How UI engineers became a big deal at banks and hedge funds
One of the big complaints by finance technologists is the excess of legacy technology and applications. As UBS and Deutsche Bank, for example, eject hundreds of their historic apps, some firms are trying to create a seamless user interface to make things run like new.
A top hedge fund technologist, speaking on condition of anonymity, says a key trend in the UI engineering space is "integrating internal & external desktop applications into a seamless workflow." It's all about making life easy for the user.
While there are growing numbers of UI engineers working in-house, there are also major fintechs in the 'straight through workflow' space. The key players include Finsemble,OpenFin and Glue42. Of the trio, OpenFin appears to have the more impressive list of clientele: it helped build Goldman Sachs Marquee platform and works with JPMorgan, HSBC, Wells Fargo and RBC Capital Markets.
The three firms are peppered with ex-bank technologists. Open Fin's CEO Adam Toms is a former Nomura and Lehman MD. Its head of engineering, Andrew Westacott, held a senior position at JPMorgan before becoming Citi's head of application frameworks. Finsemble CEO and president Joerg Ruetschi was a Goldman Sachs executive director while Glue42 director Reena Raichura spent 7 years at JPMorgan and was a senior project manager at algorithmic trading firm Mako Trading.
Some Hedge funds are doing their UI work in house. Millennium for example has spent the last few years implementing and ingratiating the MLP Launchpad which integrates over 100 applications.
Citadel have a number of experienced in house UI developers led by Kristofer Baxter who has headed UI efforts at both Netflix and Google. It brought back senior UI engineer Ravesh Foran who left for Fortress Investment Group in 2020.
Jobs in the UI space are growing. While Finsemble are keeping hiring to a minimum, Glue42 has eight job listings including javascript and react developers. OpenFin has 15 open roles, including either sales positions or internships.
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