Software Engineering Manager

CipherTek Recruitment; Greater London; On-site; GBP 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

CipherTek Recruitment is seeking a senior technology leader (Director) to own a global Market Data platform powering front-office trading across multiple asset classes. This is a hands-on engineering leadership role combining team management with platform strategy and architectural ownership.

You will lead developers, contribute to code, set standards for delivery, and collaborate with traders and quants to translate business needs into technical solutions while driving cloud/hybrid

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering and development background with experience building and architecting business-critical systems.
• Strong hands-on coding skills, ideally in C# and/or Python, and ability to contribute technically.
• Experience leading developers while retaining deep technical involvement.
• Experience in front-office trading technology or closely related areas.
• Understanding of real-time data, messaging and distributed systems.
• Ability to engage credibly with traders, quants and senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own the strategy, architecture and delivery of a global real-time market data platform.
• Remain hands-on with software development and technical problem-solving.
• Lead and develop a strong engineering team, setting standards for code quality and delivery.
• Partner directly with trading desks and quant teams to translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Drive platform evolution, including cloud/hybrid transformation.
• Manage key vendor relationships, including Bloomberg, LSEG and ICE.
• Ensure performance, resilience and scalability across a global environment.

Skills

Software engineering

Technical leadership

Hands-on coding

Front-office trading tech

Tools

C#

Python

Job description

We’re hiring a senior technology leader (Director) to own a global Market Data platform powering front-office trading across multiple asset classes.

This is a hands-on engineering leadership role, combining team management and platform strategy with software development and architectural ownership. You’ll need the technical depth to contribute to code, make architectural decisions and lead a team of developers.

What you’ll be doing

• Own the strategy, architecture and delivery of a global real-time market data platform
• Remain hands-on with software development and technical problem-solving
• Lead and develop a strong engineering team, setting standards for code quality and delivery
• Partner directly with trading desks and quant teams to translate business needs into technical solutions
• Drive platform evolution, including cloud/hybrid transformation
• Manage key vendor relationships, including Bloomberg, LSEG and ICE
• Ensure performance, resilience and scalability across a global environment

What we’re looking for

• A strong software engineering and development background, with proven experience building and architeting business-critical systems
• Strong hands-on coding skills, ideally in C# and/or Python, and the ability to contribute technically alongside the team
• Experience leading developers while retaining deep technical involvementExperience in front-office trading technology or closely related areas, working directly with the business
• A strong understanding of real-time data, messaging and distributed systems
• The ability to engage credibly with traders, quants and senior stakeholders

Market data expertise is highly desirable, but it isn’t essential to be a specialist in every platform or vendor technology. We’re also interested in technically strong engineering leaders from relevant trading, pricing, risk or real-time data environments who have worked closely with front-office users.

The key requirement is technical strength: a software development background, strong coding and architecture skills, and the appetite to remain hands-on. A generalist infrastructure or delivery management background alone won’t be a fit.

Why this role

• True ownership of a business-critical global platform
• A senior leadership role with meaningful hands-on engineering involvement
• Direct partnership with front-office trading and quant teams
• Opportunity to shape long-term architecture, strategy and engineering standards