Lead Java Developer

Lead Java Developer (Low Latency Trading Systems)

Contract: 4 Months

Rate: Up to £700 per day

Location: Hybrid - London

IR35: Inside IR35

The Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced Lead Java Developer to join a high-performing team delivering strategic Agency Liquidity and Principal Risk initiatives across EMEA and North America. This is an exciting opportunity to work on business-critical trading and risk platforms where performance, scalability and reliability are paramount.

You will play a key role in the design, development and optimisation of ultra-low-latency, high-throughput systems, working alongside traders, quantitative teams and technology stakeholders in a fast-paced front-office environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and build high-performance, low-latency Java applications.
• Develop event-driven and reactive systems capable of handling high transaction volumes.
• Optimise application performance through advanced JVM tuning and garbage collection strategies.
• Work on highly concurrent systems with a focus on scalability, resilience and throughput.
• Collaborate with global teams to deliver strategic initiatives across trading and risk platforms.
• Analyse and improve system performance across the full technology stack, from application code to infrastructure.

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong commercial experience with Core Java and low-latency application development.
• Deep understanding of JVM tuning , garbage collection and performance optimisation.
• Expertise in data structures, algorithms and concurrent programming .
• Proven experience building event-driven, reactive and high-frequency systems .
• Strong knowledge of TCP/UDP networking , Linux internals and distributed systems.
• Understanding of CPU architecture, memory management, shared memory and memory-mapped files .
• Experience working with technologies such as JNI, Java Unsafe, JNR-FFI and similar performance-focused frameworks.
• Experience with Aeron messaging technology.
• Background within investment banking, electronic trading, market data, pricing, liquidity or risk platforms .
• Knowledge of front-office trading environments and real-time financial systems.