Head of Software Development

Head of Software Development – Trading Systems

Location: London (City) – Hybrid / Remote Options

We are a growing global financial trading firm seeking a senior, hands‑on Software Engineer to take ownership of our in‑house trading and brokerage platforms.

This is a high‑impact leadership role reporting directly to the CEO/COO, offering direct exposure to executive management and genuine influence over long‑term technology strategy.

You will assume responsibility for a mission‑critical trading system used daily across Europe, the US and Asia, playing a central role in stabilising, enhancing and modernising our core infrastructure.

This position combines:

• Team leadership
• Business‑facing engagement with traders and senior stakeholders

You will lead the technical roadmap of our trading and booking platforms while ensuring resilience, scalability and operational stability in a live trading environment.

• Lead development and architectural direction of in‑house trading systems
• Contribute hands‑on to coding and system enhancement
• Oversee trade booking, lifecycle management, P&L and risk capture systems
• Support messaging, integrations and reporting infrastructure
• Provide senior‑level production support in live trading environments
• Manage and mentor a small development team (with planned growth)
• Reduce key‑person dependency through documentation and knowledge transfer
• Drive modernisation initiatives, including migration from legacy technologies
• Partner closely with trading teams and senior management

• C#
• Microsoft SQL Server
• In‑house FIX engine
• Excel VBA‑based tools
• Fully in‑house developed systems

• 7–10+ years software development experience
• Strong C# and .NET expertise
• Experience maintaining and evolving legacy systems
• Solid SQL Server and database design knowledge
• Experience with in trading, brokerage or financial services environments
• Understanding of equity and/or derivatives trading workflows
• Experience leading technical teams
• Strong problem‑solving capability in high‑pressure environments

• Trading platform or booking system experience
• FIX protocol knowledge
• Experience migrating Win Forms to modern architectures
• Azure cloud architecture experience
• CI/CD and automation exposure

We are looking for someone who is:

• Commercially minded and pragmatic
• Comfortable operating with autonomy and high responsibility
• Able to balance production support with long‑term strategic improvement
• Confident communicating with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• Motivated to build sustainable, long‑term system ownership

• Senior leadership position in a growing financial firm
• Direct reporting line to executive management
• Business‑critical remit with genuine impact
• Competitive compensation package
• Flexible working arrangements
• Opportunity to shape the long‑term technology strategy of a global trading platform