Senior C++ Low-Latency Trading Engineer

Clearstreet; Chicago, New York (IL, NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Clear Street is building a next-generation, cloud-native clearing and custody platform with a focus on low-latency execution across major markets. The Algorithmic Execution Services team is hiring senior engineers to design and implement a scalable, FIX-based gateway, market data feed handlers, and robust risk controls as part of a greenfield platform effort.

The role is a core infrastructure engineer on a small focused team, hybrid in New York, NY or Lisle, IL, with opportunities to expand to

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience building high-performance, low-latency systems in C++ in a production environment.
• Deep knowledge of FIX protocol (4.2/4.4) and the full order lifecycle — entry, routing, execution, cancellation, and reporting.
• Experience with exchange market data protocols (ITCH, OUCH, binary feed formats) and building production-grade feed handlers.
• Strong understanding of low-latency architecture — kernel bypass, lock-free data structures, CPU affinity, memory layout, and hot-path profiling.
• Experience with multicast messaging (Aeron, LBM, or equivalent publish/subscribe transport).
• Solid grasp of U.S. equity market structure: order types, Reg NMS, venue routing, lit and dark pools.
• Comfortable working in Linux, including performance tuning at the OS level.

Responsibilities

• Client-facing FIX gateway — design and harden the FIX acceptor that serves as the primary inbound order entry point for institutional clients; own the full order lifecycle including order entry, fills, ACKs, rejects, and outbound sequencing.
• Market data infrastructure — build and maintain production-grade feed handlers for exchange protocols (ITCH, OUCH, binary) across major U.S. exchanges and ATSs, replacing legacy market data dependencies with proprietary, low-latency infrastructure.
• Execution and venue connectivity — build and optimize the venue connectivity layer; own latency profiling and hot-path analysis from order receipt through exchange acknowledgment.
• Pre-trade risk controls — architect and implement real-time risk checks with a clear understanding of where each check sits in the critical path; balance correctness guarantees with microsecond-level latency budgets.
• Platform infrastructure — contribute to configuration and command & control architecture, normalized internal message representation, and audit-trail logging systems.
• Algorithmic strategy migration — over time, help move existing algorithmic strategies off legacy infrastructure onto the new platform — component by component.

Skills

C++

Low-latency design

FIX protocol

Linux performance tuning

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher in CS/Engineering/Math

Tools

Kubernetes

Python

Aeron

LBM

Linux

Job description

Clear Street is building a next-generation, cloud-native clearing and custody platform with a focus on low-latency execution across major markets. The Algorithmic Execution Services team is hiring senior engineers to design and implement a scalable, FIX-based gateway, market data feed handlers, and robust risk controls as part of a greenfield platform effort.

The role is a core infrastructure engineer on a small focused team, hybrid in New York, NY or Lisle, IL, with opportunities to expand to