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 design, evolve, and optimize our core trading infrastructure. You will help scale and enhance our highly scalable, low-latency trading system, ensuring it meets the highest standards of performance, scalability, and reliability. Your work will directly impact our ability to support rapid growth in the retail futures trading space.
In this role you will:
- Design, develop, and optimize our Scala-based trading services for high-volume, low-latency, 24x7 environments
- Lead architectural strategy for future-state scalability and performance optimization
- Mentor and guide junior engineers, promoting best practices and technical excellence
- Collaborate cross-functionally with product, engineering, operations, and security teams to translate business requirements into robust and secure technical solutions
- Optimize system performance, with focus on JVM tuning for Scala/Akka-based distributed system
- Enhance monitoring and observability of services for real-time trade execution and operational transparency
- Ensure compliance with security policies, regulatory standards, and industry best practices
What we look for:
- 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 functional programming languages within exchange/trading environments
Bonus Points for:
- Experience in low-latency, lock-free development and design
- Strong experience with multithreading and concurrency in high-performance environments
- Familiarity with binary or custom trading protocols
- Strong knowledge of messaging frameworks (Kafka, RabbitMQ) and network protocols (UDP, TCP)
- Hands-on experience implementing HTTP/WebSockets, REST APIs, OAuth, gRPC, and Redis APIs
- Deep understanding of order handling/matching engines
- Extensive experience with FIX or other market data/order-entry protocols
- Practical hands-on experience with cloud-native technologies (Kubernetes and Docker)
- Solid grasp of network communications, particularly IP multicast and TCP protocols used in market data feeds
Compensation:
The salary range for this role will be $195,000.00 - $220,000.00 USD annually. In addition, this position will also receive an annual target bonus of up to 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. Additional details on our total compensation package and benefits are listed below.
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, able to articulate technical concepts to diverse stakeholders
- Experience in functional programming languages within exchange/trading environments
- Experience in low-latency, lock-free development and design
- Strong experience with multithreading and concurrency in high-performance environments
- Familiarity with binary or custom trading protocols
- Experience with messaging frameworks (Kafka, RabbitMQ) and network protocols (UDP, TCP)
- Hands-on experience implementing HTTP/WebSockets, REST APIs, OAuth, gRPC, and Redis APIs
- Deep understanding of order handling / matching engines
- Extensive experience with FIX or other market data/order-entry protocols
- Practical hands-on experience with cloud-native technologies (Kubernetes and Docker)
- Solid grasp of network communications, particularly IP multicast and TCP protocols used in market data feeds
What the Team is Saying
NinjaTrader Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Core coverage includes medical, dental, and vision alongside mental‑health resources, with company‑paid life and disability insurance. An Employee Assistance Program and FSA options round out a robust health and protection package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Generous PTO, paid holidays, and even volunteer time are highlighted, with some postings specifying substantial annual accruals. Hybrid/remote options further support time‑off flexibility across roles.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Commuter benefits, office snacks, wellness programs, a fitness stipend, and access to an onsite gym are called out as part of the package. These extras complement core benefits and support day‑to‑day wellbeing.
NinjaTrader Insights
What We Do
NinjaTrader's engineering, product, and operations teams build for nearly 4 million futures traders worldwide. Real users, real markets, real confidence in the tech behind every trade. We've been at this since 2003 — launching our own brokerage in 2014 and our FCM in 2021 — and we know what scale looks like in this category. In 2025, NinjaTrader joined Kraken and is now part of Payward, Inc., a unified financial infrastructure company that includes Kraken, NinjaTrader, and a growing set of related products and services. NinjaTrader operates independently within Payward, and we're building from the strongest position in our history. Our Purpose — to build better futures for all traders — is also a hiring filter. We hire people who genuinely care about the trader experience, whether or not they trade themselves. That care shows up everywhere: in product decisions, customer support, how we run our daily livestream, and how compliance reviews every promotional asset before it goes out. Our HQ is in the Loop, overlooking the Chicago River. It's a deliberate space designed for the kind of work we do, with collaboration zones, focus rooms, social areas, and reservable desks for remote employees to use when they're in town. Our hybrid schedule is Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in office, plus 20 additional work-from-home flex days per year and up to 5 company-wide office-optional weeks. NinjaTrader has grown to over 430 employees, and nearly 40% of the team works fully remote across 22+ states — on the same squads, same projects, same calls as their Chicago colleagues. We're Great Place To Work Certified™, and in 2026 we were named to the Fortune Best Workplaces in Chicago™ list. NinjaTrader was recognized as one of the 2026 Fortune Best Workplaces in Chicago, an award determined entirely by employee feedback through the Great Place To Work® Trust Index™ survey. NinjaTrader paid no application fee to participate. Futures trading involves substantial risk and is not suitable for everyone. View Disclosures: ninjatrader.com/disclosures/
Why Work With Us
Our Purpose — to build better futures for all traders — is also a hiring filter. We hire people who genuinely care about the trader experience, whether or not they trade themselves. Nearly 4 million traders count on the work we ship. Over 17% of the company was promoted in 2025. Better futures start here.
Gallery
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 6 company-wide office-optional weeks
