Platinum & Partners is mandated by a leading Singapore-based proprietary trading firm operating across CeFi, DeFi and traditional markets to find an exceptional Head of Trading Technology. This is a rare mandate: the firm wants a principal-level architect and builder, not just a manager. Someone who has spent two decades inside elite HFT and systematic trading environments, who has built trading platforms from the ground up and who now leads with the same hands-on depth that made them exceptional as an individual engineer.
The archetype here is specific: a senior technologist from a Tier 1 HFT, systematic prop or crypto market-making firm with the architecture and low-latency pedigree of a principal engineer and the leadership experience to run a high-calibre team. Up to SGD $2M total package, stock options and a complete relocation package.
THE ROLE
- Own the architecture and technical direction of the firm's trading infrastructure — execution, order management, market connectivity, risk systems and research platforms
- Lead a team of eight across software engineering and infrastructure; set the technical bar and develop the team
- Build and evolve systematic trading platforms - greenfield work as well as scaling existing systems — with direct impact on strategy performance and firm P&L
- Partner with traders and quant researchers; act as the technical bridge between research and production
- Drive latency optimisation, system resilience and architectural decisions across the full trading stack
- Operate as a co-leadership voice at the firm level — shaping technology investment, hiring and long-term platform strategy
WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR
- 10–15 years of engineering experience, the majority inside elite HFT, MFT or systematic prop trading environments - Tier 1 global firms operating at the frontier of low-latency, algorithmic or crypto market-making
- Principal engineer or architect-level technical depth - you have built systematic trading platforms from scratch, not just maintained them
- Ultra-low-latency systems expertise: you understand the full stack from kernel and network layer through to application-level latency optimisation
- Broad platform architecture experience: execution and OMS, market data infrastructure, historical and vendor data systems, quant research tooling
- Comfortable leading engineering teams while staying technically engaged — this is a player-manager role, not a pure management seat
- Track record that spans both the research-facing and production-facing sides of a trading technology organisation
- Background that may include traditional finance before moving into prop - that breadth is a genuine asset here
- Based in Singapore or genuinely ready to relocate - the firm will cover all costs, including family relocation
WHY THIS ROLE
- SGD $1.2M–$2M total package plus stock options - top of market for APAC technology leadership
- Greenfield opportunity: the firm is at the stage where your architectural decisions will define how the platform is built for the next decade
- Technically engaged environment — traders and researchers who understand infrastructure, a board that invests in the stack
- Singapore base — Asia's leading hub for systematic and digital asset trading, and a genuinely excellent place to relocate to
- Full relocation package for candidates and their families — the firm is committed to the right person regardless of location
- The firm operates across both traditional and on-chain markets — a rare environment where 20 years of HFT pedigree opens up a genuinely new frontier
ABOUT PLATINUM & PARTNERS
Platinum & Partners is the specialist quant and systematic executive search firm. Retained and exclusive mandates only. All candidate conversations handled in complete confidence — we never circulate your CV without your explicit permission.
Contact Tabby Kaan: tabby@platinumandpartners.com | +44 203 941 9113
High Frequency Trading · Prop Desks · Systematic Trading · Execution & Algo Trading