Technology Procurement Specialist

The Firm

XTX Markets is a leading algorithmic trading firm which uses state-of-the-art machine learning technology to produce price forecasts for over 53,000 financial instruments across equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities and crypto. It uses those forecasts to trade on exchanges and alternative trading venues, and to offer differentiated liquidity directly to clients worldwide. The firm trades over $250bn a day across 35 countries and has over 300 employees based in London, Singapore, New York, Paris, Bristol, Mumbai, Yerevan and Kajaani. 

We leverage the talent of the people who work here, modern computational techniques and state-of-the-art research infrastructure to analyse large data sets across markets quickly and efficiently, to maximize the effectiveness of our proprietary trading algorithms. We are actively seeking new methods and ideas. The models that drive our trading strategies have evolved considerably over the last 10 years, from econometric methods that gave our company its name, to trees, to neural networks, to modern deep learning architectures.

XTX Markets has an unrivalled level of computational resources in the trading industry, with a growing research cluster currently containing over 25,000 GPUs with more than 1 exabyte of usable storage. Teams across the firm include world-class researchers, developers and technologists with backgrounds in pure math, programming, physics, computer science and machine learning. The firm is also constructing a large-scale data centre in Finland to future-proof its significant computational capabilities.

At XTX Markets technology is our business and we are a diverse organization which attracts outstanding talent from across all industry backgrounds. We are focused on teamwork and our people collaborate on all aspects of the business, working openly and with respect for each other, our clients and the market. Our culture is non-hierarchical and one where everyone is valued. We strive for excellence in everything we do. 

The Role

The technology and market data procurement department is responsible for achieving value for the firm in the execution of a budget in the hundreds of millions of pounds annually.

This role supports the research, evaluation, sourcing, procurement, and commercial management of technology products and services across the entire firm.

A key aspect of the role is staying up to date with emerging technologies, market trends and vendor capabilities, providing technology guidance and strategic recommendations to engineering, infrastructure and business development teams to support the firm’s technology decisions.

The portfolio includes IT hardware, enterprise software, cloud services, market data, network and connectivity services, datacentre and colocation services, professional services and emerging technologies. You will get broad exposure to a wide range of cutting-edge technology deployments.

You will work closely with engineering, infrastructure, and business stakeholders to understand their requirements, evaluate technical and commercial options, negotiate with suppliers, and support implementation. We are seeking someone who combines sound commercial judgement with the technical aptitude to research unfamiliar technologies, assess vendor proposals and manage initiatives from initial requirements through contract, delivery and lifecycle management.

Responsibilities

• Research, evaluate, negotiate and procure technology products and services across hardware, software, cloud, market data, network and connectivity, datacentre and colocation, professional services and emerging technologies.
• Lead structured sourcing processes, including requirements definition, RFIs, RFPs, vendor due diligence, proposal evaluation, commercial negotiation, contract review, purchase approvals and implementation handover.
• Work with engineering, infrastructure, information security, legal, finance and business teams to define requirements and assess technical options, vendor roadmaps, licensing and commercial models, support arrangements, implementation risks and total cost of ownership.
• Support the procurement and delivery of complex infrastructure projects, including compute, GPU, storage, network, power, cooling, datacentre capacity and exchange connectivity requirements.
• Manage supplier relationships across OEMs, resellers, software and cloud providers, market data vendors, network carriers, datacentre and colocation providers and professional services firms.
• Support the commercial and procurement workstreams of technology implementation projects, including supplier coordination, delivery planning, risk management, acceptance and operational handover.
• Manage hardware and enterprise software asset lifecycles, including renewals, maintenance, support, utilisation, refresh planning and decommissioning.
• Conduct cost reconciliation, spend analysis, budget tracking, vendor reporting and financial data administration.
• Improve procurement processes, documentation, governance and stakeholder workflows.

Essential Attributes

If you resonate with some or all the following, we encourage you to apply:

• Approximately 3 to 6 years of experience in technology procurement, strategic sourcing, vendor management, solutions architecture, technical project delivery, infrastructure sourcing or a related role.
• Strong technical aptitude and a practical understanding of enterprise technology environments, with the ability to assess requirements, dependencies, implementation considerations and supplier proposals.
• Experience sourcing or delivering complex infrastructure, high-performance compute, GPU, datacentre, colocation, low-latency network or direct-liquid-cooled technology
• Broad knowledge of technology products or services across several categories, such as hardware, software, cloud, data, telecommunications, datacentre services or professional services.
• Ability to quickly develop knowledge of unfamiliar or emerging technologies and engage credibly with specialist engineering and business stakeholders.
• Commercially astute, with experience running structured sourcing and negotiation processes and evaluating commercial models, contractual terms, supplier risk and total cost of ownership.
• Proven project management and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives and balance technical, commercial, logistical, operational and risk considerations.
• Effective communicator with strong stakeholder and vendor management skills, capable of translating technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders and commercial constraints for technical stakeholders.
• Articulate, analytical and numerate, with strong verbal and written reasoning skills and a bachelor's degree in an analytical, technical, engineering, scientific, financial or quantitative discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience working in financial services, trading, research computing or another technically demanding environment would be advantageous.

Benefits

• Onsite gym, sauna, and fitness classes at no charge.  (Wellbeing Space)
• Extensive medical benefits including an on-site doctor and therapist at no charge.
• Breakfast and lunch provided daily.
• Various supports for caregivers, including emergency dependent care.
• Beautiful Kings Cross office:  (Office Tour).
• 25 days paid holiday per year + statutory holiday and paid sick days.
• Generous Pension contributions.