Lead FPGA Engineer

Looking to lead without leaving the keyboard? This is an opportunity to stay deeply technical while guiding the direction of high-performance hardware systems.
You’ll be working with a specialised technology firm building ultra-low latency trading infrastructure for global financial markets, they’re looking for a hands-on FPGA Team Lead to help shape their next-generation platform. You’ll be part of a highly capable, low-ego team that’s serious about performance, engineering excellence, and collaboration. Alongside a strong base salary, there’s a generous bonus structure tied to company performance, and a culture that values autonomy, impact, and technical depth—not buzzwords.

You’ll take ownership of the FPGA function, working closely with two exceptional engineers based overseas, while still staying close to the tools and the detail.
You’ll be designing and verifying RTL for systems that operate independently and at extreme speed, using a bespoke low-latency language developed specifically for this kind of trading. The role combines architectural thinking with hands-on development, requiring someone who’s comfortable creating clean, scalable designs while also ensuring robust testing and validation. The systems you’ll build will support entirely new market deployments, not just iterations—so if you enjoy working from first principles, solving critical timing problems, and pushing hardware to its limits, this role will suit you perfectly.

The position is based in Cambridge, working from a small, focused office three days a week.
It’s a quiet and collaborative setup—no corporate noise, no office politics—just engineers solving interesting problems together. The broader technical team spans software, hardware, and devops, but the intention is to grow the UK function steadily from here, not explosively. Culture-wise, it’s suited to someone who enjoys contributing to a strong team, takes pride in well-tested, efficient code, and is looking for a long-term opportunity to help shape a high-performance product. If you’ve come from a consultancy, R&D-heavy startup, or similar hands-on environment, you’ll likely feel right at home.

What do I do next?

Click the apply button (don’t worry—we’ll have a conversation before your CV goes anywhere).
Call SoCode and ask for James (you’ll find the number on Google).
Find me on LinkedIn—trust me, there aren’t many people with the surname Bokhorst