KDB+ Developer
Role: KDB+ Developer
Location: London, UK (Hybrid)
Employment type: Contract
Key Responsibilities
KDB+ Engineering & Performance
- Develop and enhance server-side KDB+/q components across tick capture, ETL, and query layers
- Optimise performance across real-time and historical data workflows, with a focus on latency, throughput, and scalability
- Implement efficient data models and storage strategies aligned to high-volume market data use cases
Platform Engineering & Delivery
- Design and build scalable solutions for real-time and batch data ingestion
- Contribute to the ongoing re-architecture of the KDB+ platform, improving resilience and extensibility
- Deliver high-quality code through disciplined SDLC practices, testing, and peer review
- Ensure robustness across data pipelines, including fault tolerance, recovery, and data integrity
Stakeholder Engagement
- Work closely with traders, quants, and technologists to translate requirements into performant data solutions
- Engage in problem-solving aligned to real trading use cases rather than abstract engineering tasks
- Communicate clearly on delivery progress, trade-offs, and technical constraints
System Optimisation & Support
- Continuously improve platform performance, stability, and operational efficiency
- Support users in accessing and querying large-scale datasets effectively
- Identify and address bottlenecks across data ingestion, storage, and query layers
Required Experience & Skills
KDB+ / q Expertise
- Strong experience developing server-side KDB+ applications in enterprise or trading environments
- Deep understanding of KDB+ internals, including:
- Table structures (flat, splayed, partitioned, attributes)
- Functional programming constructs and adverbs (each, over, etc.)
- Parallel processing (peach, secondary processes)
- Interprocess communication (hopen, synchronous vs asynchronous messaging)
- High-volume data ingestion techniques (0:, read0/read1, named pipes, .Q.fs, .Q.fps)
- Experience with established KDB+ frameworks (e.g. TorQ or equivalent)
Systems & Engineering Fundamentals
- Strong grounding in concurrency, algorithms, and data structures
- Experience working with distributed, low-latency data systems
- Solid Linux/Unix and shell scripting capability
- Exposure to Java and/or Python is advantageous
Domain Expertise
- Experience with electronic trading platforms or market data systems
- Understanding of cross-asset trading workflows and data lifecycles