KDB+/q Architect – Research Infrastructure & Data Strategy | Systematic Fund | London / Hybrid

A growing systematic fund is seeking a KDB+/q Architect on a 9–12 month contract to define and implement their long-term data architecture strategy. This is a senior advisory and delivery role, working directly with the CTO and Head of Research to shape how the fund stores, accesses, and analyses tick and reference data at scale.

About the Engagement:

You will operate at Lead/Principal level, splitting time between architecture design, hands-on implementation, and mentoring of two junior KDB engineers. The fund is scaling AUM and needs infrastructure to match — this engagement is foundational to that plan.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and document the fund's KDB+/q architecture strategy for a 3–5 year horizon

• Design scalable tick plant architecture to handle 10x current data volume

• Lead implementation of a new time-series data lake integrating KDB+ with cloud storage (S3/GCS)

• Advise on and implement Kx 4.1 migration roadmap

• Design Python–KDB integration layer using PyKX for research team consumption

• Mentor junior KDB engineers and review their architectural contributions

• Work with research team to optimise complex q queries and improve research cycle times

Required Experience:

• 8+ years KDB+/q experience with clear Lead or Principal-level responsibility

• Demonstrated experience designing tick plant and research infrastructure from scratch

• Deep q language mastery — IPC design, memory management, complex analytics, kdb+tick customisation

• Experience integrating KDB+ with cloud storage and modern data engineering tooling

• PyKX or qPython integration experience

• Strong communication skills — able to advise senior stakeholders on architecture trade-offs

Contract Details:

• Duration: 9–12 months

• Working pattern: 3 days on-site, 2 days remote