Murex calling all IT pros

The demand for IT professionals with experience in the commodity and hedge fund world is growing in Europe and the UK, according to Adrian Marshall, managing director of Excelian, which delivers Murex consultancy services.

Murex is a company that develops third party trading, risk management and finance software. Currently, the firm offers the MxG2000 system and its latest incarnation, MX.3. Both of these systems offer full cross-asset trading solutions for front, middle, back office, accounting and finance.

The systems can be used as a full straight through processing (STP) system across all instruments or used for its functionality into specific areas such as front office and risk management for exotic interest rate derivatives.

One of the biggest problems we face is the shortage of good quality people with both application and business knowledge particularly in specific areas such as the commodities business," Marshall says. "The big growth areas for our services are currently within hedge fund, commodity and cross-asset STP clients. There is steady growth in the UK and Europe but the U.S. has been growing rapidly over the last 18 months."

Recruitment specialists also confirm that demand is outstripping supply for IT people across the commodity and hedge fund spectrum.

"Companies like us are currently looking for a wide range of people, from juniors with one or two years experience in the business or with good technical Unix or database skills through to senior analysts with deep key module skills such as eTradepad, Flex, MxML or MDCS," adds Marshall.

Salaries range from 25,000 to 35,000 for those at the beginning of the career ladder to 60,000 to 120,000 for those at the higher end.