Disclaimer: Please be advised that the most accurate and up-to-date information about our open roles—including job descriptions, compensation, and benefits—can only be guaranteed on our official job board. For the latest listings and details, please visit: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/ninjatrader.
JOIN US ON OUR MISSION TO BECOME THE #1 RETAIL TRADING PLATFORM IN THE WORLD
Welcome to the dynamic world of NinjaTrader! As an industry-leading trading platform and futures broker, we're empowering traders to take control of their financial destiny. How do we do it? We provide cutting-edge products and services that enhance the trading journey. Whether a seasoned pro or just starting out, NinjaTrader equips traders with award-winning software and brokerage services to navigate the world's leading financial markets with confidence.
Our growth story is nothing short of exhilarating. Since 2003, NinjaTrader has been dedicated to understanding and supporting traders on their journey toward trading triumph. Through those efforts, our user base has grown to over 2 million users and we have become the number one rated futures brokerage worldwide.
But we're not stopping there. We're constantly evolving, pushing boundaries, and modernizing the futures industry. Our commitment to innovation means users will always have access to dynamic tools, real-time support, and a community of like-minded traders.
So, why work at NinjaTrader? Here, you're not just part of a team; you're part of a movement. We empower employees to reach new heights in their careers by providing a dynamic culture focused on social connection, professional development, and employee recognition initiatives. Sounds too good to be true? Take it from our employees.
Join us as we redefine what's possible in trading, advocate for our customers, and continue our journey toward becoming the world's top retail-focused trading platform in the world.
What you'll do:
In this pivotal role on our Trading Services team, you will architect, evolve, and optimize the distributed systems powering NinjaTrader’s real-time trading platform. As a Principal Software Engineer, you will lead the long-term technical direction of mission-critical trading infrastructure operating in high-volume, low-latency, globally distributed environments. You will play a key role in modernizing our trading architecture, driving scalability and resiliency initiatives, and shaping the future of our platform as we continue to grow in the retail futures trading space.
This role requires deep technical expertise across distributed systems, trading infrastructure, and real-time system design. You will serve as a technical leader on the team, influencing architecture, engineering standards, and platform strategy while mentoring engineers and partnering closely with product, operations, and executive stakeholders.
In this role you will:
- Design, develop, and optimize our Scala-based trading services for high-volume, low-latency, globally distributed 24x7 environments
- Optimize system performance, with focus on JVM tuning and distributed systems performance for Scala/Akka-based services
- Define and lead the long-term architectural strategy for NinjaTrader’s trading systems and distributed infrastructure
- Drive modernization initiatives focused on scalability, resiliency, fault tolerance, and operational excellence
- Lead service decomposition and platform decoupling efforts to enable polyglot development, isolated deployments, and improved system agility
- Serve as a technical leader and trusted advisor across engineering teams, driving best practices and engineering excellence
- Mentor and guide engineers through architecture reviews, technical design discussions, and operational leadership
- Collaborate cross-functionally with product, engineering, operations, and security teams to translate business requirements into robust and secure technical solutions
- Improve observability, monitoring, distributed tracing, and operational transparency across critical trading services
- Ensure compliance with security policies, regulatory standards, and industry best practices
- Lead technical decision-making during high-severity production incidents and real-time operational events
- Evaluate and introduce emerging technologies, frameworks, and architectural patterns to improve platform capabilities and engineering efficiency
What you'll need:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field (or equivalent experience)
- Experience in Java/Kotlin/Scala/Rust/C++ or functional programming languages within exchange/trading environments
- Extensive experience designing and operating high-performance, high-concurrency distributed trading systems
- Deep expertise in low-latency system architecture, distributed systems design, and real-time event processing
- Proven experience leading technical strategy and architectural direction for mission-critical platforms
- Strong expertise in JVM internals, performance tuning, and optimization for high-performance environments
- Experience supporting highly available 24/7 production systems in trading or financial services environments
- Deep understanding of networking and protocols including HTTP/HTTPS, WebSockets, DNS, TCP/IP, and distributed communication patterns
- Proven ability to diagnose and resolve complex distributed systems, concurrency, and production performance issues
- Experience designing scalable, fault-tolerant microservices and event-driven architectures
- Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to clearly articulate technical concepts to engineers, leadership, and cross-functional stakeholders
- Deep understanding of trading infrastructure, order lifecycle management, market connectivity, and real-time system reliability
Bonus points for:
- Background in capital markets, brokerage, or futures and derivatives technology
- Experience with real-time trading systems such as OMS, EMS, exchange connectivity, or market data infrastructure
- Experience leveraging AI/ML tools or technologies to enhance software development, system performance, or automation
- Experience in low-latency, lock-free development and design
- Strong experience with multithreading and concurrency in high-performance environments
- Deep understanding of order handling and matching engines
- Extensive experience with FIX or other market data/order-entry protocols
- Practical hands-on experience with cloud-native technologies including Kubernetes and Docker
- Experience designing highly available, resilient distributed systems in cloud-native environments
Compensation:
The salary range for this role will be $210,000.00 - $230,000.00 USD. In addition, this position will also receive an annual target bonus of 15%. Bonus pay at NinjaTrader is based on individual performance (50%) as well as company/team performance (50%).
