Java Distributed Systems Engineer - Fintech - London - Hybrid

WE ARE:

Adaptive is a product-led financial technology company with deep expertise in capital, commodity, and digital markets. We build technology for investment banks, investment managers, fintechs, and capital markets service providers. Our consulting teams work with clients to implement and extend that technology, but our starting point is product engineering: solving difficult problems and building software that creates lasting competitive advantage.

We are hiring a Java Distributed Systems Engineer to help build Aeron Sequencer, our technology for applying state machine replication to capital markets. You will work on distributed systems that enable other engineering teams to build performant, reliable software. This is a hands-on role with the opportunity to influence product decisions, architecture, engineering practices, and how we communicate our work.

What you will do:

• Analyse, design, discuss, and develop distributed systems based on replicated state machines.

• Write clean, efficient, maintainable, and self-documenting Java code.

• Design and evolve messaging protocols and software libraries.

• Troubleshoot and debug Java applications and distributed systems.

• Apply testing, benchmarking, measurement, and profiling to improve correctness and performance.

• Participate in code reviews, pairing, and technical discussions to raise the quality of our work.

• Contribute to product decisions, not just task execution.

• Keep up to date with relevant software engineering technologies and practices.

• Communicate technical decisions and priorities clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

What you will bring:

• Experience designing, building, debugging, and operating distributed systems.

• Strong experience developing server-side software in Java.

• Experience designing and evolving messaging protocols or software libraries.

• Experience using different forms of testing to support software quality, including correctness and performance.

• Experience measuring, benchmarking, and profiling components or systems.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• A collaborative approach, with a genuine interest in sharing knowledge and learning from others.

• The judgement to prioritise competing demands based on long-term value and explain those priorities to stakeholders.

• The confidence to challenge the status quo and suggest improvements, both technical and cultural.

Useful additional experience:

You do not need experience in every area below. It would be valuable if you have worked with one or more of the following:

• Messaging technologies or deterministic, replicated state machines.

• Low-latency, high-throughput, or predictable-performance systems.

• Property-based testing or deterministic simulation testing.

• Financial interchange protocols such as FIX or ITCH.

• OMS, EMS, or exchange systems.

• C, C++, or other programming languages.

• Build tools and engineering automation, such as Gradle or GitHub Actions.

• Cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.

• Container orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes.

• Pre-sales or customer-facing technical discussions.

• Building a public technical presence through blogs, conference talks, or external video content.

Why Adaptive:

• Interesting engineering problems. Work with passionate engineers on software where correctness, performance, and ease of use matter.

• Product influence. Help shape technology that is used to solve complex problems in financial markets, rather than simply delivering predefined client requirements.

• Collaborative teams. We share knowledge, learn from one another, respect different perspectives, and contribute wherever help is needed.

• Flexible working. We support a highly flexible, hybrid working model.

• A sustainable pace. Work-life balance is important to us, supported by wellbeing benefits and a focus on long-term performance.

• An inclusive culture. We aim to create a positive, collaborative environment and support our people and local communities through wellbeing, diversity, and inclusion programmes.

Adaptive has offices in London, New York, Barcelona, Montreal, and Manila, bringing together a global team with a shared focus on building better financial technology.

WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF US You can check our Glassdoor page

BENEFITS (What we offer in return // what you’ll get )

For permanent employees:

We create benefits with YOU in mind.

• 25 days holiday

• Family medical and dental

• Pension plan

• Season ticket loan

• Gym subsidy

• Life insurance

• Long-term disability insurance

• Employee Assistance Plan

THE PROCESS

Long interview processes are stressful and boring and that is not us

We want to make sure that everything runs smoothly.

So here you will have three stage interviews: 1- A chat with one of our great recruiters. 2- A zoom chat with one of our Java colleagues where they will ask you detailed questions about your experience 3- A Face to Face interview (either in our office or via Zoom). ​​During this interview, we will dig even deeper and you will have a pair programming task to do.

But don’t worry; everything will be explained to you step by step by your recruiter.

A little tip for you during those stages:

Collaboration is massively important to us, so don't hesitate to share your thoughts, ask questions, ask for help if needed, etc

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION:

Diversity and inclusion are key to a great workplace, and Adaptive is better when it’s more representative of the world around us. We want everyone to feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to work without any fear of judgment or negativity.

All we ask is that our colleagues are respectful, collaborative, passionate about what they do, and have the skills needed to be successful in their roles.

Background check: Employment is subject to an acceptable background check that will be run by Adaptive