Senior Software Engineer, Trading Platforms

Charles Schwab Corporation; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Schwab in Chicago is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to design, build, and support scalable, distributed systems for high-throughput trading platforms. You will contribute to low-latency services, automation capabilities, and modern tooling, working on-site to collaborate across teams.

You will partner with architecture, product, and platform teams to improve reliability, performance, and engineering productivity, applying cloud-native practices, microservices, and AI-assisted development in

Qualifications

• 10+ years in enterprise application development with C#/.NET.
• Experience building high-performance distributed systems and services.
• Knowledge of messaging/event-driven architectures (Kafka, RabbitMQ).
• Cloud experience (GCP/AWS/Azure/Kubernetes).
• Proficient in automated testing, TDD, CI/CD, modern delivery practices.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, microservices, and network design.
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop robust, scalable software solutions.
• Lead complex initiatives and automation programs across platforms.
• Collaborate with engineers, product owners, and architects.
• Improve reliability, performance, and developer productivity.

Skills

C#/.NET

Distributed systems

Messaging (Kafka/RabbitMQ)

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

Databases (SQL/NoSQL)

AI tooling

Agile/Scrum

High-performance

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Kafka

RabbitMQ

Kubernetes

AWS/GCP/Azure

Job description

Your Opportunity

At Schwab, you're empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us challenge the status quo and transform the finance industry together. We believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in the specified location(s).

Join the Order Execution & Management team in delivering high-throughput, reliable, and low-latency trading solutions. We are looking for a highly motivated Senior Software Engineer who is passionate about building scalable distributed systems, modern automation capabilities, and next-generation engineering solutions. This role requires strong software development skills, problem‑solving abilities, and a desire to work across engineering, architecture, product, and platform teams to deliver innovative solutions that improve reliability, performance, and engineering productivity.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record of building and supporting mission‑critical applications and services, embracing modern technologies, and helping drive innovation through automation, intelligent tooling, and engineering excellence.

What You Are Good At

• As a senior engineer, you are a self‑driven individual contributor who designs and develops robust, scalable, and maintainable software solutions.
• Leading complex technical initiatives, automation programs, and engineering improvements across trading and financial technology platforms.
• Quickly understanding complex business and technical challenges and delivering practical, scalable solutions.
• Applying strong software engineering principles, coding expertise, and automation tooling to solve development, reliability, and operational challenges.
• Understanding distributed architectures, microservices, event‑driven systems, APIs, cloud‑native technologies, and parallel processing systems.
• Leveraging modern engineering practices, automation, and AI‑assisted capabilities to improve developer productivity, software quality, and delivery speed.
• Communicating effectively with engineers, architects, product owners, and business partners.
• Thriving in a fast‑paced environment while collaborating across multiple teams, locations, and time zones.
• Understanding technology trends and applying emerging technologies to solve business and engineering problems.
• Supporting high‑volume, low‑latency platforms with a strong focus on performance, resiliency, scalability, and operational excellence.

What you have

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of enterprise technology related experience in application development using C# .NET / .NET Core.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong software development expertise with experience building high-performance distributed systems and services.
• Experience with messaging and event‑driven architecture using Kafka, RabbitMQ, or equivalent technologies.
• Experience working with cloud‑based technologies such as GCP, AWS, Azure, PCF, or Kubernetes platforms.
• Experience with automated testing, Test‑Driven Development (TDD), CI/CD pipelines, and modern software delivery practices.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, microservices, application architecture, infrastructure, and network design principles.
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases such as SQL Server, MongoDB, Redis, Aerospike, or equivalent technologies.
• Experience leveraging AI‑enabled engineering tools, intelligent automation, or modern developer productivity capabilities.
• Experience in creating evaluation frameworks, validation strategies, and quality controls for complex software systems and intelligent workflows.
• Working knowledge of Agile/Scrum methodologies and continuous integration/continuous delivery frameworks.
• Exceptional interpersonal, communication, collaboration, and problem‑solving skills.
• Financial Services or Trading Technology experience preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting electronic trading, order management, execution management, market connectivity, or regulatory reporting platforms.
• Experience designing or supporting low‑latency, high‑throughput, and highly available systems.
• Experience implementing AI‑assisted engineering capabilities, intelligent automation solutions, or modern software development practices.
• Experience establishing engineering metrics and operational measures that improve reliability, scalability, developer productivity, and delivery speed.
• Financial Services or Trading Technology experience strongly preferred.

Learning Opportunities

• Deepen your knowledge of order execution, trading technology, market connectivity, and the quality controls supporting complex financial platforms
• Expand your expertise in agentic workflows, AI‑assisted engineering, Model Evaluation, human‑in‑the‑loop validation, and responsible AI governance
• Strengthen performance, resiliency, observability, and reliability practices for distributed and event‑driven systems
• Develop broader Technical Leadership skills through enterprise initiatives, architecture discussions, mentoring, and cross‑functional influence
• Learn from experienced engineering, architecture, product, and business partners while solving complex, high‑impact technology problems
• Build toward future technical or team leadership opportunities through continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and increased responsibility

Skill Development Values

At Schwab, we value capability, curiosity, ownership, and continuous growth. We recognize that relevant skills can be developed through different roles, industries, technologies, and learning paths.

You will be encouraged to challenge assumptions, share knowledge, learn from feedback, and responsibly explore new engineering practices. Through collaboration, training, and hands‑on experience, you will strengthen the skills needed to build reliable technology, influence quality across teams, and deliver solutions that earn trust and serve clients effectively.

"In addition to the salary range, this role is also eligible for bonus or incentive opportunities."