Executive Director - Sr. Technical Lead - Electronic Trading Platform

Socket.dev; New York (NY); On-site; USD 195,000 - 275,000; Full time

Job summary

Morgan Stanley's Listed Sales and Trading technology team is seeking a Senior Technical Lead to own the design, development and delivery of high-performance trading systems. This is a hands-on, high-visibility role that partners with front office, traders, product, risk, and compliance to enable new business and manage risk in a fast-paced global environment.

You will translate urgent business requirements into scalable technical solutions, mentor developers, set engineering standards, and drive

Qualifications

• 12+ years building trading, risk, pricing, order-management, or market-data systems.
• Strong knowledge of financial markets and instruments across asset classes.
• Proven technical leadership in architecture, mentoring, and delivery.
• Hands-on with distributed, high-performance, low-latency systems and production ops.
• Ability to communicate with senior non-technical stakeholders and balance urgency.
• Experience with AI-assisted development tools with validation and controls.
• Strong judgment and systematic problem solving in fast-paced environments.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end delivery of business-critical trading systems from architecture to production support.
• Act as the primary technical partner to traders, desk heads, product partners, and tech teams.
• Lead and mentor developers, setting direction and engineering standards.
• Drive Agile delivery with risk, compliance, infra, and support teams.
• Use AI-assisted engineering tools to improve productivity, quality and delivery.
• Remain hands-on in architecture, development, reviews and troubleshooting.

Skills

Trading systems,

Leadership

Architecture

Low-latency

Stakeholder communication

AI tooling

Problem solving

Job description

What We Do

The Listed Sales and Trading technology team is responsible for designing, developing and maintaining high-performance global electronic trading platforms for Morgan Stanley. We work directly with our institutional users including traders, sales, product managers, risk and compliance, and external clients to help enable new businesses, advance the platform, and manage their risk.

Our highly scalable trading platforms support equities, derivatives, ETFs, FX, commodities, bonds, swaps, and cross-asset instruments. Their capabilities range from fully automated, low-latency order handling to complex, customized workflows required by sophisticated institutional users. The team builds resilient, business-critical trading systems that support rapid execution, risk management, and front-office operational workflows across a wide range of businesses.

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for a highly motivated Senior Technical Lead to drive the design, development, and delivery of our business-critical trading systems. This is a high-visibility, hands-on role that combines deep technical ownership with front-office relationship management and serves as the primary technical partner to trading, sales, product, and other business stakeholders.

The successful candidate will translate urgent and complex business requirements into scalable technical solutions, establish trusted relationships across the front office, and lead developers toward clear technical standards and reliable delivery. The role offers broad exposure across businesses and asset classes in a fast-paced, global environment.

Your Responsibilities and Opportunities

• Own end-to-end delivery of business-critical trading systems, translating requirements into scalable solutions from architecture through production support
• Act as the primary technical partner to traders, desk heads, product partners, and technology teams, aligning priorities, surfacing risks, and managing trade-offs
• Lead and mentor developers, setting technical direction, engineering standards, and a culture of ownership and continuous improvement
• Drive Agile delivery and partner with risk, compliance, infrastructure, and support teams to ensure production stability and appropriate controls
• Use AI-assisted engineering tools responsibly to improve productivity, quality, and delivery efficiency
• Remain hands-on in architecture, development, code review, and troubleshooting for high-performance trading systems

Your Skills and Talents

• 12+ years building trading, risk, pricing, order-management, or market-data systems
• Strong knowledge of relevant financial markets and instruments across equities, derivatives, FX, rates, commodities, or cross-asset products
• Proven technical leadership in architecture, engineering standards, mentoring, and delivery
• Hands-on experience with distributed, high-performance, or low-latency systems and production operations
• Ability to communicate with senior non-technical stakeholders and balance urgency, resilience, and maintainability
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools with appropriate validation, security, and controls
• Strong judgment and systematic problem solving in fast-paced, high-pressure environments

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients – helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated – and we’ve done that for 90 years. Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

To learn more about our offices across the globe, please copy and paste https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/global-offices into your browser.

Expected base pay rates for the role will be between $195,000 and $275,000 per year at the commencement of employment. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background. Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.

For more information, please visit: https://www.morganstanley.com/people-opportunities/eeo.