Tower Research Capital is a leading quantitative trading firm founded in 1998. Tower has built its business on a high-performance platform and independent trading teams. We have a 25+ year track record of innovation and a reputation for discovering unique market opportunities.
Tower is home to some of the world’s best systematic trading and engineering talent. We empower portfolio managers to build their teams and strategies independently while providing the economies of scale that come from a large, global organization.
Engineers thrive at Tower while developing electronic trading infrastructure at a world class level. Our engineers solve challenging problems in the realms of low-latency programming, FPGA technology, hardware acceleration and machine learning. Our ongoing investment in top engineering talent and technology ensures our platform remains unmatched in terms of functionality, scalability and performance.
At Tower, every employee plays a role in our success. Our Business Support teams are essential to building and maintaining the platform that powers everything we do — combining market access, data, compute, and research infrastructure with risk management, compliance, and a full suite of business services. Our Business Support teams enable our trading and engineering teams to perform at their best.
At Tower, employees will find a stimulating, results-oriented environment where highly intelligent and motivated colleagues inspire each other to reach their greatest potential.
Responsibilities
- Partnering with portfolio managers and trading leaders to understand their strategies, business economics, constraints and priorities, and identify opportunities to grow or protect trading P&L
- Developing and evaluating initiatives involving new markets, products, venues, trading capabilities, commercial partnerships, financing and clearing arrangements, market data, and infrastructure
- Creating fact-based business cases using market and trading data, scenario analysis, and commercial judgment, quantifying potential benefits, costs, capital requirements, implementation effort, and risks
- Serving as a senior thought partner to portfolio managers, trading leadership, and firm management, challenging assumptions constructively to help distinguish attractive opportunities from initiatives that are unlikely to generate sufficient returns, and prioritizing opportunities in the context of engineering capacity, organizational resources, risk, and expected commercial impact
- Developing and maintaining senior relationships with banks, prime brokers, FCMs, executing brokers, exchanges, trading venues, clearing organizations, and other strategic counterparties
- Advocating and negotiating on commercial terms, market access, financing and clearing arrangements, product design, venue functionality, and other strategic matters
- Representing Tower in industry groups and promoting market-structure outcomes that support fair, resilient, and competitive markets
- Leading complex cross-functional initiatives by coordinating with Legal, Compliance, Finance, Risk, Operations, and other internal teams, by establishing clear ownership, resolving dependencies, escalating decisions, and maintaining accountability for outcomes
- Improving efficiency of internal processes through better data, automation, decision frameworks particularly where doing so increases speed, scalability, or commercial effectiveness
- Promoting sound operating standards across the Americas Business Management team
Qualifications
- A bachelor’s or advanced degree from a top university
- At least 10 years of relevant experience within quantitative trading, proprietary trading, a systematic hedge fund, electronic trading at a bank, a trading venue, or a closely related market-structure business
- Direct experience working with portfolio managers, traders, quantitative researchers, or electronic-trading businesses
- A demonstrated record of originating and implementing initiatives that produced measurable revenue, capacity, cost, capital, or risk benefits
- Strong quantitative and commercial judgment, including the ability to analyze data, structure ambiguous problems, test assumptions, and translate analysis into decisions
- A practical understanding of how systematic trading businesses make money, including relevant considerations such as liquidity, transaction costs, execution quality, capacity, exchange economics, financing, margin, market access, data, and technology
- Deep expertise in at least one relevant asset class or market, with the ability and intellectual range to work across several others
- Experience negotiating with banks, brokers, FCMs, exchanges, trading venues, or other financial-market infrastructure providers
- Experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives with multiple senior stakeholders
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to make concise, well-supported recommendations to portfolio managers and senior management
- Strong judgment, ownership, and the ability to operate independently while escalating material decisions appropriately
- Experience engaging with industry associations or market-structure working groups
Anticipated annual base salary range is $200,00 - $250,000, plus eligible for discretionary bonus.
Benefits
Tower’s headquarters are in the historic Equitable Building, right in the heart of NYC’s Financial District and our impact is global, with over a dozen offices around the world.
At Tower, we believe work should be both challenging and enjoyable. That is why we foster a culture where smart, driven people thrive – without the egos. Our open concept workplace, casual dress code, and well-stocked kitchens reflect the value we place on a friendly, collaborative environment where everyone is respected, and great ideas win.
Our benefits include:
- Generous paid time off policies
- Savings plans and other financial wellness tools available in each region
- Hybrid working opportunities
- Free breakfast, lunch, and snacks daily
- In-office wellness experiences and reimbursement for select wellness expenses (e.g., gym, personal training and more)
- Company-sponsored sports teams and fitness events (JPM Corporate Challenge, Cycle for Survival, Wall Street Rides FAR and more)
- Volunteer opportunities and charitable giving
- Social events, happy hours, treats, and celebrations throughout the year
- Workshops and continuous learning opportunities
At Tower, you’ll find a collaborative and welcoming culture, a diverse team and a workplace that values both performance and enjoyment. No unnecessary hierarchy. No ego. Just great people doing great work – together.
Tower Research Capital is an equal opportunity employer.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's or advanced degree from a top university
- At least 10 years of relevant experience in quantitative trading, proprietary trading, systematic hedge funds, electronic trading, trading venues, or related market-structure businesses
- Direct experience working with portfolio managers, traders, quantitative researchers, or electronic-trading businesses
- Record of originating and implementing initiatives producing measurable revenue, capacity, cost, capital, or risk benefits
- Strong quantitative and commercial judgment, including data analysis, problem structuring, assumption testing, and decision-making
- Practical understanding of systematic trading economics, including liquidity, transaction costs, execution quality, capacity, exchange economics, financing, margin, market access, data, and technology
- Deep expertise in at least one relevant asset class or market, with ability to work across others
- Experience negotiating with banks, brokers, FCMs, exchanges, trading venues, or financial-market infrastructure providers
- Experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives with multiple senior stakeholders
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong judgment, ownership, independent operating ability, and appropriate escalation of material decisions
- Experience engaging with industry associations or market-structure working groups
Tower Research Capital Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Tower Research Capital and has not been reviewed or approved by Tower Research Capital.
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Strong & Reliable Incentives — Pay is considered competitive versus broader tech and finance markets, with strong base and bonus potential in quant research/trading and specialized engineering. Feedback suggests total compensation can be particularly attractive early in career and for revenue‑linked roles.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off is described as generous, with policies highlighting substantial annual vacation. Feedback suggests formal allowances are a notable part of the package.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Complimentary in‑office meals, regular social events, donation matching, and professional development workshops are highlighted as everyday perks. Feedback suggests these cultural and lifestyle benefits are a consistent strength across materials.
Tower Research Capital Insights
What We Do
Founded in 1998 by Mark Gorton, Tower Research Capital is a trading and technology company that has built some of the fastest, most sophisticated electronic trading platforms in the world.
