C++ Engineer, Trading Systems

talisman; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 130,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

TALISMAN is seeking a C++ Software Engineer to design and build the low-latency systems powering live trading, risk, and pricing across the firm. You will develop high-performance distributed components in a Linux environment, focusing on execution and market-data handling.

Collaborate with traders and engineers to translate strategy into production-grade code, employing multithreaded and lock-free techniques to maximize throughput and minimize latency across the stack.

Qualifications

• Background in electronic trading environments preferred (prop/redact).
• 4+ years of professional C++ experience in high-performance real-time systems.
• Strong data structures, algorithms, concurrency, and memory management.
• Linux system-level programming with networking fundamentals.
• Hands-on debugging and profiling using common tools.
• Nice to have: options/derivatives pricing or time-series analysis tools.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain high-performance distributed systems processing market data at scale.
• Design low-latency C++ components for execution and order handling.
• Collaborate with traders and engineers to implement strategy in production code.
• Apply multithreaded and lock-free techniques to reduce latency and improve throughput.
• Use profiling tools to identify bottlenecks and drive performance improvements.

Skills

C++

Real-time systems

Multithreading

Lock-free programming

Linux

Networking (TCP/IP)

Debugging

Tools

GDB

Wireshark

tcpdump

KDB+/q

Job description

We're partnering with a proprietary trading firm making who is looking to add a C++ Software Engineer to design and build the low-latency systems that power live trading, risk, and pricing across the firm.

Responsibilities:

• Build and maintain high-performance distributed systems that process real-time and historical market data at scale
• Design low-latency C++ (C++17/20) components supporting core trading infrastructure, including execution and order handling
• Partner with traders and engineers to turn strategy and modeling requirements into production-grade code
• Apply multithreaded and lock-free programming techniques to improve throughput and reduce latency across the stack
• Use profiling and diagnostic tooling to identify bottlenecks and guide performance improvements

Requirements:

• Background at a proprietary trading firm, market maker, or similar electronic trading environment is required.
• 4+ years of professional C++ experience in a high-performance, real-time trading environment
• Solid foundation in data structures, algorithms, concurrency, and memory management
• Linux-based system-level programming experience, including networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, UDP, sockets)
• Hands-on debugging/profiling skills (GDB, Wireshark, tcpdump, or equivalent)
• A plus: exposure to options/derivatives pricing models, quantitative research platforms, or KDB+/q for time-series analysis