Senior Java Systems Engineer - Platform Exchange / Matching Engine

WE ARE:

At Adaptive, we are a technology provider firm that partners with capital, commodity, and digital market participants to build custom front-office technology, messaging systems, and trading infrastructure. Our experienced teams design and deliver complex front-office technology solutions using our proven accelerators to create long-term competitive advantage.

Our clients include the world’s leading investment banks, investment managers, fintechs and capital market service providers. With a global reach, with offices in London, New York, Barcelona, Montreal, and Manila, we have a proven track record of delivering powerful, elegant and intuitive trading technology solutions, and we value technical pragmatism, collaboration, and clear communication.

We're looking for a Senior Java / Systems Engineer with significant experience in Platform Exchange Systems to design, deliver, and optimise production-ready, high-performance, low-latency technology using Aeron.

YOU ARE: 

• A hands-on engineer who enjoys designing and optimising low-latency Java services and protocols across the full delivery lifecycle.
• Someone with genuine experience building Matching Engines and Platform Exchange Systems.
• Driven by evidence-based engineering, automated testing, benchmarking, and profiling rather than guesswork.
• A clear, confident communicator who can work across domain boundaries in a collaborative Agile environment, rather than being siloed into a single technology stack.

YOU HAVE:

• Strong server-side, low-latency Java expertise (concurrency, memory management, I/O, and performance profiling).
• Solid exchange, risk, or matching-engine experience.
• Hands-on experience building automated testing strategies, running performance benchmarks, and diagnosing production issues.
• Excellent technical communication and collaborative problem-solving skills.
• Experience with order entry and market data protocols (e.g. FIX, ITCH).
• Familiarity with low-latency frameworks such as Aeron, Chronicle, or LBM.
• An understanding of replicated state machines, event sourcing, or deterministic systems.
• Exposure to cloud environments (AWS/GCP), containers, Kubernetes, or observability tooling.

YOU WILL:

• Design, build, and optimise low-latency Java services and protocols for an Exchange Accelerator product across the delivery lifecycle.
• Define order, session, instrument, and account models alongside exchange integration boundaries.
• Develop automated testing strategies and perform evidence-based performance benchmarking and profiling.
• Collaborate directly with client teams, SREs, QA, and leadership to ensure exchange readiness and durable production fixes.
• Engage with client engineering and business stakeholders, communicating technical trade-offs clearly.
• Support the product in production across multiple client deployments.

(And after six months)

• Independently own key technical workstreams from concept to production readiness.
• Deliver maintainable, observable, and well-tested systems aligned with core architecture.
• Establish trusted relationships with clients through clear communication and steady delivery.

WHY US: 

• To be immersed in high-standard engineering culture. Our fantastic team takes pride in crafting complex technical solutions but also loves sharing their knowledge and helping you grow professionally (we have extraordinary minds at Adaptive, you can learn from anyone here, which is the beauty of it).
• To take part in the growth and development of a great company.
• Our teams feel free to speak up, make suggestions and raise concerns.
• Collaborative team environment: we all work together, respect each other, and pitch in
• Great consideration for work/life balance (highly-flexible, hybrid working model, well-being benefits…). The balance between professional and personal life is massively important to us.
• We work hard to provide a positive, collaborative and inclusive culture and to positively impact our staff and local communities through different well-being, diversity and inclusion programmes.

WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF US
You can check our Glassdoor page  

BENEFITS  (What we offer in return // what you’ll get ):

For permanents: We create benefits with YOU in mind.

• 25 days holiday
• Family medical and dental
• Pension plan
• Season ticket loan
• Gym subsidy
• Life insurance
• Long-term disability insurance
• Employee Assistance Plan

For contractors: All our contracts are outside IR35

THE PROCESS

Long interview processes are stressful and boring and that is not us! We want to make sure that everything runs smoothly.
So here you will have three-stage interviews:

1- A chat with one of our great recruiters.
2- A Zoom chat with one of our Java colleagues where they will ask you detailed questions about your experience.
3- A Face to Face interview (either in our office or via Zoom). ​​During this interview, we will dig even deeper and you will have a pair programming task to do.

But don’t worry; everything will be explained to you step by step by your recruiter. 
A little tip for you during those stages: 

Collaboration is massively important to us, so don't hesitate to share your thoughts, ask questions, ask for help if needed, etc 

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION: 

Diversity and inclusion are key to a great workplace, and Adaptive is better when it’s more representative of the world around us. We want everyone to feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to work without any fear of judgment or negativity. 

All we ask is that our colleagues are respectful, collaborative, passionate about what they do, and have the skills needed to be successful in their roles.

Background check: the employment/engagement is subject to an acceptable background check that will be run by Adaptive.