High-Frequency Trading Job Trends

High-Frequency Trading
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring High-Frequency Trading skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 11 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 607 681 671
Rank change year-on-year +74 -10 +292
Permanent jobs citing High-Frequency Trading 35 24 55
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.059% 0.045% 0.098%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.073% 0.049% 0.11%
Number of salaries quoted 26 12 49
10th Percentile £95,000 £90,000 £102,000
25th Percentile £100,000 £101,250 £120,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £112,500 £150,000 £140,000
Median % change year-on-year -25.00% +7.14% +40.00%
75th Percentile £150,000 £183,750 £200,000
90th Percentile £180,000 £243,000 -
UK excluding London median annual salary - - -

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

High-Frequency Trading falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 48,096 48,629 50,303
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 81.07% 90.53% 89.95%
Number of salaries quoted 28,289 23,726 38,360
10th Percentile £28,500 £35,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £78,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £52,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +5.77% -5.45%

High-Frequency Trading
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing High-Frequency Trading relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

High-Frequency Trading job vacancy trend in the UK

High-Frequency Trading
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing High-Frequency Trading.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing High-Frequency Trading

High-Frequency Trading
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing High-Frequency Trading over the 6 months to 11 January 2026.

Salary histogram for High-Frequency Trading in the UK

High-Frequency Trading
Top 3 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing High-Frequency Trading within the UK over the 6 months to 11 January 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +84 35 £112,500 -25.00% 120
London +57 35 £112,500 -25.00% 21
Work from Home +90 11 £100,000 -44.44% 32

High-Frequency Trading
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Cloud Services
1 1 (2.86%) AWS
Communications & Networking
1 3 (8.57%) TCP/IP
2 1 (2.86%) BGP
2 1 (2.86%) Firewall
2 1 (2.86%) HSRP
2 1 (2.86%) IGMP
2 1 (2.86%) Multicast
2 1 (2.86%) OSPF
2 1 (2.86%) VRRP
General
1 19 (54.29%) Finance
2 15 (42.86%) Social Skills
3 10 (28.57%) Front Office
4 8 (22.86%) Presentation Skills
5 7 (20.00%) Banking
6 5 (14.29%) Financial Institution
7 3 (8.57%) Analytical Skills
Job Titles
1 25 (71.43%) Developer
2 13 (37.14%) Java Developer
3 11 (31.43%) Quantitative Developer
4 10 (28.57%) Java Quantitative Developer
5 6 (17.14%) Algorithmic Trading Developer
5 6 (17.14%) Java Developer - Algorithmic Trading
6 5 (14.29%) Rust Developer
7 4 (11.43%) Python Developer
7 4 (11.43%) Software Developer
8 3 (8.57%) C++ Software Engineer
8 3 (8.57%) Head of Applications
8 3 (8.57%) Head of Technology
8 3 (8.57%) Java Developer - Fintech
8 3 (8.57%) Junior
8 3 (8.57%) Junior Developer
8 3 (8.57%) Junior Software Developer
8 3 (8.57%) Low Latency Java Developer
8 3 (8.57%) Rust Engineer
8 3 (8.57%) Rust Software Engineer
8 3 (8.57%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (14.29%) Kafka
2 1 (2.86%) gRPC
2 1 (2.86%) Node.js
2 1 (2.86%) NumPy
2 1 (2.86%) Pandas
Miscellaneous
1 16 (45.71%) Distributed Systems
2 15 (42.86%) Algorithms
2 15 (42.86%) Equities
3 6 (17.14%) Hedge funds
4 3 (8.57%) Blockchain
5 1 (2.86%) Data Structures
5 1 (2.86%) Fixed Income
5 1 (2.86%) FPGA
5 1 (2.86%) Renewable Energy
5 1 (2.86%) SIMD
5 1 (2.86%) State Machine
Operating Systems
1 4 (11.43%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 25 (71.43%) Low Latency
2 17 (48.57%) Data Analysis
3 16 (45.71%) Algorithmic Trading
3 16 (45.71%) Electronic Trading
4 11 (31.43%) Computer Science
4 11 (31.43%) Market Making
4 11 (31.43%) Quantitative Research
4 11 (31.43%) Statistics
5 9 (25.71%) Order Management
6 8 (22.86%) Dependency Injection
6 8 (22.86%) Multithreading
6 8 (22.86%) Software Engineering
7 7 (20.00%) Mathematics
7 7 (20.00%) Systematic Trading
8 6 (17.14%) Business Strategy
8 6 (17.14%) Machine Learning
8 6 (17.14%) Stochastic Modelling
9 5 (14.29%) Applied Mathematics
9 5 (14.29%) Data Analytics
9 5 (14.29%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 21 (60.00%) Java
2 19 (54.29%) Python
3 8 (22.86%) Rust
4 5 (14.29%) C++
5 2 (5.71%) SQL
Qualifications
1 15 (42.86%) Degree
1 15 (42.86%) Master's Degree
1 15 (42.86%) PhD
2 1 (2.86%) CCIE
2 1 (2.86%) CCNA
2 1 (2.86%) Cisco Certification
System Software
1 1 (2.86%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (2.86%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 1 (2.86%) Arista
1 1 (2.86%) Cisco
1 1 (2.86%) Fortinet