Enter the world of equity derivatives?

Financial firms are looking to improve their equity derivatives platforms, but techies without specific industry experience need not apply.

UBS is among those investing in the area. The Swiss bank is rolling out its common technology platform to its equity derivatives desk, as part of a technology overhaul at the bank that started four years ago.

"Our smart-routing platform, which had historically been used to route cash products, has been something we've been running for the options markets," Will Sterling, head of institutional electronic trading at UBS, told Dealing With Technology.

What's more, Project Rainbow - a multi-lateral trading facility (MTF) for derivatives backed by seven investment banks - is said to be close to selecting a technology provider, according to the Financial Times.

Recruiters reckon there is a raft of development opportunities in this area. However, both an understanding of equity derivatives and experience in a front-office environment are essential, as recruits will be working on long-term projects and the ad hoc requirements of traders.

Simon Greening, senior consultant at recruiters Madison Black, says: "There are a lot of competent developers out there but they may have been doing the vanilla stuff for some time. For derivatives there's a shortage of people who have specific product experience."

Developers will be expected to deal with sales/trader workflow, trader market data, client valuation, trade capture and straight-through processing confirmation generation.

On the plain technical front, the most common requirement is a good understanding of Java and J2EE, although C# and VBA skills are required for more middle-office roles.

Front-office development salaries come in at around 90k, but the real money is to be had in the quantitative development roles.

While these roles require a good technical knowledge, this takes a back seat to academic qualifications, says Nathan Nankevell, principal consultant at IT recruiters iKas International: "A strong mathematical background is favoured more than specific software experience. However, the more specific experience you have, the better package you can command."

Nankevell reckons entry-level quants can expect around 90k, but a PhD with three to four years' experience can bring in total compensation of up to 350k.