Demo

Lead Software Engineer - Market Data (Low-Latency Trading Systems)

Wolverine Trading
Chicago, IL Full Time
POSTED ON 10/21/2025 CLOSED ON 12/20/2025

What are the responsibilities and job description for the Lead Software Engineer - Market Data (Low-Latency Trading Systems) position at Wolverine Trading?

We are seeking an experienced and highly skilled Lead Software Engineer with a proactive growth mindset to join our core trading technology team as a Technical Lead. In this critical role, you will be instrumental in designing, developing, and optimizing the ultra-low latency, high-throughput systems that power our trading strategies. This is a unique opportunity to work across the full software development lifecycle while closely collaborating with quantitative researchers to improve our ability to provide low latency intelligence to our trading systems.

As a Technical Lead, you will guide technical direction and mentor team members, driving the evolution of our trading infrastructure. While prior experience with market data is a plus, it is not a requirement for this role. We are looking for someone with strong operational expertise who is capable of ensuring reliable and performant systems, efficient troubleshooting, and driving improvements in our production environment to support trading opportunities. This is an opportunity to directly impact our trading capabilities and contribute to a team that pushes the boundaries of speed and efficiency in financial markets.

Key Responsibilities:
  • System Design & Development: Lead the architectural design and hands-on implementation of core components for our electronic trading platform, including exchange connectivity, market data handlers, order execution engines, and risk management systems.
  • Performance Engineering: Drive initiatives to continuously optimize the latency and throughput of our trading applications. This involves deep performance analysis, profiling, and tuning at all levels of the stack – from operating system interactions and network protocols to efficient algorithm design and hardware utilization.
  • Collaboration & Innovation: Partner closely with quantitative researchers and traders to translate sophisticated trading strategies into highly optimized and reliable software, ensuring technical solutions align directly with business goals. Research and evaluate new technologies to keep our trading infrastructure at the forefront.
  • Reliability & Support: Build fault-tolerant and resilient systems. Participate in the entire software lifecycle, including deployment, monitoring, and providing expert-level support for critical production systems to ensure maximum uptime and stability.
  • Code Quality & Best Practices: Uphold and champion high standards for code quality, testability, and maintainability through rigorous code reviews, automated testing, and adherence to modern software engineering principles.
  • Mentorship: Act as a technical leader and mentor to less experienced engineers, sharing knowledge, guiding development efforts, and fostering a collaborative and growth-oriented environment.
Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a closely related technical field.
  • 5 years of professional experience in software development, with a strong emphasis on high-performance, low-latency systems.
  • Expert-level proficiency in modern C (C 17/20 preferred), with a deep understanding of multi-threading, concurrency, memory management, and optimization techniques.
  • Solid understanding of operating system internals (Linux preferred), network programming (TCP/IP, UDP, multicast), and hardware interactions.
  • Demonstrated experience with system-level debugging, profiling, and performance tuning tools.
  • Strong foundation in data structures, algorithms, and computational complexity.
  • Experience with scripting languages like Python for automation, analysis, and tooling.
  • Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to troubleshoot complex issues in a real-time, demanding environment.
  • Strong communication skills, capable of effectively collaborating with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Proactive, self-motivated, and able to take ownership of projects from concept to deployment.

Preferred Skills:
  • Prior experience in financial technology, high-frequency trading, or market making. (e.g. Solarflare/Mellanox NICs, kernel bypass, etc.)
  • Familiarity with specific exchange protocols and scale (e.g. ITCH/ITTO, PITCH, OPRA, etc.)
  • Familiarity with tooling and monitoring (e.g. Wireshark/pcap, perf tools, grafana) 
  • Exposure to distributed systems and messaging technologies.
  • Knowledge of various asset classes (equities, options, futures) and market microstructure.
  • Experience with hardware acceleration (FPGA/GPU programming).
The base compensation range for this role is approximately $125,000-$180,000 contingent on experience. Wolverine Trading's total compensation model includes base salary and an annual discretionary bonus.
A Statement on Prior Trading Experience:
With an above average rate of tenure for our engineers, we value individuals who innately strive to push boundaries and pursue constant improvement. Given a long-term focus, the ability to innovate, challenge limits, and deliver lasting impact matters far more to us than prior exposure to the trading ecosystem.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

Salary : $125,000 - $180,000

Market Data System Engineer
Quanta Search -
Chicago, IL
Senior Market Data Engineer
WorldQuant -
Chicago, IL
Account Executive - Mid Market
BigTime Software -
Chicago, IL

If your compensation planning software is too rigid to deploy winning incentive strategies, it’s time to find an adaptable solution. Compensation Planning
Enhance your organization's compensation strategy with salary data sets that HR and team managers can use to pay your staff right. Surveys & Data Sets

What is the career path for a Lead Software Engineer - Market Data (Low-Latency Trading Systems)?

Sign up to receive alerts about other jobs on the Lead Software Engineer - Market Data (Low-Latency Trading Systems) career path by checking the boxes next to the positions that interest you.
Income Estimation: 
$123,167 - $152,295
Income Estimation: 
$146,673 - $180,130
Income Estimation: 
$146,673 - $180,130
Income Estimation: 
$176,149 - $220,529
Income Estimation: 
$176,149 - $220,529
Income Estimation: 
$156,679 - $196,968
Income Estimation: 
$97,257 - $120,701
Income Estimation: 
$123,167 - $152,295
Income Estimation: 
$123,167 - $152,295
Income Estimation: 
$146,673 - $180,130
This job has expired.
View Core, Job Family, and Industry Job Skills and Competency Data for more than 15,000 Job Titles Skills Library

Job openings at Wolverine Trading

  • Wolverine Trading Chicago, IL
  • At Wolverine Trading we’re looking for a Low-Level C Software Engineer to work at the intersection of hardware and software. Your focus will be on improvin... more
  • 13 Days Ago

  • Wolverine Trading Chicago, IL
  • We are looking for an experienced electronic option trader who enjoys working in a team environment. As part of Wolverine’s Option Market Making Desk, you ... more
  • 14 Days Ago

  • Wolverine Trading Chicago, IL
  • We are looking for highly skilled and experienced individuals to join a research effort focused on generating high frequency trading alphas in the futures ... more
  • 14 Days Ago

  • Wolverine Trading Chicago, IL
  • At Wolverine Trading, we’re looking for an Entry-Level C Software Engineer eager to launch their career in high-performance trading technology. This role i... more
  • 15 Days Ago


Not the job you're looking for? Here are some other Lead Software Engineer - Market Data (Low-Latency Trading Systems) jobs in the Chicago, IL area that may be a better fit.

  • S4 Market Data Chicago, IL
  • Summary: PLEASE NOTE - This is NOT a technical role for a Data Analyst, Data Scientist or someone with an IT background. Candidates MUST have experience in... more
  • 1 Day Ago

  • NTT DATA Americas, Inc Schaumburg, IL
  • Job Details Join NTT DATA and be at the forefront of major enterprise data transformation. Collaborate with talented engineers, architects, and business le... more
  • 6 Days Ago

AI Assistant is available now!

Feel free to start your new journey!