Senior Software Engineer, C++ (Algo)

Location: Chicago

Department: Algorithmic Trading

DRW is a diversified trading firm with over 3 decades of experience bringing sophisticated technology and exceptional people together to operate in markets around the world. We value autonomy and the ability to quickly pivot to capture opportunities, so we operate using our own capital and trading at our own risk.

Headquartered in Chicago with offices throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia, we trade a variety of asset classes including Fixed Income, ETFs, Equities, FX, Commodities and Energy across all major global markets. We have also leveraged our expertise and technology to expand into three non-traditional strategies: real estate, venture capital and cryptoassets.

We operate with respect, curiosity and open minds. The people who thrive here share our belief that it’s not just what we do that matters–it's how we do it. DRW is a place of high expectations, integrity, innovation and a willingness to challenge consensus.

DRW is looking for an outstanding Senior Software Engineer to join one of our trading desks. In this role, you will focus on designing, building, and implementing trading applications and tools. You will be an integral member of an algorithmic trading team comprising experienced technologists, quantitative researchers, and traders. Your team will work closely to solve challenging technological problems and contribute to our full tech stack, from hardware and software development to devops, testing and release management. We are looking for talented programmers eager to develop new technologies that directly impact our business.

This role is for the Chicago office only.

Responsibilities:

• Perform full life cycle development of applications and libraries for exchange gateways, trading strategy execution, risk management, trade reporting and market data feed processing using C++ or Rust
• Develop and maintain systems to ensure application performance, integrity and reliability for maintaining maximal up-time, and logging and traceability to aid in the support of mission-critical production systems
• Collaborate with quantitative researchers and traders on strategy development
• Design, develop, and deploy software using agile methodologies
• Guide junior engineers on best practices through mentoring, pair programming, and code reviews
• Provide production support, maintenance and performance improvements of existing systems
• Evaluate new technology and improve our technology stack

Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience developing high-availability server-side systems, preferably in C++ or Rust
• 3+ years of experience using any combination of the modern C++ (20/23/26) standards​ or Rust
• A background in multi-threaded programming and a strong understanding of hardware/software interaction
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related field, and strong practical knowledge of computer science, especially algorithms, data structures, distributed systems and concurrency.
• Positive AI mentality and practical use of AI coding tools.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills

Nice to haves:

• Experience working in the trading industry or another latency-sensitive business that involves solving complex and novel problems
• Experience with numerical computing and/or working with Quantitative Researchers
• Experience with full life-cycle software development utilizing exotic hardware/software architectures
• Detailed understanding of TCP, UDP, IPV4 and related hardware/software
• Comfort with multiple programming languages, particularly including C++, Rust, Java, Python, JavaScript, Ruby

The annual base salary range for this position is $150,000 to $250,000 depending on the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and relevant skill set. The position is also eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. In addition, DRW offers a comprehensive suite of employee benefits including group medical, pharmacy, dental and vision insurance, 401k (with discretionary employer match), short and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance, health savings accounts, and flexible spending accounts.

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California residents, please review the California Privacy Notice for information about certain legal rights at https://drw.com/california-privacy-notice.

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