Software Engineering Placement Year | 2026|26

Job description
CME Group is the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace and we are looking for bright undergraduates who are interested in supporting the development of market leading financial services products and applications to join us next summer within the Engineering & Execution team for 12 month placement. We’ll be offering bespoke and structured software engineering development & mentoring. In return, we are seeking critical thinkers and creative problem solvers who want to take their software engineering skills to the next level. This is rotational internship which will allow exposure to several different development teams within Technology.

Principal Accountabilities
• Participate in system design discussions
• Participating in requirements gathering and analysis
• Writing high quality code that satisfies customer requirements, ensuring code standards and quality are adhered to
• Ensuring system performs under required load to pre-defined standards of performance, availability, and reliability (e.g. through high quality system design, and developing automated tests and instrumentation to certify system performance, identify bottlenecks, and isolate root cause of outliers)
• Identifying opportunities for refactoring of code for improvement and working with team members to implement

Competencies
• Solid troubleshooting skills
• Strong attention to detail
• Self-motivated and enthusiastic team player
• Happy to take personal responsibility and be accountable for outcomes
• Proven communication, analysis and problem solving skills
• Customer focused with a talent for building excellent working relationships with business and technical stakeholders
• Ability to work to tight deadlines and effective prioritization of workload

Candidate Criteria
• 2 Years University in Computer Science or equivalent - This is a placement year opportunity for students moving into their third year
• Coding experience with Java or other comparable object-oriented language
• Eligibility to work in the UK. Please note that successful applicants will be based in the office in Belfast at least two or three days per week

Desirable
• Experience in working with AGILE methodologies
• SQL
• Basic systems knowledge (Linux/Windows), hardware platforms, and resources - CPU, memory

Please note, Interviews will take place October / November

CME Group : Where Futures are Made

CME Group is the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace. But who we are goes deeper than that. Here, you can impact markets worldwide. Transform industries. And build a career by shaping tomorrow. We invest in your success and you own it – all while working alongside a team of leading experts who inspire you in ways big and small. Problem solvers, difference makers, trailblazers. Those are our people. And we’re looking for more.