Kdb+/Q Engineer – Real-Time Data & Analytics (Equities)

Jefferies; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Jefferies’ Equities Data & Analytics Team seeks an experienced Kdb+/Q Engineer to design, build, and enhance real-time analytics platforms supporting electronic trading and market data workflows.

The role focuses on developing and maintaining low-latency data infrastructure, processing ticker data alongside large-scale historical datasets, and delivering high-performance analytics solutions used by trading, quants, and risk teams.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience with large-scale financial datasets.
• 7+ years of hands-on Kdb+/Q experience, including real-time data systems.
• Strong experience in Linux/Unix environments.
• Understanding of time-series databases and architectures.
• Real-time data streaming and processing.
• Analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop low-latency kdb+/q systems for real-time market data.
• Build streaming analytics pipelines for intraday monitoring.
• Develop time-series data models and query frameworks.

Skills

Kdb+/Q

Low-latency

Real-time analytics

Linux/Unix

Time-series data

Data streaming

API development

Security & authentication

Data quality monitoring

Communication skills

Tools

tickerplant

RDB/HDB

Python

Java

AWS

Job description

Location: New York, NY

Overview

The Equities Data & Analytics Team is seeking an experienced Kdb+/Q Engineer to design, build, and enhance real-time analytics platforms supporting electronic trading and market data workflows.

This role focuses on developing and maintaining low-latency data infrastructure, processing real-time ticker data alongside large-scale historical datasets, and delivering high-performance analytics solutions used by trading, quantitative, and risk teams.

The successful candidate will operate in a fast‑paced environment, partnering closely with traders, quants, developers, QA, and production support teams to create scalable, reliable, and secure data systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop low-latency kdb+/q systems to ingest, process, and analyze real-time market data, ticker data, and order/execution flows
• Build and optimize streaming analytics pipelines to support intraday monitoring and analytics use cases
• Develop efficient time-series data models and query frameworks for both real-time and historical datasets
• Enhance system performance for high-throughput, low-latency analytics workloads
• Architect and implement scalable kdb infrastructure (tickerplant, RDB, HDB) supporting enterprise data needs
• Develop and maintain API‑driven data services for downstream consumers, including trading and analytics applications
• Build reusable, library‑grade components to standardize data access, transformation, and analytics functionality
• Implement secure access controls and authentication layers for data platform usage

Data Quality, Monitoring & Controls

• Develop and automate data quality checks across:
• transactional and execution data
• Build monitoring and alerting frameworks to track:
• system performance and health
• Partner with production support teams to troubleshoot real‑time data issues and anomalies
• Collaborate with traders, quants, and engineering teams to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions
• Contribute across the full software development lifecycle (design, development, testing, deployment, and optimization)
• Produce clear and comprehensive technical documentation and system designs
• Ensure adherence to best coding practices and industry standards

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience working with large-scale financial datasets, including:
• positions or time-series data
• 7+ years of hands‑on Kdb+/Q experience, including real-time data systems
• Strong experience working in Linux/Unix environments
• Solid understanding of:
• time-series databases and architectures
• real-time data streaming and processing
• analytical, problem‑solving, and communication skills
• Ability to work effectively in a fast‑paced, collaborative environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in electronic trading or algorithmic trading environments
• Familiarity with:
• market microstructure and trading workflows
• Working knowledge of Python or Java for integration and tooling
• Experience implementing authentication and entitlement frameworks
• Exposure to cloud platforms (e.g., AWS)
• Experience with Agile development methodologies

Key Attributes

• Strong ownership mindset and ability to deliver end‑to‑end solutions
• Ability to think critically and propose innovative ideasProven track record of delivering high‑quality systems in production environments
• Collaborative team player with strong communication skills

What This Role Offers

• Opportunity to work on mission‑critical, real‑time analytics systems
• Direct exposure to front‑office trading environments and workflows
• Ownership of high‑impact data infrastructure and platforms
• A combination of kdb engineering, real‑time systems, and advanced analytics development