Skills

Leadership Java MongoDB Problem-solving Attention to detail Linux Databases git Large Language Models Kafka PostGres

Job Specifications

Senior Java Engineer (Contract) – Market Data

Inside IR35 | £500-575 per day (flexible) | Hybrid – London

A leading global investment management firm is seeking Senior Java Engineers (Contract) to join its Market Data Platform team on a high-impact engagement. This is a critical hire, with the opportunity to step into a highly visible area of the business where performance, scale and reliability truly matter.

This team sits at the heart of a systematic trading environment, responsible for ingesting and processing vast volumes of real-time market data through direct exchange connectivity. The platform operates at extreme scale - handling 15–20 billion data points per day, with peak rates of over 1 million events per second - and accuracy is non-negotiable.

This opportunity would suit an engineer with deep Java expertise who has worked on complete data platforms, particularly those handling real-time or market data using Kafka.

The Role

The successful candidate will be responsible for designing, developing and optimising components of a large-scale data platform used across the investment business. Working in a highly technical environment, they will:

Build and evolve end-to-end data platforms supporting real-time and historical data use cases
Develop primarily in Java
Work extensively with Kafka and streaming architectures to handle real-time data flows
Contribute to systems processing billions of events per day, with peak throughput in the millions per second
Improve and modernise existing components, with a strong focus on latency, scalability and resilience
Partner closely with data management teams, quantitative researchers and other engineering groups
Take ownership of production systems, from requirements gathering through to deployment and optimisation

Required Experience

Extensive commercial Java development experience, particularly on backend or data-intensive systems
Demonstrable experience building or contributing to complete data platforms
Hands-on experience working with real-time data, ideally using Kafka
Background in market data, trading systems or other time-sensitive data domains is highly desirable
Solid experience working on Linux and strong understanding of Git
Experience with databases or data storage technologies such as MongoDB, Postgres, Iceberg or similar
Comfortable working in fast-paced, performance-critical environments
Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail and ability to work autonomously

Advantageous to Have

Experience with distributed systems and large-scale data processing
Performance tuning and optimisation of low-latency systems
Exposure to orchestration frameworks and modern data infrastructure
Contributions to open-source projects
Experience working with or around Large Language Models (LLMs)

Contract Details

Rate: £500-575 per day (Inside IR35 – some flexibility for the right candidate)
Location: Hybrid – 3 days per week onsite in the City of London.
Start: ASAP
Contract type: Senior-level contractor engagement

Interview Process

Screening call by Mike
30-minute introductory discussion with the hiring manager
90-minute final stage on-site interview (60 minutes Technical and 30 minutes with Leadership)

About the Company

Quick Links to connect: https://linktr.ee/rmgdigital rmg digital is a modern talent solutions partner, placing candidates throughout the UK & Europe. We believe as Digital Talent Partners, working in an age where technology is increasing, we can add value by not only using this technology to our advantage but by bringing a Human Touch to the Digital World. By sticking to our core markets within Digital we are able to not only offer some of the industry's best talent, but we can offer the candidate market an excellent serv... Know more