Sr Lead Software Engineer - KDB / Q

J.P. MORGAN; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global financial services firm seeks a Lead KDB Developer to design and deliver a scalable KDB platform for futures trading. In this pivotal role, you will work closely with trading teams, implement data solutions, and optimize algorithm performance. The successful candidate will possess over 4 years of experience with KDB and Q, alongside skills in agile methodologies and cloud environments such as AWS. Join a dynamic team driving technology innovation in the finance sector.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of hands-on professional experience with KDB and Q language.
• Deep understanding of KDB+ tick design and performance optimisation.
• Experience collaborating with quant, algo, or trading teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop scalable KDB-based systems.
• Collaborate with other teams to capture requirements.
• Lead and mentor team members.

Skills

KDB and Q language

Data organisation

Performance optimisation

Collaboration with quant and algo teams

Automation and continuous delivery

Agile methodologies

Software Development Life Cycle

Education

Formal training or certification on software engineering concepts

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes

AWS

Python

Java

Job description

Job Description

Be an integral part of a technology team that’s constantly pushing the envelope to enhance, build, and deliver top‑notch technology products.

As a Lead KDB Developer at JPMorgan Chase within Equities Trading you will play a pivotal role in building our next‑generation KDB platform to support JPMorgan Chase’s global futures trading business. You will design and deliver a scalable KDB ticker plant to capture all global futures trading activity, providing both historical and real‑time access.

In this role, you’ll work closely with Algo, Quantitative Research (QR), and trading teams to define requirements, coordinate data migrations, and implement enrichment logic to validate and optimize algorithm performance. This is a unique opportunity to shape the core data infrastructure for our trading platform as we migrate to AWS and modernise our technology stack.

Job Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deliver scalable KDB‑based systems, including the global KDB ticker plant for real‑time and historical trading data.
• Collaborate with Algo and QR teams to capture requirements, coordinate migrations, and implement data enrichment for algorithm validation and performance analysis.
• Execute creative software solutions, design, development, and technical troubleshooting, thinking beyond routine or conventional approaches.
• Develop secure, high‑quality production code; review and debug code written by others.
• Identify opportunities to eliminate or automate remediation of recurring issues to improve overall operational stability.
• Lead and mentor team members, manage book of work, and drive continuous improvement of coding standards and SDLC practices.
• Develop scalable real‑time processing solutions using agile methodology.
• Partner with application support teams to maintain and support the platform.
• Engage with stakeholders to deliver data‑driven solutions and support business objectives.

Required Qualifications, Capabilities, and Skills

• At least 4 years of hands‑on professional experience with KDB and Q language (mid‑level to senior).
• Deep understanding of KDB+ tick design, data organisation, and performance optimisation.
• Experience developing and running large datasets, optimising query performance, and building resilient, high‑availability KDB applications.
• Experience collaborating with quant, algo, or trading teams to deliver data solutions.
• Formal training or certification on software engineering concepts and advanced applied experience.
• Hands‑on experience with system design, application development, testing, and operational stability.
• Proficiency in automation and continuous delivery methods.
• Proficient in all aspects of the Software Development Life Cycle.
• Advanced understanding of agile methodologies such as CI/CD, application resiliency, and security.
• Experience with requirements capture, task decomposition, estimation, delivery planning, and user acceptance testing.
• Experience with scaling and load‑balancing KDB applications.

Preferred Qualifications, Capabilities, and Skills

• Experience with Terraform and Kubernetes for managing production environments in public cloud.
• AWS experience.
• Experience with other programming languages (e.g., Python, C, C++, Java).
• Experience with market data venues and vendor data platforms.

About Us

J.P. Morgan is a global leader in financial services, providing strategic advice and products to the world's most prominent corporations, governments, wealthy individuals and institutional investors. Our first‑class business in a first‑class way approach to serving clients drives everything we do. We strive to build trusted, long‑term partnerships to help our clients achieve their business objectives.

We recognise that our people are our strength and the diverse talents they bring to our global workforce are directly linked to our success. We are an equal‑opportunity employer and place a high value on diversity and inclusion at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute, including race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital or veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law. We also make reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as mental health or physical disability needs. Visit our FAQs for more information about requesting an accommodation.

About The Team

J.P. Morgan's Commercial & Investment Bank is a global leader across banking, markets, securities services and payments. Corporations, governments and institutions throughout the world entrust us with their business in more than 100 countries. The Commercial & Investment Bank provides strategic advice, raises capital, manages risk and extends liquidity in markets around the world.