Lead Software Engineer

Job description

Job Description Building trusted markets — powered by our people At Cboe Global Markets, we inspire our people to solve complex challenges together because what we do matters. We provide the financial infrastructure that powers the global economy. As a leading provider of market infrastructure and tradable products, Cboe delivers cutting-edge trading, clearing and investment solutions to market participants around the world. We’re building meaningful ways to support professional and personal development while strengthening the trust we’ve earned as a global market leader. Our teams are empowered to share ideas, actively pursue them and bring on a challenge. As champions of internal mobility and access to opportunity, we encourage our people to “go for it” and equip our managers with the training to coach their teams to the next level. We strive to provide employees a safe space to network, share ideas and create opportunities. To support strong partnership and team connection, this role follows a four day in office work model. Location Overview Our offices are located in the prestigious Symphony Offices in the heart of Amsterdam’s financial district. Offering nearly 360-degree views of the city, the workspace is filled with natural light, thanks to spacious floor-to-ceiling windows. The modern layout provides a comfortable and inspiring environment for work, with a well-designed breakout area for informal meetings and relaxation. The building also features a restaurant on the ground floor, making it convenient for meals and client lunches. With excellent transportation links, the office is easily accessible—just under a 20-minute journey from Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam Centraal. Role Context Cboe Clear Europe (CCEU) is a systemically important financial institution, providing post-trade services to stock exchanges, multilateral trading facilities, other equities trading platforms and for OTC equities trades. Headquartered in Amsterdam, we service trading platforms and we have clearing participants with headquarters in 14 jurisdictions in Europe, North America and Asia. Recently we acquired ownership of our real-time portfolio risk engine, which was previously supplied to us by a vendor. Now we need to embed this system in our architecture and extend it to incorporate additional risk-related calculations like liquidity stress tests, but also prepare it for potential usage within the broader Cboe Global Markets group. The Tech Lead Clearisq will provide technical ownership and direction for this platform within CCEU Software Engineering. The role is about technical leadership, with no direct people management, and focuses on architecture, code quality, technical decision‑making, change delivery and long‑term sustainability of the Clearisq codebase, in close collaboration with Risk, Quant, and Operations stakeholders. The Clearisq team will consist of: 1 Tech Lead (this role) 1 Backend Engineer (Java/Python, platform & integration focus) 1 Quant Engineer / Product Owner (Python, quantitative and model‑heavy logic) Adjacent to this team, there is a variety of other engineering teams for different business domains and areas like Data Engineering and Platform Engineering. Key Responsibilities The Tech Lead is expected to work hands‑on across the stack, while clearly delineating responsibilities between platform engineering concerns and quantitative model implementation. Technical Ownership & Architecture Act as technical owner of the Clearisq codebase within CCEU. Define and maintain the target architecture, including boundaries between: Quantitative models Data pipelines and analytics Platform services and integrations Drive architectural decision records (ADRs) and align with CCEU architecture governance. Balance pragmatic delivery with long‑term maintainability in a safety‑critical CCP context. Code Quality, Reliability & Risk Awareness Set and enforce engineering standards for correctness, performance, testing, and observability. Ensure the platform meets high availability, determinism, and auditability expectations typical for CCP risk systems. Own the technical approach to numerical correctness, reproducibility, and explainability of calculations. Proactively manage technical debt, lifecycle concerns, and vendor‑originated legacy code. AI‑Assisted Software Engineering Act as a role model and multiplier for AI‑assisted engineering practices within the team – and the wider software engineering department. Leverage AI tools for: Code comprehension of a complex acquired codebase Code development for changes Refactoring and modernization Test generation and validation scenarios Log analysis, performance investigation, and incident learning in line with CCEU and Cboe‑wide AI adoption initiatives. Establish guardrails to ensure AI usage enhances quality, security, and correctness rather than eroding them. Data & Quantitative Awareness Possess deep understanding of data‑intensive systems, including: Large in‑memory datasets Time‑series and historical simulations Performance‑sensitive numerical computation Collaborate closely with the Quant Engineer to: Translate risk methodology into robust software constructs Challenge assumptions where model design meets system constraints Ensure clean separation between model logic and platform mechanics. Stakeholder Collaboration & Soft Skills Serve as the technical interface between Software Engineering, Risk, Quant, Operations, and external stakeholders. Communicate complex technical trade‑offs clearly to non‑engineers. Actively surface risks, constraints, and dependencies early. Contribute to cross‑team alignment in a multi‑domain clearing platform. Required Skills & Experience Core Technical Skills Strong experience designing and owning complex backend systems in Java, with Python exposure in the past being a strong plus. Proven track record with data‑heavy, computation‑intensive platforms. Solid understanding of software architecture, testing strate