Senior Software Engineer - Data Systems

Selby Jennings; City Of London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Selby Jennings, a leading recruitment firm in finance, is seeking a Senior Software Engineer in London to build robust data-driven products, tools and infrastructure supporting investment research. This is a rare early engineering hire, partnering with analysts, data scientists and investment professionals to translate complex data requirements into scalable solutions.

You will design end-to-end software, own system architecture, collaborate with PMs and researchers, and deliver cloud-based

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, with Python focus.
• Strong backend and data handling experience.
• Experience leading multi-person development efforts and system design.

Responsibilities

• Design and build end-to-end software solutions, including data pipelines, products, tools and backend infrastructure.
• Take ownership of system design and architecture.
• Partner with PMs, analysts, researchers and data scientists to understand requirements and develop practical solutions.
• Build scalable cloud-based infrastructure and reusable software components, libraries and APIs, with exposure to distributed systems and AI-ready data assets.
• Improve the performance, reliability and quality of software and data systems through benchmarking, governance and iterative development.

Skills

Python

Backend development

Data processing

AWS

Distributed systems

Tools

Spark

Airflow

Job description

Our client, a leading investment firm, is looking for a Senior Software Engineer in London to build robust data-driven products, tools and infrastructure supporting fundamental investment research. Working within a team of analysts, researchers, data scientists and engineers, this person will partner closely with investment professionals, including PMs and analysts, translating complex data requirements into scalable engineering solutions. The position is one of the first engineering hires in London, working with engineering leadership in the US and providing hands‑on technical capability locally. The role exists to strengthen core software engineering around data, with direct influence over the tools and data assets used to inform investment decisions.

Responsibilities

• Design and build robust end-to-end software solutions, including data pipelines, products, tools and backend infrastructure.
• Take ownership of system design and architecture, applying strong engineering judgement to technically complex problems.
• Partner directly with PMs, analysts, researchers and data scientists to understand requirements and develop practical solutions.
• Build scalable cloud-based infrastructure and reusable software components, libraries and APIs, with exposure to distributed systems and AI-ready data assets.
• Improve the performance, reliability and quality of software and data systems through benchmarking, governance and iterative development.

Requirements

• 5+ years' experience across software engineering, with strong Python development experience.
• Strong core software engineering skills, particularly backend development, alongside an understanding of and willingness to work extensively with data.
• Experience taking ownership of system design and architecture, ideally including leading multi-person development efforts.
• AWS Cloud experience, alongside exposure to scalable or distributed data processing; Spark and orchestration technologies such as Airflow are relevant examples.
• An autonomous, collaborative and pragmatic approach, comfortable working closely with technical and investment-facing stakeholders.