Hardware Engineer

IMC; Sydney; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

IMC is a leading global market maker leveraging technology to provide instant liquidity across exchanges. We seek an exceptional FPGA Engineer to design FPGA-based systems that parse market data and execute trades with ultra-low latency.

You will work with traders and developers to translate strategies into real-time hardware, optimise performance, and push our competitive edge. You will contribute to simulation frameworks, validate designs, and explore new technologies to maintain IMC’s

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in financial markets, exchange protocols (FIX, OUCH, ITCH), or co-designing FPGA and software systems.
• BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• Extensive experience with FPGA or ASIC technologies, including proficiency in Verilog, SystemVerilog, or VHDL.
• Strong engineering skills in Python, C++ or C.
• Solid understanding of digital design principles, including pipelining, flow control, and clock domain crossing.
• Experience with FPGA development tools and toolchains (Vivado, Quartus, Synplify, etc.).
• Proven ability to optimize for low latency and high throughput in production systems.
• Familiarity with networking protocols (e.g., Ethernet, TCP, UDP).

Responsibilities

• Architect, design, and deploy FPGA-based solutions for parsing market data and executing trades with ultra-low latency.
• Collaborate with traders and developers to translate strategy requirements into real-time hardware logic.
• Analyse and optimise system performance at every level—from transceiver tuning to logic layout.
• Develop and maintain a robust simulation and testing framework to ensure system reliability.
• Monitor and improve FPGA performance in live trading environments through benchmarking and profiling.
• Explore emerging technologies and bring new ideas to continually sharpen our hardware advantage.

Skills

FPGA engineering

Low latency

Verilog

SystemVerilog

VHDL

Python

C/C++

Networking basics

Financial markets

Education

Bachelors in Electrical/Computer Engineering

Master's or PhD preferred

Tools

Vivado

Quartus

Synplify

Job description

IMC is a leading global market maker, driven by technology and built on a foundation of continuous innovation. Our teams blend trading expertise, advanced research, and world-class engineering to provide liquidity across exchanges and asset classes.

At IMC, speed and precision are essential. Our FPGA engineers play a critical role in designing and deploying hardware systems that sit on the absolute front line of trading—processing market data, making decisions, and executing trades in nanoseconds. These systems are custom-built to deliver ultra-low latency and deterministic performance, giving us a decisive edge in highly competitive markets. As part of the FPGA team, you’ll work closely with traders and technologists to build hardware that directly shapes trading outcomes.

We're looking for an exceptional FPGA Engineer to help us push the limits of performance and redefine what's possible in a competitive technological landscape where the best trading idea alone doesn’t cut it anymore. Instead, only the best trading ideas that are enabled via robust, scalable and fast technology win.

Your Core Responsibilities

• Architect, design, and deploy FPGA-based solutions for parsing market data and executing trades with ultra-low latency.
• Collaborate with traders and developers to translate strategy requirements into real-time hardware logic.
• Analyse and optimise system performance at every level—from transceiver tuning to logic layout.
• Develop and maintain a robust simulation and testing framework to ensure system reliability.
• Monitor and improve FPGA performance in live trading environments through benchmarking and profiling.
• Explore emerging technologies and bring new ideas to continually sharpen our hardware advantage.

Your Skills and Experience:

• 3+ years’ experience infinancial markets, exchange protocols (FIX, OUCH, ITCH), or co-designing FPGA and software systems.
• BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• Extensive experience with FPGA or ASIC technologies, including proficiency in either VHDL, Verilog, or SystemVerilog.
• Strong engineering skills in Python, C++ or C.
• Solid understanding of digital design principles, including pipelining, flow control, and clock domain crossing.
• Experience with FPGA development tools and toolchains (Vivado, Quartus, Synplify, etc.).
• Proven ability to optimize for low latency and high throughput in production systems.
• Familiarity with networking protocols (e.g., Ethernet, TCP, UDP).

About Us

IMC is a research-driven trading firm where quantitative modeling, machine learning, and engineering shape how modern markets are traded. A stabilizing force in markets since 1989, we provide liquidity across trading venues, delivering the best outcome in value and risk management to investors. Using our own technology and capital, we build proprietary systems and algorithms that operate across global markets. Our researchers, traders, and engineers work as a collective, combining rapid experimentation, advanced infrastructure, and real-time feedback to turn insight into execution and execution into advantage.