Jobs › Cboe Global Markets

Principal Software Engineer

Cboe Global Markets · Chicago, IL · $165,750–$235,950 a year · Full time

Posted Aug 27, 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 most complex technical problem you solved as a senior engineer. What was your part?

What they are checking: Whether they have led hard technical work and can describe their own contribution clearly.

Tell me about a time you mentored engineers and raised the quality of a team's work.

What they are checking: Whether they lift others, which is expected at the principal level.

How do you balance writing code yourself with reviewing designs and guiding others?

What they are checking: Whether they've found a healthy way to stay hands-on while having broader impact.

What would you do

How do you decide when a system needs a redesign instead of more incremental fixes?

What they are checking: Whether they weigh risk, cost and business value when proposing major changes.

Two senior engineers disagree on a design and both have good points. How do you settle it?

What they are checking: Whether they can lead technical decisions with data and fairness rather than rank.

This role is in the office four days a week. How do you like to collaborate with a team in person?

What they are checking: Whether they are comfortable with the stated in-office model and see value in it.

About the work

How would you design an order-handling component for an exchange where every microsecond and every message matters?

What they are checking: Whether they can reason about latency, determinism and correctness together in market infrastructure.

How do you make sure a trading system processes every message exactly once and in the right order?

What they are checking: Whether they understand sequencing, recovery and idempotency, which protect market integrity.

What's your approach to finding a latency spike that only shows up under peak load?

What they are checking: Whether they can profile and measure carefully, including garbage collection, locks and network effects.

How would you roll out a change to a production trading system with minimal risk?

What they are checking: Whether they use testing, feature flags, staged rollouts and rollback plans in critical systems.

How do you think about resilience and failover for a system that must stay up during market hours?

What they are checking: Whether they design for failure at the level market infrastructure requires.

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The full job description

As published by Cboe Global Markets.

Job Description: Building trusted markets — powered by our people At Cboe Global Markets, we inspire our people to solve complex challenges together because what we do matters. We provide the financial infrastructure that powers the global economy. As a leading provider of market infrastructure and tradable products, Cboe delivers cutting-edge trading, clearing and investment solutions to market participants around the world. We’re building meaningful ways to support professional and personal development while strengthening the trust we’ve earned as a global market leader. Our teams are empowered to share ideas, actively pursue them and bring on a challenge. As champions of internal mobility and access to opportunity, we encourage our people to “go for it” and equip our managers with the training to coach their teams to the next level. We strive to provide employees a safe space to network, share ideas and create opportunities. To support strong partnership and team connection, this role follows a four day in office work model. Role Overview Web software engineers at Cboe are tasked with designing and implementing applications, developing user interfaces and components that are critical to maintaining operational and customer readiness. This requires careful attention to detail, knowledge of algorithms and data structures, and ability to design testable and scalable systems. Cboe web services are running 24x7, and web engineers are responsible for ensuring uptime and resilience for applications that support all Cboe markets. We use industry-leading technologies like Python, Django, React, Next.js and Tailwind CSS to build websites that handle millions of requests per day, providing high-quality market data and real-time access to Cboe exchanges for our customers and the investing public. We operate at the tip of the spear, maintaining the primary interface for command and control of Cboe markets worldwide. We are aggressive, yet agile. We care about user experience. We care about code quality. We care about testing. We care about automation. We’re looking for like-minded individuals to join us. Essential Duties and Responsibilities • Design, implement, extend, and maintain web software functionality across our applications and systems, applying deep technical expertise. • Debug complex operational and/or scaling issues. • Serve as a subject matter expert in multiple significant areas of system functionality, providing guidance and technical direction across teams. • Work across teams to define and refine processes and procedures related to our engineering practices. • Promote and enforce standards for the Cboe Design Systems. Work with Cboe UX team to implement effective designs . • Provide architecture and direction for the continued growth of our code base, for example to support additional asset classes or geographies. • Provide significant review of requirements, rule filings, and/or trade desk announcements. • Participate in internal and industry-wide weekend testing as needed. Support production systems and applications of the exchange outside of normal work hours to ensure performance and high availability. • Provide significant input into project scheduling. Strong ability to lead projects and meet project commitments. • Lead remediation efforts for major production support issues, actively communicating with stakeholders during resolution and serving as a key contributor to incident review discussions. Make significant impact on architecture, process, and team culture. • Demonstrate excellent communication skills. Regularly communicate with management, key stakeholders, and technical colleagues. Be a positive representation of software engineering internally and externally. • Performs other related duties as required or requested. Job Requirements • BS in Computer Science or demonstrable equivalent knowledge • Minimum 12 years of experience developing high-performance, data-driven websites • Experience with MVC web frameworks (Django preferred) • Experience with JavaScript • Experience with Python or experience in another language with a strong desire to learn Python • Familiarity with modern web standards, including HTML5 and CSS3 • Experience with Linux or UNIX-like systems • Experience with Apache, PostgreSQL, or ReactJS is a plus • Experience with Python unit testing and full-stack web testing is a plus • Strong ability to debug complex operational and/or scaling issues • Excellent understanding of UX principles Benefits and Perks We value the total wellbeing of our people – including health, financial, personal and social wellness. We believe standard benefits like health insurance and fair pay are given at any organization. Still, you should know what we offer: • Medical Coverage • Prescription Drug Coverage • Additional Medical Benefit • Dental Coverage • Vision Coverage • 401K or Pension Company Match • Spending Accounts • Life and AD&D Insurance • Retirement Savings Plan • Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) • Voluntary & Additional Benefits • Paid Time Off More About Cboe Global Markets We’re reimagining the future of the workplace by focusing on what matters most, our people.  Our journey is an inclusive one. We’re investing deeply in leadership programs and career development initiatives that ensure everyone has an equal chance to succeed. We work with purpose, solving problems with ingenuity, collaboration, and a lot of passion. We’re an engaged and excited team connecting markets across borders and embracing growth in all its forms to achieve incredible outcomes. Learn more about life at Cboe on our website and LinkedIn . Equal Employment Opportunity We're proud to be an equal opportunity employer do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on any legally protected characteristic, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or veteran status. We are committed to fostering a workplace where all individuals are valued and respected. #LI-JH This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship now or in the future. Salary Ranges (applicable for US locations only) At Cboe, we are committed to providing a competitive, transparent, and market‑informed total rewards program. The anticipated base salary range for this role is $165,750-$235,950, with actual compensation determined by job‑related factors such as skills, relevant experience, education, internal alignment, and location. This role may also be eligible for annual incentive compensation and, where applicable, participation in Cboe's long-term equity programs. Additional information about Cboe's total rewards program, including benefits and other compensation components, can be found here: Total Rewards at CBOE . ​ Any communication from Cboe regarding this position will only come from a Cboe recruiter who has a @cboe.com email or via LinkedIn Recruiter. Cboe does not use any other third party communication tools for recruiting purposes.

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