Performance Engineer

IMC is hiring a Performance Engineer in Sydney, Australia. Level rates it ; you can apply on IMC.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Python, C and Java.
Level classifies it as a mid-level role.
Level lists 155 other open roles at IMC.

AI in this role

Analyze, optimize, and tune trading system performance and exchange connectivity through statistical experimentation and low-level engineering.

PythonCJavaLinuxIntel CpusFPGA

performance-engineeringlow-latencynetwork-optimizationblack-box-reverse-engineeringstatistics

As a Performance Engineer at IMC, you will play a pivotal role in analysing, optimising, and tuning our systems' interaction with exchange systems holistically. Working closely with traders and engineers, you'll be tasked with uncovering performance improvements across the trading stack. This role combines technical ingenuity with creative problem-solving to outsmart competition in one of the most demanding technical landscapes.

Your Core Responsibilities:

Black Box Reverse Engineering and Analysis: Analyse and understand the behaviour of complex, live systems — such as exchange connectivity and market data feeds — using black-box techniques, with no source code access. Design and run statistical experiments against real data to explain emergent real-world phenomena and identify performance bottlenecks and optimisation opportunities. This is investigative work aimed at systems you can observe but not disassemble, not static binary or malware analysis.
Experimentation & Prototyping: Design, implement, and build working prototypes to test ideas and technologies quickly — not specifications for others to build from.
Collaboration & Communication: Liaise effectively with traders, software and hardware engineers, and infrastructure teams to share insights and implement solutions.
System Analysis: Analyse terabytes of network data using statistical methods to identify patterns, validate hypotheses, and quantify performance improvements.

Your Skills and Experience:

Most of the following will apply — we don't expect every candidate to check every box:

Comfortable using statistics and data analysis to test hypotheses at scale, not just qualitative or manual investigation.
System-level optimisation or low-level network optimisation — ideally applied to live/external systems rather than static binaries.
Strong understanding of networking, computer internals, and Linux systems.
Exposure to low-latency hardware technologies such as Intel CPUs, FPGA, or microwave links is a strong plus, though not required.
Proven commercial experience writing and shipping production code — Python and/or C++ or Java

About Us

IMC is a research-driven trading firm where quantitative modeling, machine learning, and engineering shape how modern markets are traded. A stabilizing force in markets since 1989, we provide liquidity across trading venues, delivering the best outcome in value and risk management to investors. Using our own technology and capital, we build proprietary systems and algorithms that operate across global markets. Our researchers, traders, and engineers work as a collective, combining rapid experimentation, advanced infrastructure, and real-time feedback to turn insight into execution and execution into advantage.

How we rate this

Performance Engineer at IMC rates 0 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Performance Engineer is an open job at IMC.
Level rates this role AI Level 1 of 4: Little AI.
The role is based in Sydney, Australia.
The job was posted on September 10, 2026.
Seniority: mid.
Applications are handled by IMC. Apply on IMC

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Performance EngineeringLow LatencyNetwork OptimizationBlack Box Reverse EngineeringStatisticsPythonCJava

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where performance engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where low latency was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where network optimization was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where black box reverse engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where statistics was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Performance Engineering, Low Latency, Network Optimization, Black Box Reverse Engineering, and Statistics. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.

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