Jobs › Hudson River Trading

Experienced Hardware Design Engineer

Hudson River Trading · Chicago, IL · Trading Tech

Posted Oct 1, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about the hardest hardware bug you have debugged. How did you find it?

What they are checking: Whether they debug methodically across simulation, on-chip tools and lab measurements.

Tell me about a new tool or technology you investigated that changed how your team worked.

What they are checking: Whether they bring curiosity and improve the development stack, which the role values.

What would you do

A trader asks for a feature that would add latency to a critical path. How do you work through it with them?

What they are checking: Whether they can discuss trade-offs openly and find designs that meet both speed and function needs.

About the work

How would you design an FPGA pipeline that parses a market data feed and updates an order book with the lowest possible latency?

What they are checking: Whether they can turn a real trading data problem into an efficient hardware architecture.

How would you implement a data structure like a sorted price-level book in RTL?

What they are checking: Whether they can map complex data structures onto hardware resources and timing limits.

Walk me through how you close timing on a design that is failing at the target clock.

What they are checking: Whether they have practical methods like pipelining, floorplanning and logic restructuring, not just tool retries.

What FPGA internals do you think about most when you are optimizing for latency?

What they are checking: Whether they deeply understand LUTs, block RAM, DSPs, routing and transceivers on real devices.

How does designing for an ASIC differ from designing for an FPGA in your day-to-day decisions?

What they are checking: Whether they understand the trade-offs in primitives, verification cost and flexibility between the two.

Describe a design you built at a high level, then go down to the detail of one block.

What they are checking: Whether they can move between architecture and implementation, as the posting asks.

How would you handle clock domain crossings between a network interface and your core logic?

What they are checking: Whether they know safe CDC techniques and the bugs that come from getting them wrong.

What would you consider when building a machine learning inference accelerator for trading decisions?

What they are checking: Whether they understand how ML workloads map to hardware for low latency rather than high throughput.

Practice this interview out loud.

Offer builds a real interview for this exact role at Hudson River Trading from your resume and this job description, asks the questions one at a time, and tells you what landed. The first one is free.

Practice this out loud

The full job description

As published by Hudson River Trading.

