Sr. Software Engineer I, Evaluation Services (Scala)

Disclaimer: Please be advised that the most accurate and up-to-date information about our open rolesincluding job descriptions compensation and benefitscan only be guaranteed on our official job board. For the latest listings and details please visit: US ON OUR MISSION TO BECOME THE #1 RETAIL TRADING PLATFORM IN THE WORLD

Welcome to the dynamic world of NinjaTrader! As an industry-leading trading platform and futures broker were empowering traders to take control of their financial destiny. How do we do it We provide cutting-edge products and services that enhance the trading journey. Whether a seasoned pro or just starting out NinjaTrader equips traders with award-winning software and brokerage services to navigate the worlds leading financial markets with confidence.

Our growth story is nothing short of exhilarating. Since 2003 NinjaTrader has been dedicated to understanding and supporting traders on their journey toward trading triumph. Through those efforts our user base has grown to over 2 million users and we have become the number one rated futures brokerage worldwide.

But were not stopping there. Were constantly evolving pushing boundaries and modernizing the futures industry. Our commitment to innovation means users will always have access to dynamic tools real-time support and a community of like-minded traders.

So why work at NinjaTrader Here youre not just part of a team; youre part of a movement. We empower employees to reach new heights in their careers by providing a dynamic culture focused on social connection professional development and employee recognition initiatives. Sounds too good to be trueTake it from our employees.

Join us as we redefine whats possible in trading advocate for our customers and continue our journey toward becoming the worlds top retail-focused trading platform in the world.

What youll do:

We are seeking a Sr. Software Engineer to join our Evaluation Services team. Our Evaluation Services business powers funded trader programs that give aspiring traders a pathway to professional trading this role you will design build and maintain the Scala-based backend systems that power our auto-liquidation engine risk evaluation and trading servicesthe core systems our platform and our partners depend on. You will own complex backend problems end-to-end and work alongside Trading Services Engineers frontend engineers QA and solutions engineers to deliver high-quality production-ready features in a fast-paced environment.

In this role you will:

• Design and implement backend services in Scala for evaluation risk and trading services workloadsincluding real-time auto-liquidation account state management and post-trade processing
• Build and evolve actor-based systems (Akka or similar) that handle high-throughput market data position changes and event-driven workflows
• Own significant features end-to-end: from technical spec through implementation code review and production hand-off
• Design data models and database changes (PostgreSQL including JSONB where appropriate) and contribute to the shared master schema Protobuf and SQL repositories
• Diagnose and resolve complex backend issuesincluding production incidentsby analyzing logs tracing distributed flows and reproducing edge cases under realistic load
• Drive code quality across the team: thorough PR reviews clear acceptance criteria dev-testing discipline and proper instrumentation and observability
• Collaborate with Trading Services Solutions Engineering and Product to translate business requirements into well-scoped well-estimated stories
• Contribute to architectural decisions and long-term tech-debt remediation including modernization of legacy Scala services and evaluation of new event-bus technologies
• Mentor junior team members on Scala idioms functional design testing practices and incident response
• Develop deep expertise in NinjaTraders evaluation platform and partner integrations to provide authoritative backend leadership

What youll need:

• 5 years of backend software engineering experience building production systems that handle real-time data concurrency and high availability
• Strong hands-on Scala expertiseidiomatic Scala functional patterns testing (ScalaTest or similar) and comfort working in a large existing Scala codebase
• Experience with actor-based concurrency models (Akka Pekko or equivalent)understanding of supervision message passing and back-pressure
• Solid relational database skills with PostgreSQLschema design indexing query optimization and judgment on when JSONB is appropriate vs. when a normalized structure is correct
• Comfort with event-driven architectures message buses (Kafka Pub/Sub or similar) and asynchronous workflows
• Excellent troubleshooting skills with the ability to read logs trace requests across distributed systems and isolate root cause under pressure
• Demonstrated ability to write clear technical specs scope work realistically and flag risk early
• High-quality standards for code tests documentation and PRsand willingness to enforce the same standards in code review
• Ability to think on your feet and adapt quickly when priorities shift or unexpected issues arise
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate backend tradeoffs for both technical and non-technical audiences
• Self-starter who thrives in ambiguity and can manage multiple complex backend efforts simultaneously

Bonus Points for:

• Experience with trading platforms fintech or capital markets technology
• Understanding of trading concepts: order routing market data position management risk and liquidation logic and P&L calculation
• Familiarity with Protobuf gRPC or schema-based service contracts
• Experience migrating or modernizing legacy Scala systems or evaluating Scala Rust/Go transitions
• Background in observability: distributed tracing structured logging and metrics (Datadog GCP or similar)
• Prior experience supporting enterprise or B2B partner integrations

Compensation:

The salary range for this role will be $125000.00 - $175000.00 addition this position will also receive an annual target bonus of 10%. Bonus pay at NinjaTrader is based on individual performance (50%) as well as company/team performance (50%).

Salary and bonus earnings are only two components of the total compensation package offered by NinjaTrader. NinjaTrader offers a 401K plan through ADP under which the company will match up to 3.5% of employee contributions. Annual paid time off allowance accrues at a rate of 18 days per year (some positions may qualify for more) plus seven paid holidays.

Location:

This role is based in Chicago IL. *There may be remote flexibility for exceptional candidates in the following states: California Colorado Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Minnesota Missouri Montana New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington DC Wisconsin.

Hybrid:

For Chicago-based employees we follow a hybrid work schedule: In-office Tuesday through Thursday with remote work on Mondays and addition to these weekly remote days we offer:

• 20 additional flex remote days annually
• 5 Company Wide Office-Optional weeks tied to major holidays

Our Core Benefits Include:

• Generous PTO
• 7 Paid Holidays Annually 5 Conditional Holidays Annually
• 1 Service Day Annually
• 401k with 3.5% Company Match
• Paid Parental Bonding Leave
• Health Vision Dental Coverage
• Life and Disability Insurance Covered 100% by NinjaTrader

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race color ancestry religion sex national origin sexual orientation age citizenship marital status disability gender gender identity or expression or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.