Equities Low Latency Java Algo Developer (Vice President) - London

Citigroup Inc.; London; Hybrid; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A global banking and financial services corporation is seeking a Software Engineer to work on their Equities Smart Order Router. The role involves driving the full software development life cycle while collaborating globally with various stakeholders. Ideal candidates have strong Java skills and a background in financial technology. The position offers a hybrid working model and competitive benefits including 27 days annual leave and a discretionary performance-related bonus.

Benefits

27 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)

Discretional annual performance related bonus

Private Medical Care & Life Insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Pension Plan

Paid Parental Leave

Special discounts for employees

Qualifications

• Prior software development experience in financial markets, especially in trading systems.
• Deep understanding of Core Java (version 1.8 or higher).
• Experience with optimizing low-latency applications.

Responsibilities

• Drive the full Software Development Life Cycle for the Equities Smart Order Router.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across global regions.
• Provide Level 3 support for production stability.

Skills

Financial Markets Expertise

Core Java Proficiency

Advanced Data Structures & Concurrency

Low Latency & Performance Tuning

Distributed Systems & Middleware

Linux & Scripting Acumen

Microservices Architecture

Tools

Kafka

Solace

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Overview

Citi is a world-leading global bank. We have approximately 200 million customer accounts and a presence in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions worldwide. We provide consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. We enable clients to achieve their strategic financial objectives by providing them with cutting-edge ideas, best-in-class products and solutions, and unparalleled access to capital and liquidity.

What We do / The Team

Join Citi's Equities Smart Order Router team, a core part of our Front Office Technology, driving innovation in electronic trading. This established team builds and maintains high-performance, low-latency, high-throughput applications vital for optimizing liquidity sourcing across global markets.

You will provide end-to-end SDLC support, developing and enhancing critical trading components. This involves close collaboration with Product teams on requirements, Quants for algorithm implementation, and Production Support to ensure platform stability.

Our team thrives on solving complex challenges at the intersection of high-performance computing and intricate trading strategies. If you're passionate about building cutting-edge financial technology with direct market impact, this role offers an exciting opportunity within a highly collaborative and impactful environment.

Role Overview/What will you do:

• End-to-End SDLC Ownership:Drive the full Software Development Life Cycle for the Equities Smart Order Router, from design to deployment, ensuring robust and high-performance solutions.
• Global Collaboration:Work intimately with key stakeholders and colleagues across global regions, including product teams, quantitative analysts, and other engineering groups.
• Critical L3 Support:Provide essential Level 3 support, resolving complex queries from production support, product managers, and trading desks to maintain platform stability.
• Strategic Impact:Directly contribute to the continuous enhancement and stability of a latency-sensitive, high-volume trading platform, directly impacting trade execution and liquidity.
• Delivery Ownership:Take full ownership of deliverables, ensuring quality, reliability, and successful integration within a dynamic trading environment.

Key Skills and Experience required:

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced software engineer with a strong background in financial technology. The ideal candidate will possess:

• Financial Markets Expertise:Demonstrated prior software development experience within financial markets, preferably with exposure to electronic trading systems or low-latency environments.
• Core Java Proficiency:Expertise in Core Java development (version 1.8 or higher), with a deep understanding of its ecosystem, best practices, and performance characteristics.
• Advanced Data Structures & Concurrency:Excellent command of data structures, concurrent programming (multi-threading), and techniques for highly optimized, low-garbage-collection (zero GC) development, crucial for high-performance applications.
• Low Latency & Performance Tuning:Proven experience in developing and optimizing low-latency applications, including advanced performance tuning techniques and profiling to achieve micro seconds level response times.
• Distributed Systems & Middleware:Hands-on experience working with various messaging middlewares (e.g., Kafka, Solace) and TCP-based communication protocols for building resilient and scalable distributed systems.
• Linux & Scripting Acumen:Strong working knowledge of the Linux operating system, including shell scripting and an understanding of system-level performance tuning and troubleshooting in a Linux environment.
• Microservices Architecture:Practical experience with microservices architecture principles and design patterns, including developing, deploying, and managing services in a distributed environment.

Any Beneficial / Nice to have skills and experience:

• Algorithmic Trading & Routing Strategies:Direct experience in the development or implementation of algorithmic trading strategies, particularly within electronic trading systems and smart order routing.
• FIX Protocol Expertise:A strong understanding and practical experience with the Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol, specifically its application in electronic trading workflows and order management.
• Order State Lifecycle Knowledge:In-depth knowledge of the order state lifecycle in electronic trading systems, including order creation, execution, cancellation, and various status transitions.
• KDB+/Q Database Experience:Hands-on experience with KDB+ and the Q programming language for handling and analyzing large volumes of time-series financial data.
• Containerization & Orchestration:Exposure to containerization technologies (e.g., Docker) and container orchestration platforms (e.g., OpenShift, Kubernetes) for deploying and managing microservices.

What we’ll provide you

By joining Citi London, you will not only be part of a business casual workplace with a hybrid working model (up to 2 days working at home per week), but also receive a competitive base salary (which is annually reviewed), and enjoy a whole host of additional benefits such as:

• 27 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
• A discretional annual performance related bonus
• Private Medical Care & Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Pension Plan
• Paid Parental Leave
• Special discounts for employees, family, and friends
• Access to an array of learning and development resources

Visit ourGlobal Benefitspage to learn more.

Alongside these benefits Citi is committed to ensuring our workplace is where everyone feels comfortable coming to work as their whole self, every day. We want the best talent around the world to be energized to join us, motivated to stay and empowered to thrive.

------------------------------------------------------

Job Family Group:

Technology

------------------------------------------------------

Job Family:

Applications Development

------------------------------------------------------

Time Type:

Full time

------------------------------------------------------

Most Relevant Skills

Please see the requirements listed above.

------------------------------------------------------

Other Relevant Skills

For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.

------------------------------------------------------

Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you are a person with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to use our search tools and/or apply for a career opportunity review Accessibility at Citi.

View Citi’s EEO Policy Statement and the Know Your Rights poster.