C++ Developer ( Low Latency HFT Infrastructure)

About This RoleFirm Overview
Meru Capitals & Investments Pvt. Ltd. is a Gurgaon-based proprietary quantitative trading firm that creates probabilistic mathematical models from historical data and runs 100% automated algorithms across Indian and US financial markets. Founded by a team with deep roots in investment banking (ICICI, RBS), business operations (Elevate Services), and proprietary algorithmic trading, Meru deploys a diversified book of directional, semi-directional, and non-directional strategies in equity, F&O, and cross-asset segments — all executed through an in-house engine that we own end-to-end.
We trade exclusively on our own capital (1000+ crores under management) and compete on the strength of our research, the speed of our infrastructure, and the discipline of our process.
About Our Team
The Infrastructure team at Meru owns the entire low-latency trading stack — exchange gateways, market-data adaptors, risk-management engines, execution algos, and the strategy framework that the Alpha Research team builds against. Every component is written in modern C++ and tuned for nanosecond-class latency, running on co-located, kernel-bypass hardware at NSE/BSE and US exchange data centers.
The team is small, deeply technical, and operates the production systems that trade real capital every market day.
Job Purpose / Background
We are hiring a C++ Developer to build and operate the core of Meru's low-latency trading infrastructure: order-entry gateways, market-data adaptors, risk-management systems, and the execution engine that runs strategies in Indian (NSE / BSE) and US (NYSE / NASDAQ / CME) markets.
This is a hands-on systems engineering role. You will write code that runs in the hot path — every microsecond matters. You will sit beside the quant researchers whose alphas you put on the wire, and you will own the production systems that trade real PnL.
A successful candidate is obsessive about correctness and latency in equal measure, comfortable reading exchange protocol specs cover-to-cover, and excited by the entire stack from cache lines and NIC drivers up to order book state and strategy APIs.
Key Responsibilities
Design, build, and maintain low-latency components of the Meru trading stack — exchange gateways, market-data adaptors, risk checks, execution engines, and the strategy framework
Implement exchange protocols (NSE NNF / NSE FO Trimmed, NYSE / NASDAQ ITCH / OUCH, CME iLink / MDP) from spec, with full attention to edge cases, byte ordering, sequence gaps, and recovery
Drive sub-microsecond optimization across the hot path — cache-aligned data layouts, branchless code, lock-free queues (SPSC), kernel bypass (DPDK / ExaNIC), NIC hardware timestamping, CPU pinning, and busy-spin networking
Build robust, observable production systems — nanosecond-precision timestamps, latency probes at every stage, structured logging, replayable packet captures
Operate the live systems: monitor, debug, and post-mortem real production issues during market hours
Collaborate with the Alpha Research team to integrate new signals into production with research-to-deployment cycles measured in days, not quarters
Partner with the risk and trading teams to harden pre-trade checks, position tracking, and kill-switch logic
Skills / Qualifications
2+ years of relevant experience in modern C++ (C++17 / C++20), with at least 1+ years in latency-sensitive or systems-level domains (HFT, exchanges, low-latency networking, real-time systems, OS / kernel work, market-making, or comparable)
Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related quantitative discipline from a top-tier institution
Strong systems programming on Linux — sockets, epoll, threading, signals, IPC (shared memory, lock-free queues), perf, strace, gdb, ftrace
Strong fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, cache behavior, branch prediction, memory hierarchy, x86-64 ISA awareness
Demonstrated experience writing code where microseconds matter — and the methodology to measure, attribute, and reduce latency rigorously
Familiarity with exchange protocols (NSE NNF / FO, NYSE / NASDAQ / CME) is a strong plus
Familiarity with kernel-bypass networking (DPDK / Solarflare ef_vi / ExaNIC), NIC timestamping, and co-location is a strong plus
Familiarity with Python is a plus — research code and tooling often live there
Strong CS fundamentals; able to reason about correctness, ordering, and race conditions in concurrent systems
High intellectual integrity, ownership mentality, and a low tolerance for surface-level fixes
What You Get
Full stack ownership — exchange wire, kernel, network, application, strategy interface — nothing is "someone else's problem"
Real capital, real markets, real production — your code runs in the hot path of strategies trading every market day
Direct access to founders, traders, and quants — flat hierarchy, fast feedback, decisions in hours
Compensation closely tied to the systems you build and the PnL they enable
A culture built by people who actually trade for a living

Work arrangement
Hybrid