The Hardware team at Hudson River Trading (HRT) creates high performance compute engines using FPGA and ASIC technology to drive low latency trading decisions on global markets. We build custom solutions across the spectrum of speed and smarts: from bespoke circuits to world-class machine learning accelerators. FPGAs and ASICs are critical pieces of our technology stack. We are looking for talented hardware developers to architect and design complex systems on a highly collaborative global team. In this role, you'll identify efficient ways to perform on-the-fly transformations of market data and implement models with complex data structures in RTL. Deep knowledge of SystemVerilog, FPGA internals and/or ASIC primitives, computer architecture, and vendor tool suites are essential to succeeding in this role. Expertise in networking protocols, CPU design, and/or machine learning accelerators is a big plus. No financial experience is necessary. Responsibilities • Collaborate with a cross-functional team to develop and deploy custom FPGA and/or ASIC solutions for a wide range of trading applications • Investigate new technologies and tools • Contribute to a nimble hardware development tech stack Qualifications • Ability to describe hardware designs at a high level, low level, or anywhere in between • Brilliant design, optimization, debugging and problem solving skills • Professional experience (2+ years) in RTL design for FPGA or ASIC • Expert SystemVerilog development skills with a thorough understanding of the language&nbsp; • Expert on low level FPGA or ASIC architectures, with a deep understanding of what makes them "tick" • Skilled in network communications, processing pipelines, and/or machine learning • Working knowledge of Python and/or C++ • Comfortable in a Linux environment • Strong verification experience • Familiarity with AMD Vivado is a plus • A bachelor’s degree in computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field This job is accepting ongoing applications and there is no application deadline. The estimated base salary range for this position is 200,000 to 300,000 USD per year (or local equivalent). The base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. This role will also be eligible for discretionary performance-based bonuses and a competitive benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, basic life insurance, and enrollment in our company’s retirement savings plans. Employees will receive sick and parental leave, as well as other paid time off (including 20 vacation days and 10 paid holidays in the US). Please note that benefits and time off policies will vary across non-US locations. In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information. Culture <span data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Hudson River Trading (HRT) brings a scientific approach to trading financial products. We have built one of the world's most sophisticated computing environments for research and development. Our researchers are at the forefront of innovation in the world of algorithmic trading. \n\nAt HRT we come from a variety of disciplines: mathematics and computer science, physics, and engineering, media and tech. We’re a community of self-starters who are motivated by the excitement of being at the cutting edge of automation in every part of our organization - from trading, to business operations, to recruiting and beyond. Our culture celebrates great ideas whether they come from HRT veterans or new hires. At HRT we’re friends and colleagues – whether we are sharing a meal, playing the latest board game, or writing elegant code. We embrace a culture of togetherness that extends far beyond the walls of our office.\n\nFeel like you belong at HRT? Our goal is to find the best people and bring them together to do great work in a place where everyone is valued. HRT is proud of our diverse staff; we have offices all over the globe and benefit from our varied and unique perspectives. HRT is an equal opportunity employer; so whoever you are we’d love to get to know you."}" data-sheets-userformat="{"2":13185,"3":{"1":0},"10":1,"11":4,"12":0,"15":"IBM Plex Sans","16":11}" data-sheets-textstyleruns="{"1":0}{"1":328,"2":{"2":{"1":2,"2":16711935}}}{"1":402}{"1":917,"2":{"2":{"1":2,"2":16711935}}}{"1":945}">Hudson River Trading (HRT) brings a scientific approach to trading financial products. We have built one of the world's most sophisticated computing environments for research and development. Our researchers are at the forefront of innovation in the world of algorithmic trading. At HRT we welcome a variety of expertise: mathematics and computer science, physics and engineering, media and tech. We’re a community of self-starters who are motivated by the excitement of being at the cutting edge of automation in every part of our organization—from trading, to business operations, to recruiting and beyond. We value openness and transparency, and celebrate great ideas from HRT veterans and new hires alike. At HRT we’re friends and colleagues – whether we are sharing a meal, playing the latest board game, or writing elegant code. We embrace a culture of togetherness that extends far beyond the walls of our office. Feel like you belong at HRT? Our goal is to find the best people and bring them together to do great work in a place where everyone is valued. HRT is proud of our diverse staff; we have offices all over the globe and benefit from our varied and unique perspectives. HRT is an equal opportunity employer; so whoever you are we’d love to get to know you. Please be advised: Use of AI tools by an applicant during interviews or assessments is strictly prohibited, unless otherwise instructed or agreed upon. We employ various methods to evaluate the authenticity of candidate responses. If we determine that AI assistance was used by an applicant during an interview or an assessment, we reserve the right to immediately end the interview or assessment, disqualify the applicant’s candidacy and/or rescind any job offers extended. <span data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Hudson River Trading (HRT) brings a scientific approach to trading financial products. We have built one of the world's most sophisticated computing environments for research and development. Our researchers are at the forefront of innovation in the world of algorithmic trading. \n\nAt HRT we come from a variety of disciplines: mathematics and computer science, physics, and engineering, media and tech. We’re a community of self-starters who are motivated by the excitement of being at the cutting edge of automation in every part of our organization - from trading, to business operations, to recruiting and beyond. Our culture celebrates great ideas whether they come from HRT veterans or new hires. At HRT we’re friends and colleagues – whether we are sharing a meal, playing the latest board game, or writing elegant code. We embrace a culture of togetherness that extends far beyond the walls of our office.\n\nFeel like you belong at HRT? Our goal is to find the best people and bring them together to do great work in a place where everyone is valued. HRT is proud of our diverse staff; we have offices all over the globe and benefit from our varied and unique perspectives. HRT is an equal opportunity employer; so whoever you are we’d love to get to know you."}" data-sheets-userformat="{"2":13185,"3":{"1":0},"10":1,"11":4,"12":0,"15":"IBM Plex Sans","16":11}" data-sheets-textstyleruns="{"1":0}{"1":328,"2":{"2":{"1":2,"2":16711935}}}{"1":402}{"1":917,"2":{"2":{"1":2,"2":16711935}}}{"1":945}">You can review our Global Applicant Privacy Notice , which explains how we process applicant information. &nbsp;

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