Westpac

Principal Engineer

Westpac  •  Sydney, AU (Onsite)  •  23 days ago
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Job Description


What’s the Role:

We are seeking an experienced Principal KDB Engineer to provide technical leadership and hands‑on expertise across our KDB+ estate. KDB is a critical horizontal platform supporting multiple business domains including FX, Rates, Credit, Trading Analytics, Risk, and Surveillance.

Working closely with Traders, Quants, Product, and Engineering teams, this role is responsible for the design, delivery, and ongoing stability of high‑performance KDB solutions operating in a production‑critical environment. As a Principal, this role also provides technical authority, sets engineering standards, mentors engineers, and contributes to the long‑term evolution of the KDB platform.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Support, maintain, and evolve the global kdb+ platform, delivering high‑performance solutions for data‑intensive and latency‑sensitive use cases.
  • Design, build, and optimise kdb+/q applications aligned to business, risk, and regulatory requirements.
  • Partner with Traders, Quants, and senior stakeholders to deliver stable, compliant solutions to complex problems.
  • Lead investigation and resolution of complex production issues, driving improvements in performance, resilience, and operational maturity.
  • Contribute to platform architecture, standards, and roadmaps, including technical debt reduction and strategic uplift initiatives.
  • Act as a technical authority, setting engineering standards and providing technical oversight and mentoring across the KDB engineering team.

What do I need?

  • Extensive hands‑on experience developing and supporting kdb+ solutions in financial markets, including front‑office environments.
  • Expert‑level kdb+/q programming capability, with strong focus on performance tuning and optimisation.
  • Delivered KDB solutions across FX, Rates, Credit, or related asset classes, with solid understanding of market data and trading workflows.
  • Proven ability to work directly with traders and other front‑office stakeholders to shape and deliver fit‑for‑purpose solutions.
  • Comfortable operating in globally distributed, production‑critical environments while providing technical leadership to others.
  • Broad technical profile with strong analytical and communication skills, plus exposure to Java/Python, KDB platform upgrades, and operational uplift initiatives.

Why join us?

We’re obsessed with becoming our customers' #1 banking partner for life and we’re looking for people who are passionate about helping us achieve that goal. In return, we’re committed to making Westpac the best place to work in the country. Here are just a few of the ways we’re already doing that.

  • Special offers on banking products and discounts from top brands, including generous employee only mortgage rates!
  • Flexible work arrangements to help you achieve a greater work/life balance, and a variety of leave options including Culture, Lifestyle and Wellbeing leave.
  • Tailored learning and development opportunities to help your grow your career within the bank.
  • Lots of opportunities to ‘give back’ to the Community by getting involved in our many volunteering initiatives.

Create your future today

To get started, simply click on the APPLY or APPLY NOW button

We’re all about creating a supportive and inclusive community. We welcome everyone no matter your age, gender, background, or abilities. We also provide additional support to welcome our veterans, Indigenous Australians and neurodiverse community.

If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, you can find out more information and additional contact details by visiting the "People with Disability and/or needing Accessibility Requirements" page on our website

Westpac

About Westpac

To turn doing into done, it takes a little Westpac.

From rescue helicopters and signing the Equator Principles, to paying super during parental leave and initiatives like Westpac SaferPay and SafeCall that help protect customers from scams... we have a proud history of stepping up to be first for our customers, communities and people.

We are Australia’s oldest bank and first company and have been supporting customers for over 200 years.

Our purpose is creating better futures together – it’s what we do, who we are and why we come to work every day. With this purpose in mind, we’ve set ourselves a bold ambition - to be our customers’ #1 bank and partner through life.

Westpac acknowledges the traditional owners as the custodians of this land, recognising their connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Australia's First Peoples, and to their Elders, past, present and future.

Westpac Banking Corporation ABN 33 007 457 141. AFSL and Australian credit licence 233714.

Industry
Finance & Insurance
Company Size
10,000+ employees
Headquarters
Sydney, AU
Year Founded
1817
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