RE-Defining specialist quant & systematic executive searchContract & Interim — Quant Engineering

Contract QuantEngineering at Speed

For project-shaped, build-out and specialist engineering work where speed matters more than tenure. KDB+/q, C++ low-latency, Python quant dev and market data engineers, transparent day rates, weekly pay, full compliance managed.

4–8 wks
Typical Start Window
48–72 hrs
To Shortlist
Weekly
Contractor Pay, On Time
Contract Roles We Place

Transparent Day Rates. Specific Skill Sets.

We publish day rate ranges because confidence and transparency attract quality. Candidates self-select, clients get accurate benchmarks, and everyone saves time.

£900–2,200/day
London

KDB+/q Engineer & Architect

Tick data platform builds and migrations, Kx 4.x upgrades, research infrastructure, time-series analytics. Senior £900–1,300/day, Lead/Principal £1,300–1,800/day, specialist tick-plant build experience £1,800–2,200/day. Every tier-1 systematic shop runs KDB — chronic unmet demand.

KDB+/q Production SystemsKx 4.0/4.1 MigrationTick Data ArchitectureEquities/FX/Rates DataCluster OpsPython–KDB Integration
3–12 months, frequently extended
£1,100–1,500/day
London

Low-Latency C++ Developer

Execution systems, market data handlers, order management, co-location infrastructure. Optimising for microsecond and nanosecond execution at HFT desks and prop firms.

Low-Latency C++17/20Lock-Free Data StructuresKernel Bypass / DPDKFIX / Binary ProtocolsCo-location & NetworkPerformance Profiling
6–12 months
£800–1,100/day
London

Python Quant Developer

Backtesting frameworks, signal infrastructure, data pipelines, research platforms. The backbone of every systematic research process — high demand across all strategy types.

Python BacktestingPandas / Polars / NumPyFeature EngineeringData Pipeline Arch.REST & WebSocket APIsAWS / GCP Infrastructure
3–9 months
£900–1,200/day
London

Market Data & Exchange Connectivity

Exchange feeds, market data normalisation, connectivity infrastructure. The plumbing that keeps a systematic fund's execution chain running cleanly.

Exchange Feed HandlersFIX / FAST ProtocolMarket Data NormalisationLatency BenchmarkingReference DataSLA Management
3–9 months
£900–1,300/day
London

Quant Risk & Analytics Engineer

Factor risk model integration, P&L attribution, exposure aggregation, VaR and stress engines, regulatory reporting. Constant demand as multi-strats scale pod complexity.

Barra / Axioma IntegrationP&L AttributionVaR / CVaR ComputationExposure AggregationPython / C++AIFMD / UCITS Reporting
3–12 months
£700–1,100/day
London

Trading Platform DevOps & SRE

Production trading infrastructure reliability, CI/CD pipelines, observability, and Linux performance tuning for latency-sensitive research and trading systems.

Kubernetes / DockerCI/CD for Trading SystemsPrometheus / GrafanaLinux Performance TuningTerraform / AnsibleOpenTelemetry
6–12 months
£800–1,200/day
London

Cloud Infrastructure Engineer

AWS or GCP migration for quant research workloads — distributed compute (Ray, Dask, AWS Batch), data lake architecture, self-service research provisioning, FinOps. Every fund roadmap has a cloud migration workstream.

AWS / GCPRay / Dask / AWS BatchS3 / BigQuery / AthenaTerraform / CDKFinOps & Cost OptimisationData Lake Architecture
6 months
£700–1,100/day
London

PM Technologist / Front-Office Support

Position monitoring, P&L attribution, bespoke analytics and dashboards for PMs and researchers. Constant demand at multi-strats — every new pod needs one. Broad candidate pool, fast to mobilise.

Position MonitoringP&L AttributionPython AnalyticsKDB+/q (light)SQL / Excel / VBAPrime Brokerage Recon
6 months, often converts to perm
£900–1,300/day
London

MLOps / Quant ML Infrastructure

Feature stores, model training pipelines, model serving, GPU scheduling for ML research. Growing demand as systematic funds layer ML signals over traditional strategies.

Feature Stores (Feast / Tecton)MLflow / Kubeflow / Vertex AIGPU SchedulingModel Serving & MonitoringAirflow / PrefectPyTorch / TensorFlow
6–9 months
£600–900/day
London

Trade Lifecycle & Quant Ops Engineer

FIX connectivity, settlement reconciliation, regulatory reporting (MiFID II, CAT, T+1). Broadest candidate pool on the ladder — reliable, recurring client demand at all times.

FIX ProtocolSettlement ReconciliationMiFID II / CAT ReportingT+1 ReadinessOMS IntegrationPython / SQL
6 months

Rates shown are indicative for senior contractors (5+ years buy-side or top-tier sell-side production experience). Lead/Principal-level engineers command the top of each range.

Rates shown are senior-tier benchmarks. New York rates run approximately 20–30% above London equivalents. Actual rates depend on seniority, skill specificity, contract duration and engagement structure — discuss directly with the team.

How Our Contract Model Works

We run a fully managed contract operation, with weekly pay for contractors once timesheets are approved, standard terms for clients, and contractor compliance fully handled through our regulated back-office infrastructure. We manage timesheet administration and contractor compliance end to end.

01
Brief
You describe the role, tech stack, start date and budget. We confirm whether it's in our specialism within 24 hours.
02
Search
We work our network. Most KDB, C++ and Python quant dev searches produce a qualified shortlist within 48–72 hours.
03
Interview
We manage interview scheduling, engagement terms, and rate negotiation.
04
On-site
Contractor starts on agreed terms. Weekly billing and pay handled through our back-office infrastructure. We stay in touch through the engagement.

What You Get

Weekly Pay
Weekly billing, on time, no 30 or 60-day waits. Contractors are paid weekly once timesheet is approved.
Full Compliance Managed
Contractor compliance and engagement terms handled end to end. We manage the process so you can focus on delivery.
Transparent Day Rates
We publish rate ranges and are direct about what we charge. No hidden margins or rate compression.
Contract-to-Perm
Contract-to-permanent conversions handled cleanly when the client wants to retain.
No CV Without Consent
We never submit a contractor CV to a named client without explicit consent on that specific role.
Fast Turnaround
Most contract searches produce a shortlist within 48–72 hours. Contractor on-site within 4–8 weeks of brief.

Illustrative Contract Role Formats

These are representative examples of how we present live briefs — specific, honest about rates and scope. Live roles are listed on our Jobs board under the Contract tab.

CONTRACTRef: PP-2026-C-087

KDB+/q Engineer — Tick Data Platform Migration

London6-month (extendable)£1,200–1,500/day

Senior KDB engineer to lead migration of tick data platform to Kx 4.1 across equities and FX. Must have 5+ years production KDB at a hedge fund or tier-1 bank, strong q, comfortable with cluster ops. Start within 4 weeks.

CONTRACTRef: PP-2026-C-094

Low-Latency C++ Developer — Execution Infrastructure

London9-month£1,300–1,600/day

Multi-strategy platform needs a senior C++ engineer to rebuild their execution engine for a new cash equities pod. Lock-free queues, kernel bypass, FIX protocol knowledge essential. Immediate start.

Have a Contract Brief?

Tell us the role, stack, start date and rate. We confirm within 24 hours and return a shortlist within 48–72 hours.