Lead Java Engineer

Budapest - hybrid work model (2-3 days/week on-site)

Our partner is an international IT consultancy firm specializing in capital markets, e-trading, delivering technology and domain expertise to major financial institutions, including leading investment banks, hedge funds, and asset managers. Established in 2004 and headquartered in London, they operate across all major regions worldwide. Their specialized focus on quantitative systems, Java development, front office platforms and risk technology has helped them build strong relationships with top-tier financial organizations.

Lead Java Engineer

About the role

Their client is a North American bank with a significant presence in global markets, covering Bonds, FX, Swaps, and Commodities. They operate a proprietary derivatives and risk platform that supports both trading and electronic trading activities. The bank is adopting Kubernetes-based on-premise infrastructure and is looking for experienced Java Developers specialized in eTrading solutions to improve system performance, scalability and cross-asset integration.

In this position, you will work closely with Traders, Quantitative Analysts, Risk teams and Front Office IT to design, develop, and maintain resilient eTrading systems that support the full trade lifecycle.

Responsibilities 

• Developing high-quality software solutions for trading and risk platforms
• Designing and implementing backend services in Core Java, including modern frameworks
• Utilizing messaging and middleware technologies to ensure efficient trade processing and data flow
• Contributing to system design, estimation and architectural discussions
• Leading small teams or independently managing development efforts, ensuring effective communication with stakeholders
• Enhancing and maintaining existing systems, focusing on latency reduction and reliability improvements
• Performing occasional frontend development using technologies; React or Angular

Requirements

• Strong background in enterprise Java development (JDK 11 or later), with in-depth knowledge of JVM internals, memory management, garbage collection and performance optimization
• Hands-on experience with frameworks such as Spring/Spring Boot and  Hibernate/JPA, as well as multithreading
• Experience in electronic trading, ideally within Fixed Income
• Understanding of workflows related to derivatives, bonds, FX, and swaps
• Familiarity with enterprise messaging and data technologies such as JMS, Kafka and Solace, along with caching tools like Redis or Apache Ignite
• Practical experience with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, SQL Server), including schema design, indexing, and query tuning for analytical workloads
• Experience in systems and data engineering, including multi-threaded processing, large-scale data ingestion, and real-time analytics
• Experience working in financial services or capital markets within global teams
• Strong problem-solving skills with a track record of delivering effective solutions under real-world constraints
• Demonstrated technical leadership, strong communication skills and a commitment to high-quality code and design
• Fluent English language skills

Huge plus

• Basic knowledge of React or Angular for occasional UI tasks
• Experience with market data systems and front office integrations
• Familiarity with cloud environments
• Previous exposure to eTrading or market-making platforms
• Awareness of enterprise engineering practices such as scalability, fault tolerance, logging, monitoring, CI/CD & containerization, Git, Maven, Jenkins
• Cloud exposure (AWS or Azure)

Our partner offers

• Competitive salary & bonus
• Private medical insurance, monthly gym & phone reimbursement allowance
• A unique opportunity to join a globally leading Front Office & Quantitative technology consultancy working on innovative projects
• Chance to develop your career while collaborating with a range of top financial institutions

Software Development
Development & Engineering Leadership