The Desirable Engineers: Goldman Sachs Seeks Experts in FPGA Engineering for Trading Platform Development

Goldman Sachs, a prominent global investment bank, is currently seeking FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) engineers to join its trading team in London and Stockholm. The company aims to construct a high-capacity, yet nimble and adaptable FPGA platform for trading equities, and is specifically interested in individuals with extensive experience in SystemVerilog, a language known for its complexity and challenges.

Despite the difficulties associated with working on this platform, the demand for FPGA engineers is steadily increasing, particularly from non-bank firms and in the high-frequency trading (HFT) industry. The exceptional speed and adaptability of FPGA technology have made engineers with expertise in this area highly sought after.

According to Aiden Pestell, a senior consultant at executive search firm Odin Partners, there is significant demand for FPGA engineers in HFT firms globally due to the unparalleled speed of the technology. He also refutes the notion that engineers working with FPGAs are miserable, stating that they appear to be content and passionate about their work.

While FPGA teams are currently more prevalent in Europe and the US within banking institutions, Pestell anticipates a global expansion of these teams in the near future. He suggests that APAC (Asia-Pacific) hardware teams will catch up within the next two years as the banking industry increasingly embraces FPGA technology for trading purposes.

The challenging nature of working with SystemVerilog and FPGA technology has not deterred companies like Goldman Sachs from actively seeking engineers with these skill sets. In fact, the difficulties associated with the language and technology have only served to make elite engineers in this field more desirable. The expertise and experience required to work with FPGAs are valued for their potential to enhance trading platforms and infrastructure.

Despite the criticisms levelled at SystemVerilog and its challenging nature, the demand for FPGA engineers remains strong, and their contribution to the finance and trading industry is highly sought after. As the banking sector continues to adopt FPGA technology in the years to come, the expertise of FPGA engineers will play a crucial role in shaping the future of trading platforms and infrastructure.