Senior C++ Developer – Algorithmic Trading Systems

Job description

**Job Description – Senior C++ Developer – Algorithmic Trading Systems** **Department:** Kotak Institutional Equities Technology **Experience** 7–10 years ( *Candidates with strong low-latency trading platform experience may be considered based on depth of expertise.)* **Overview** **Kotak Institutional Equities** offers institutional brokerage, electronic execution, algorithmic trading, DMA, and derivatives solutions across Indian capital markets. **What You’ll Do** Build and support low-latency trading and algorithmic execution platforms as a hands-on **Senior C++ Developer** . Own design, development, performance, and production quality across **C++, STL, network programming, market data, exchange connectivity, low-latency design, and algo workflows** . Collaborate with quant, trading, QA, production support, infrastructure, and business teams to deliver reliable trading solutions. **1. Low-Latency Trading Platform Development** - Design and enhance high-performance trading applications using **C++ and STL** . - Build low-latency components for order routing, execution, and market connectivity. - Improve latency, throughput, resiliency, and system stability. **2. Algorithmic Trading & Execution Logic** - Build and enhance trading algorithms for better client execution outcomes. - Work with quant, trading, and business teams on execution requirements and market behavior. - Research, prototype, back-test, validate, and productionise new trading ideas. **3. Market Data & Exchange Connectivity** - Develop and support real-time market data and exchange connectivity applications. - Work with TCP/IP, UDP, sockets, multicast, feed handlers, and order gateway connectivity. **4. Software Engineering & System Design** - Write clean, efficient, maintainable C++ code. - Apply strong design, data structures, algorithms, and performance optimization techniques. - Participate in architecture reviews, code reviews, and technical problem-solving. - Troubleshoot complex production issues involving latency, throughput, memory, concurrency, and connectivity. **5. Delivery Ownership & Cross-Functional Collaboration** - Contribute to design decisions, coding standards, performance tuning, and production readiness. - Own assigned modules and deliver timely, high-quality implementation. - Coordinate with QA, DevOps, production support, infrastructure, and business teams. - Support documentation, peer reviews, and continuous improvement. **Mandatory Skills & Experience** **Technical Skills** - Strong hands-on development experience in **C++** . - Strong understanding of **C++ STL** , data structures, algorithms, and memory management. - Experience in building or supporting **low-latency trading platforms** . - Strong network programming knowledge: TCP/IP, UDP, sockets, and multicast. - Good understanding of multithreading, concurrency, synchronization, and performance optimization. - Experience working with Linux / Unix environments. - Strong debugging and troubleshooting skills. **Trading Technology & Domain Skills** - Experience in **algorithmic trading** , quantitative trading, or electronic trading systems. - Good understanding of market data, order lifecycle, exchange connectivity, trading protocols, and execution workflows. - Experience with Capital Markets trading platforms, preferably in Cash Equities and/or Derivatives. - Understanding of exchange protocols and real-time trading system behaviour. **Programming & Scripting** - Strong C++ development experience is mandatory. - Working knowledge of **Python** is preferred. - Shell scripting experience will be an added advantage. **Ownership & Collaboration Skills** - Strong individual ownership of technical modules and deliverables. - Strong problem-solving and analytical thinking. - Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams. **Preferred Skills** - Experience with low-latency optimization techniques. - Exposure to lock-free programming, memory pools, CPU affinity, kernel/network tuning, or high-performance messaging. - Experience with FIX Protocol or exchange-native protocols. - Exposure to back-testing frameworks or quantitative research platforms. - Knowledge of DevOps, CI/CD, Git, build systems, and automated testing. **Education** - University degree in a quantitative or technical field. - Preferably **B.E. / B.Tech / M.Tech** in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or Quantitative Finance. **Candidate Profile** Hands-on senior C++ engineer with strong exposure to low-latency trading platforms, market data, network programming, and algorithmic trading systems, with individual ownership of high-quality delivery.