Senior Java Engineer - Trade Capture

About the role

We are seeking a talented and experienced Senior Software Engineer to join our TAPE team at CTC. The TAPE team owns and operates the firm's critical trade and positions system, delivering real-time risk awareness and seamless integration across every trading desk in the organization. As a key contributor to TAPE - our next-generation platform engineered for enhanced scalability, volume capacity, and support for sophisticated trading strategies - you will drive the modernization of our core infrastructure. This role presents an exciting opportunity to tackle complex technical challenges in distributed architecture, high-throughput processing, and ultra-low latency systems, while collaborating closely with both your immediate TAPE team members and the broader technology organization. You'll be instrumental in shaping the future of our trade processing capabilities, working at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and critical financial infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Architect, develop, and maintain high-performance, resilient Java services to power TAPE's critical post-trade processing workflows, including trade capture and position aggregation, with a relentless focus on latency, throughput, and system correctness
• Drive deep performance engineering across the stack - profiling, benchmarking, and tuning JVM internals (JIT compilation, memory models, thread affinity, CPU cache optimization) to meet stringent SLAs.
• Work closely with engineers and stakeholders within the CTC technology team to ensure seamless integration across broader technology ecosystem.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams - including traders, quant developers, and other technical groups - to design, build, and enhance client APIs in Java, C++, and Python
• Leverage distributed caching solutions (e.g., Hazelcast, Oracle Coherence, or Redis) and container orchestration with Kubernetes to optimize system performance and reliability.
• Proactively monitor system health, diagnose performance bottlenecks, resolve production incidents, and maintain detailed technical documentation to support 24/7 operations and regulatory compliance.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Deep expertise in high-performance Java development in a high-volume, low-latency environment. Candidates must demonstrate hands-on experience with:
• JVM internals (JIT compilation, class loading, memory layout, thread scheduling)
• GC tuning and GC-free design (ZGC, Shenandoah, off-heap allocation, object pooling)
• Lock-free and wait-free algorithms, concurrent data structures, and the Java Memory Model
• Strong expertise in distributed systems design - consistency models, fault tolerance, partitioning strategies, and distributed coordination.
• Solid understanding of distributed caching solutions (e.g., Hazelcast, Oracle Coherence, Redis) and their performance characteristics under load.
• Strong problem-solving skills with a proactive, rigorous approach to tackling complex technical challenges.
• Experience with post-trade processing systems including trade capture, position management, settlement workflows, and real-time risk calculations in capital markets environments.
• Understanding of trade lifecycle events, reconciliation processes, and integration between front-office trading systems and back-office settlement operations.
• Design and implement GC-free or GC-controlled Java components, leveraging technologies such as Chronicle Map, Agrona, or similar off-heap libraries to eliminate stop-the-world pauses in latency-sensitive processing paths.
• Proficiency in building and integrating APIs using Java, C++, and Python.

Benefits

Additional Information

Chicago Trading Company (CTC) is a premier proprietary trading firm specializing in options market making. Our collaborative culture fuels innovation in quantitative research, systematic trading strategies, and cutting-edge trading technology. For over three decades CTC has provided critical liquidity across derivatives exchanges worldwide - making them fairer, more transparent, and more efficient. We strive to be the most innovative firm in the industry today, tomorrow, and long into the future while upholding ethical excellence. We believe that CTC makes a positive impact on the markets, the lives of our employees, and all the communities to which we belong. Started in 1995 by a team of forward-thinking Traders, we are proud to call ourselves an industry leader that keeps making markets and each other better.

Your Match

How well this role fits your profile.

Company Intel

What employees say

Worked at CTC Lateral - Website & LinkedIn? Share your experience