Software Engineer jobs in United Kingdom

Contract Length: 6 months (with potential extension)

Location: London (4 days per week onsite)

Day Rate: Up to £800 (Outside IR35)

We’re looking for an experienced Senior Rust Engineer to take ownership of a greenfield high‑frequency trading (HFT) platform, leading the development of the execution layer and market‑making system. You’ll step into a technical leadership role, driving architecture, improving performance, and ensuring the system is built to world‑class standards. If you’ve built ultra‑low‑latency trading systems before and want to take full responsibility for a new Rust‑based platform, this is an opportunity to shape a high‑impact project from the ground up.

• Extensive experience designing and developing high‑frequency trading systems
• Strong experience working on Rust with a track record of building low‑latency, high‑throughput production systems
• Proven ability to lead the build of execution engines, market‑making platforms, or similar low‑latency trading infrastructure
• Strong background in system architecture, performance optimisation, and fault‑tolerant distributed systems
• Experience replacing or migrating systems from languages such as Python into Rust
• Comfortable taking full ownership of a greenfield project with minimal guidance (Self‑Starter)
• Strong collaboration attitude across engineering teams
• Flexible with working remotely but still keen to head into the office when necessary

• Own and drive the development of the execution layer and market‑making components of the HFT platform
• Architect, design, and implement ultra‑low‑latency Rust systems from first principles
• Improve, refactor, and optimise the existing codebase to meet best‑in‑class performance standards
• Replace or modernise existing Python‑based components where appropriate
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to deliver an integrated, production‑ready trading system
• Lead technical decision‑making, architecture discussions, and coding standards for Rust development
• Ensure seamless integration with UI and supporting engineering teams
• Contribute to rapid iteration, debugging, and refinement through close in‑office collaboration

Please reach out to ross@understandingsolutions.com for more information on this role. Apply with your up to date CV for consideration.