Director - Java eTrading Lead

Director / Executive Director – Java eTrading Lead (FICC)

Overview

iO Associates are supporting a leading global markets organisation with the appointment of a hands-on engineering leader to help drive the next phase of its Fixed Income electronic trading platform. This is a front-office technology role focused on building and enhancing low-latency trading systems supporting Rates and broader FICC electronic trading workflows.

The successful candidate will combine deep Java engineering expertise with strong domain knowledge across electronic trading, order management, pricing, execution and risk controls. This is an opportunity to play a key role in a strategic platform build where technology is central to the business.

Location: New York
Work Arrangement: Hybrid
Seniority: Director / Executive Director level
Focus: Low-Latency Java, Electronic Trading, Fixed Income / Rates Technology, Trading Platform Development

The Opportunity

You will lead the design and delivery of high-performance electronic trading systems used directly by front-office trading teams.

This role sits at the intersection of:

• Low-latency architecture
• Electronic trading
• Fixed Income markets
• Front-office technology
• Technical leadership

You will work closely with traders, product owners, business stakeholders and engineers to deliver scalable, resilient and commercially impactful trading solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical leadership across a team of engineers
• Drive architecture, engineering standards and software design best practices
• Mentor developers and promote engineering excellence through design reviews and code reviews
• Lead development streams from design through production deployment

Platform Development

• Design, build and enhance low-latency electronic trading systems
• Deliver highly scalable and resilient trading applications
• Own critical components across order management, execution, pricing and market connectivity
• Drive performance optimisation and latency reduction initiatives

Front Office Partnership

• Work directly with traders and business stakeholders
• Translate trading requirements into production-ready technology solutions
• Collaborate on new product launches, workflow enhancements and platform evolution
• Participate in architecture and strategic technology discussions

Platform Ownership

• Lead resolution of complex production issues
• Perform root cause analysis and implement long-term solutions
• Drive system reliability, resiliency and observability initiatives
• Contribute to platform roadmaps and strategic technology decisions

Required Experience

Technical

• Strong Core Java expertise
• Deep understanding of multithreading, concurrency and performance tuning
• Experience building low-latency, high-throughput applications
• Strong understanding of distributed systems architecture
• Experience with FIX and electronic trading workflows
• Experience with Spring Framework (Spring Boot, Spring MVC)
• Strong SQL and database experience
• Experience working with messaging technologies such as MQ, JMS or similar
• Experience with CI/CD and automated testing frameworks

Domain

• Fixed Income, Rates or FX electronic trading experience
• Front-office trading technology background
• Experience supporting electronic execution workflows
• Understanding of order management and execution lifecycles
• Familiarity with pre-trade and post-trade risk controls
• Experience working directly with trading desks

Leadership

• Experience leading engineering teams or development streams
• Strong stakeholder management skills
• Ability to drive delivery while remaining hands-on technically
• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction