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:
We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Sr. Software Engineer II with deep expertise in exchange connectivity and high-performance trading systems. This is a high-impact role focused on interfacing directly with multiple exchanges, handling real-time market data, order routing, and trade processing with low latency and high reliability.
You’ll be part of the Exchange Connectivity team, owning the software that communicates directly with exchanges worldwide.
In this role you will:
- Design, implement, and support exchange connectivity components across multiple asset classes and protocols
- Develop and maintain market data handlers, order gateways, and contract/instrument reference data processors
- Create APIs to expose exchange services to the broader organization via REST, WebSocket, event bus, or other mechanisms
- Collaborate closely with the Trading OMS, FCM, and infrastructure teams
- Optimize for low latency, high throughput, and fault tolerance across all trading and data flows
What you’ll need:
- 8+ years of experience in the trading industry, ideally with C++ or Rust
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
- Proven experience building exchange connectivity and market data systems across multiple venues
- Strong understanding of network programming, multicast UDP, TCP, and asynchronous I/O
- Deep knowledge of trading industry specifications (FIX, SBE, market data formats, etc.)
- Strong communication and collaboration skills, including the ability to mentor others and drive change across teams
- Experience supporting live trading systems in production — diagnosing connectivity issues, latency anomalies, and failover events
- Strong sense of ownership, with the ability to deliver robust, tested, and observable software in mission-critical environments
Bonus Points for:
- Capital markets experience
- Performance profiling and tuning using perf, VTune, Wireshark, or similar tools to analyze and reduce latency
- Low-latency systems development with deep experience optimizing for performance, throughput, and determinism in production trading environments
- Building and maintaining real-time feed handlers for exchange protocols (ITCH, OUCH, FIX/FAST, CME MDP, Eurex ETI, etc.)
- Familiarity with U.S. and international exchange APIs and connectivity protocols (CME, ICE, Eurex, CBOE, Binance, etc.)
- Expert-level Linux knowledge, including performance tuning, kernel parameters, NUMA, and clock synchronization (PTP)
- Building resilient distributed systems that handle failover, recovery, and state synchronization
- Expertise in concurrency, multi-threading, and asynchronous programming
- Familiarity with IBM MQ for exchange data transfer
- Experience with low-latency networking, kernel bypass, or FPGA acceleration
Compensation:
The salary range for this role will be $140,000-$190,000 USD. In addition, this position will also receive an annual target bonus of 12%. 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 401(k) 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 18 days per year plus seven paid holidays.
Location:
This role is based in Chicago, IL. We are not open to remote candidates for this role.
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
- 8+ years of experience in the trading industry with C++ or Rust
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
- Proven experience building exchange connectivity and market data systems across multiple venues
- Strong understanding of network programming, multicast UDP, and TCP
- Experience with asynchronous I/O and concurrency/multithreading
- Deep knowledge of trading industry specifications (FIX, SBE, market data formats)
- Experience supporting live trading systems in production (diagnosing connectivity, latency, failover)
- Ability to deliver robust, tested, and observable mission-critical software
- Strong communication, collaboration, and mentoring skills
- Capital markets experience
- Performance profiling and tuning using tools like perf, VTune, Wireshark
- Experience building low-latency feed handlers (ITCH, OUCH, FIX/FAST, CME MDP, Eurex ETI)
- Familiarity with U.S. and international exchange APIs and connectivity protocols (CME, ICE, Eurex, CBOE, Binance)
- Expert-level Linux knowledge including performance tuning, kernel parameters, NUMA, and PTP
- Experience building resilient distributed systems handling failover, recovery, and state synchronization
- Familiarity with IBM MQ for exchange data transfer
- Experience with kernel bypass, FPGA acceleration, or other low-latency networking techniques
What the Team is Saying
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
