Low-latency trading engineering

Fractional low-latency trading engineering.

Over 15 years building OMS/EMS, FIX connectivity, market data and derivatives pricing systems inside Tier-1 investment banks — now delivered to trading firms as specialist engineering, combined with AI-augmented development.

Track record
Tier-1 investment banksLow-latency platformsDerivatives pricingReal-time market data
The gap

The work is specialist. The full-time hire often isn't worth it.

Smaller trading firms keep hitting projects that demand deep trading-systems expertise — exchange connectivity, FIX, latency, pricing. But a senior trading engineer is slow to find, expensive to keep, and frequently more than a single project justifies.

Hard to hire

Months to find the right person

Senior low-latency engineers are scarce and heavily contested. A search can run a full quarter before anyone writes code.

Expensive to keep

Permanent cost for periodic work

Salary, bonus and benefits continue long after the project that justified the hire has shipped.

Often overkill

A defined project, not a headcount

Onboarding an exchange or cutting latency is scoped work — it doesn't need a permanent seat on the team.

I've spent over 15 years building low-latency trading systems — OMS/EMS, pricing engines, market data and FIX connectivity — for major investment banks. Bluefin brings that to firms that need senior specialist work, but not a permanent hire.
Michael Okusi · Chief Technology Officer
Domain

Systems I've already built.

Execution

OMS / EMS

Order and execution management, from ticket to fill.

Connectivity

FIX infrastructure

Engines, sessions and exchange sessions tuned for throughput.

Routing

Smart order routing

Venue selection and routing logic under real market load.

Liquidity

Market-making systems

Quoting, hedging and risk for automated liquidity provision.

Valuation

Pricing engines

Real-time pricing and derivatives valuation at scale.

Feeds

Market data

Ingest, normalisation and distribution of low-latency feeds.

Products

Derivatives

Instrument modelling across listed and OTC products.

Performance

Low-latency C++ / Java

Hot-path engineering, profiling and latency reduction.

Engagements

Where Bluefin plugs in.

01

FIX connectivity & exchange onboarding

New venue sessions, certification and cutover.

05

OMS / EMS enhancements

New features and extensions to existing order flow.

02

Market data infrastructure

Feed handlers, normalisation and distribution.

06

Pricing engines

Real-time pricing and derivatives valuation.

03

Low-latency optimisation

Hot-path profiling and measurable latency reduction.

07

Legacy system migration

Moving trading systems off ageing platforms, safely.

04

Performance profiling

Finding where the microseconds actually go.

08

Backtesting & simulation

Infrastructure to test strategies against real conditions.

Every engagement, AI-augmented

Proven engineering practices combined with AI-assisted development — to modernise, optimise and scale trading systems faster, without cutting corners.

Broader technology consulting

AI Opportunity Audit

A structured read on where AI delivers real, high-impact value in your workflows.

AI Workflow Automation

Automating manual, repetitive processes to cut errors and free up teams.

AI Agent Development

Intelligent agents that research, analyse and execute tasks autonomously.

Data Analytics

Collecting, analysing and visualising data to surface trends and decisions.

Software Development

Custom, scalable applications designed, built, tested and deployed.

IT Strategy Consulting

Aligning technology investment with business goals and transformation.

How we start

Focused work. No permanent commitment.

A

Deliver a single feature

One clearly-scoped piece of trading infrastructure, specified, built and handed over.

B

Accelerate a delayed project

Extra senior capacity to get a stalled build back on schedule.

C

Run a performance review

An independent read on latency, architecture or a system under strain.

D

Cover a temporary skills gap

Specialist depth for a defined window, without adding headcount.

Track record

Built inside Tier-1 trading environments.

The question isn't whether an OMS or a pricing engine can be built. These systems have already shipped in production, at scale, under real market load — inside global investment banks and trading environments.

Tier-1 investment banks
Low-latency platforms
Derivatives pricing
OMS / EMS
Real-time risk & market data
15+
Years building low-latency
trading systems inside
Tier-1 investment banks
Leadership

The engineer behind the work.

MO

Michael Okusi

Chief Technology Officer
MSc Computer Science · UCL BSc Economics · University of Bath C++ · Java · Python
Connect on LinkedIn →

Michael brings over 15 years designing and delivering performance-critical systems inside global investment banks and trading environments. His work spans low-latency trading platforms, derivatives pricing engines and market data infrastructure — built to be scalable, reliable and fast.

At Tier-1 institutions he has delivered high-performance pricing engines, OMS/EMS and real-time risk and market-data platforms — systems handling large-scale trading volumes, complex derivatives workflows and latency-sensitive execution. He works across C++, Java and Python, pairing deep capital-markets domain expertise with a pragmatic, results-driven approach.

At Bluefin Technologies he leads technical strategy and delivery, helping clients optimise, modernise and scale their trading systems through proven engineering practices combined with AI-augmented development.

Who we work with

Built for smaller, serious trading firms.

HFT firms

Prop trading shops

Systematic hedge funds

Market makers

Crypto market makers

Team size
5–150 people — large enough to have budget, small enough to outsource specialist engineering.
Geography
UK & Europe, with a focus on emerging and recently-launched firms.
The trade-off

Fractional specialist vs. a full-time hire.

Full-time senior hire
Bluefin · fractional
Time to value
Full-timeA quarter or more of search & ramp
BluefinDays — someone who has shipped this before
Cost shape
Full-timeSalary, bonus & benefits, ongoing
BluefinScoped to the project, not the year
Commitment
Full-timePermanent headcount
BluefinEngagement-based, ends when the work does
Depth
Full-timeOne generalist senior engineer
BluefinSpecialist across OMS, FIX, pricing & latency
If the need passes
Full-timeRedeployment or severance
BluefinIt simply concludes
Let's talk

Start with a specific project.

Optimising, modernising or scaling a trading system — or exploring where AI fits? A short conversation is the fastest way to find out whether Bluefin can help — one trading engineer to another.

Email
info@bluefintechnologies.co.uk
Office
71–75 Shelton Street
London WC2H 9JQ
Hours
Mon–Fri · 09:00–17:00