Sr. Low Latency Engineer

Forbes Technical Consulting; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Potential sign-on bonus

401(k) with employer match

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

PTO and additional benefits

Job summary

Forbes Technical Consulting is seeking a Sr. Low Latency Engineer in Chicago to design and build high-throughput trading infrastructure, including exchange and clearing components. The role emphasizes ultra-low-latency systems, distributed architecture, and performance optimization.

You will work with Java, Kafka, and microservices, collaborating with product teams to translate requirements into scalable solutions and participating in on-call rotations. Hybrid in Chicago/New York market focus.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Advanced Java expertise, including concurrency, JVM tuning, memory management.
• Performance optimization experience.
• Experience building low-latency, high-throughput backend systems.
• Experience with Kafka, PostgreSQL, microservices, REST and WebSocket APIs.

Responsibilities

• Design and build core exchange and clearing infrastructure.
• Develop features within: matching engines, order management systems, clearing workflows.
• Build ultra-low-latency messaging architectures using: Aeron, Hydra or similar frameworks.
• Develop customer-facing APIs using: FIX, REST, WebSocket.
• Build fault-tolerant distributed systems leveraging Kafka, PostgreSQL, in-memory processing.
• Collaborate with Staff Engineers on architecture and technical direction.
• Improve scalability, latency, reliability, and system performance.
• Partner with product and business stakeholders to translate requirements into technical solutions.
• Participate in production support and on-call rotations.

Skills

Advanced Java

Concurrency

JVM tuning

Memory management

Performance optimization

Low-latency systems

High-throughput messaging

Distributed systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / Software Engineering

Tools

Kafka

PostgreSQL

Microservices

REST APIs

WebSocket APIs

Aeron

Hydra

Job description

Hybrid – Chicago Preferred | Also Open to New York City

No sponsorship offered and must be able to work without sponsorship now or in the future

A cutting-edge fintech company is building a next-generation prediction market platform in partnership with leading global brokerage and trading firms. The platform is focused on creating scalable, market-driven forecasting infrastructure that transforms how organizations generate insight and make decisions.

We are seeking a Sr. Low Latency Engineer to help develop the high-throughput matching engine and clearing systems powering the core trading infrastructure.

This role is ideal for an experienced engineer passionate about ultra-low-latency systems, distributed architecture, and solving complex performance challenges at scale.

What You’ll Do

• Design and build core exchange and clearing infrastructure
• Develop features within: matching engines, order management systems, clearing workflows
• Build ultra-low-latency messaging architectures using: Aeron, Hydra or similar frameworks
• Develop customer-facing APIs using: FIX, REST, WebSocket
• Build fault-tolerant distributed systems leveraging:, Kafka, PostgreSQL in-memory processing
• Collaborate closely with Staff Engineers on architecture and technical direction
• Improve scalability, latency, reliability, and system performance
• Partner with product and business stakeholders to translate requirements into technical solutions
• Participate in production support and on-call rotations

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Advanced Java expertise, including:, concurrency, JVM tuning, memory management
• performance optimization
• Experience building: low-latency systems, high-throughput messaging systems, scalable backend infrastructure
• Experience with: Kafka, PostgreSQL, microservices, REST APIs, WebSocket APIs

Strongly Preferred

Experience with:

• Aeron, Hydra, or similar low-latency messaging frameworks
• FIX protocol experience
• Trading systems or exchange infrastructure experience
• Financial markets or derivatives knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in:

• Computer Science
• Software Engineering
• or related technical discipline
• Potential sign-on bonus in competitive situations
• 401(k) with employer match
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• PTO and additional benefits

If you enjoy building high-performance trading infrastructure, solving difficult latency challenges, and working at the intersection of distributed systems and financial technology, we’d love to connect.

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