Junior Distributed Systems Engineer (Java/Kafka)

Rothera; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with match

Health, Vision and Dental insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

Rothera, a Chicago-based trading platform, is seeking an Associate Software Engineer to help build a cloud-based, scalable architecture powering instrument management and clearing systems.

You will work with senior engineers, gain ownership of components, and contribute to a microservices ecosystem using Java, Kafka, and PostgreSQL, while learning system design and incident management practices.

This role offers growth within a fast-evolving trading platform and a competitive compensation package.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 2 years or less of professional software engineering experience (or strong academic/internship background).
• Proficiency in Java; eager to learn stack including concurrency, memory management, and JVM behavior.
• Familiarity with microservices, event streaming (Kafka), and relational databases (PostgreSQL).
• Strong interest in distributed systems and scalable architectures.

Responsibilities

• Support the design and implementation of core components within Rothera's cloud-based infrastructure under supervision.
• Develop ownership and maintain features within a microservices architecture with clean, functional code.
• Contribute to distributed systems and learn to read logs and dashboards with guidance from senior engineers.
• Collaborate with teammates to translate requirements into technical tasks and learn product workflows.
• Assist in on-call rotation and incident management by monitoring system health.

Skills

Java

Distributed systems

Microservices

Concurrency/JVM behavior

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kafka

PostgreSQL

Job description

Rothera, a Chicago-based trading platform, is seeking an Associate Software Engineer to help build a cloud-based, scalable architecture powering instrument management and clearing systems.

You will work with senior engineers, gain ownership of components, and contribute to a microservices ecosystem using Java, Kafka, and PostgreSQL, while learning system design and incident management practices.

This role offers growth within a fast-evolving trading platform and a competitive compensation package.