Salary and bonus earnings are only two components of the total compensation package offered by NinjaTrader. NinjaTrader offers a 401K plan through ADP under which the company will match up to 3.5% of employee contributions. Annual paid time off allowance accrues at a rate of 23 days per year plus seven paid holidays.
All offered compensation will be based on assessed experience and is subject to change at the offer stage.
Location:
This role is based in Chicago, IL. *There may be remote flexibility for exceptional candidates in the following states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington DC, Wisconsin.
Hybrid:
For Chicago-based employees, we follow a hybrid work schedule: In-office Tuesday through Thursday, with remote work on Mondays and Fridays. In addition to these weekly remote days, we offer:
- 20 additional flex remote days annually
- 5 Company Wide Office-Optional weeks tied to major holidays
Our Core Benefits Include:
- Generous PTO
- 7 Paid Holidays Annually + 5 Conditional Holidays Annually
- 1 Service Day Annually
- 401k with 3.5% Company Match
- Paid Parental Bonding Leave
- Health, Vision, Dental Coverage
- Life and Disability Insurance Covered 100% by NinjaTrader
We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field (or equivalent experience)
- Extensive experience with high-performance, high-concurrency distributed trading systems
- Proven expertise in JVM and performance tuning for high-performance environments
- Experience supporting 24/7 production systems, ideally in trading environments
- Deep knowledge of networking and protocols (HTTP/HTTPS, WebSockets, DNS, TCP/IP)
- Experience with CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions)
- Strong troubleshooting and debugging skills in high-pressure, real-time conditions
- Excellent communication skills, capable of clearly articulating technical concepts to diverse stakeholders
- Experience in Java/Scala/Rust/C++ or functional programming languages within exchange/trading environments
What the Team is Saying
NinjaTrader Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — The benefits package includes comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside company-paid life and disability insurance. Wellness and mental health resources, fitness support, and an employee assistance program add depth to core healthcare coverage.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) with company match supports long-term savings as part of the financial benefits. Matching contributions help strengthen retirement readiness within the total rewards package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Employees receive generous PTO, paid holidays, and paid volunteer time. Family medical leave is available with health benefits maintained for eligible employees.
NinjaTrader Insights
What We Do
More than 2 million futures traders trust NinjaTrader's award-winning software and brokerage services to help them trade smarter. Since 2003, we've been building better futures for all traders by making futures trading more accessible, scalable, and user-friendly. As a bold, innovative thought leader in the trading space, we build products and services that empower active futures traders to easily analyze and react to data from the world's leading financial markets. Veteran and new futures traders alike look to us for our always-on support, daily free education and analysis, access to developer apps, and much more. We believe in the power of innovation to drive futures trading forward. Together, we continue to redefine what's possible in trading, advocate for our customers, and provide the best tools, support, and experiences to the fast-growing retail futures trading community. Located in Chicago, our entrepreneurial, employee-centric culture is inspiring, innovative, and inviting. We're committed to diversity, equity, and inclusivity, so our team members feel at ease to be themselves and empowered to deliver the work they do best.
Why Work With Us
Our team members are our #1 asset and the signature ingredient to our success. When you join NinjaTrader, you become part of an innovative, forward-looking community that encourages creativity, collaboration and camaraderie to deliver the best futures trading experience possible to our more than 1.8 million users. See why better futures start here.
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NinjaTrader Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
Chicago-based employees follow a hybrid schedule: In-office Tuesday – Thursday, remote on Mondays and Fridays. In addition to these weekly remote days, we offer: 20 flex remote days annually 5 company-wide office-optional weeks
