environments.
• Contribute to the architecture and evolution of the firm's electronic trading platform.
• Collaborate across global technology and business teams to continually improve execution quality and trading performance.
• Support the delivery of resilient, scalable, and maintainable trading infrastructure within a fast-paced front-office environment.

Required Experience

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or a related quantitative discipline.
• Extensive experience developing mission-critical Java applications within electronic trading or other latency-sensitive environments.
• Strong expertise in Core Java, multithreading, concurrency, memory management, and performance optimisation.
• Deep understanding of low-latency system design and distributed application architecture.
• Experience building and supporting production-grade trading or execution platforms.
• Strong understanding of market microstructure, order lifecycle management, and electronic trading workflows.
• Experience working directly with trading desks, quantitative teams, or front-office stakeholders.

Preferred Experience

• Electronic trading experience within Rates, Fixed Income, Futures, Credit, FX, or Equities markets.
• Knowledge of market-making systems, smart order routers, and execution algorithms.
• Experience with FIX connectivity and exchange gateways.
• Exposure to ultra-low latency messaging technologies such as Aeron, Chronicle Queue, or similar frameworks.
• Familiarity with modern software engineering practices including DevOps, CI/CD, and cloud-native technologies.

What's on Offer

• Front-office role with direct business impact and visibility.
• Close collaboration with traders and quantitative researchers.
• Opportunity to work on cutting-edge low-latency pricing and execution technology.
• Exposure to some of the most sophisticated electronic trading platforms in the market.
• Flexible hybrid working model with approximately two days per month in the London office.
• Competitive base salary, bonus, and comprehensive benefits package.
• Excellent career progression within a leading global investment bank.

If you are passionate about low-latency Java development, algorithmic trading, and building world-class electronic trading systems, we would be delighted to hear from you.

McGregor Boyall is an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on any grounds.