About AQR Capital Management
AQR is a global investment management firm built at the intersection of financial theory and practical application. We strive to deliver superior, long-term results for our clients by seeking to filter out market noise to identify and isolate what matters most,and by developing ideas that stand up to rigorous testing. Underpinning this philosophy is an unrelenting commitment to excellence in technology — powering our insights and analysis. This unique combination has made us leaders in alternative and traditional strategies with more than 125 Bn$ of asset under management.AQR takes a systematic, research-driven approach, applying quantitative tools to process fundamental information and manage risk. Our clients include institutional investors, such as pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations and sovereign wealth funds, as well as financial advisors.
Technology is central to AQR's success. As a Team Lead Software Engineer in Portfolio Implementation, you will combine deep hands-on technical contribution with responsibility for leading engineers, owning critical systems, and delivering on firmwide objectives. Reporting to an MD-level manager, you will set technical direction, drive execution, and ensure the team consistently delivers high-quality, reliable systems that support AQR's investment process.
Your Role:
As a Team Lead Software Engineer in Portfolio Implementation, you will have end-to-end responsibility for both technical outcomes and team execution, including:
- Owning critical portfolio implementation systems and services, with accountability for reliability, performance, and long-term evolution
- Leading architectural design for high-performance, high-volume, highly available systems, making informed trade-offs across performance, flexibility, and maintainability
- Remaining hands-on in design and implementation, contributing meaningful production code and setting technical standards by example
- Leading and coordinating teams of engineers, potentially organized into multiple sub-teams, with responsibility for delivery across a group of engineers, including planning, prioritization, and execution across multiple workstreams
- Driving delivery of large, cross-team initiatives aligned with firmwide objectives and timelines
- Leading requirements gathering and specification, translating business and investment needs into clear technical plans
- Breaking down complex initiatives into well-scoped workstreams, with realistic sequencing and dependencies
- Driving estimation and delivery planning, balancing scope, risk, and available resources
- Ensuring alignment between resource forecasting and delivery commitments, adjusting plans as priorities evolve
- Ensuring strong engineering practices across the team, including code quality, design reviews, testing standards, and operational readiness
- Coaching and mentoring junior and mid-level engineers, ensuring they understand and apply best practices in software development
- Partnering closely with portfolio managers, researchers, and platform teams to align technical solutions with investment needs
- Reporting progress, risks, and delivery status clearly and proactively to MD-level leadership
- Identifying and addressing process gaps, technical debt, and operational risks across owned system
What You'll Bring:
- Degree in Computer Science or a related technical field
- 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with deep expertise in Java
- Strong experience using Python in production or research-adjacent environments
- Proven track record of owning and operating complex, distributed systems in production
- Experience with microservice-based architectures using technologies such as Java, Elasticsearch, Redis, RabbitMQ / AMQ, and relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server)
- Demonstrated ability to lead teams while remaining technically hands-on
- Strong understanding of engineering best practices, including code quality, testing strategies, CI/CD, design documentation, and operational excellence
- Experience operating, tuning, and profiling high-performance systems
- Experience with observability and monitoring platforms (e.g., New Relic) and using metrics to drive reliability and performance
- Strong experience in requirements capture, technical specification, and work breakdown for complex systems
- Proven ability to estimate effort, plan delivery, and manage trade-offs across scope, timeline, and resources
- Solid understanding of how resource planning, capacity, and delivery execution interrelate in a multi-team environment
- Interest in financial markets and the investment process; hands-on domain knowledge in this area is a strong plus but not required
Who You Are:
- A hands-on technical leader who takes ownership of systems, processes, and outcomes
- Comfortable driving delivery through others, setting clear direction and holding teams accountable
- Able to operate effectively with MD-level stakeholders, providing clear status, risks, and trade-offs
- Skilled at balancing short-term delivery with long-term system health
- Committed to developing engineers through mentoring, feedback, and example
- Collaborative, pragmatic, and decisive in complex environments
- Committed to intellectual integrity, transparency, and openness
