John Mcgowan Email & Phone Number

London, United Kingdom

As a key player in the xTrader team, I have led the design and development of multiple initiatives across the application. The xTrader application is a WPF-based UI which traders from across various desks and asset classes use in order to view and manage risk. I have helped shift the application from a monolithic UI to a distributed, cloud-based solution. This has resulted in a more scalable, modular and resilient system, enabling us to better manage risk across the entire front office. I have notably led the development of a hedge accounting and Total Return Swap (TRS) solution, liaising directly with trading desks. I incorporated various technologies and best practices including event sourcing, web API, specflow and others. Additionally, I have been instrumental in delivering a rewrite of the EOD batch system, which is used to close trading books and settle accounts. This has involved designing and implementing a highly efficient and reliable system that can cope with large amounts of data. The key technologies used in this role include .NET 8, Web API, WPF (MVVM), WinForms, MS SQL Server, Rx, TPL, MongoDB, GitHub CoPilot, and microservices

London, United Kingdom

I played a key role in developing the FX/IR Risk Engine platform used by front office traders. I designed and developed a high-performance aggregation framework from scratch, enabling real-time ticking of positions and improving risk management capabilities. Additionally, I designed and implemented a Domain Specific Language using Irony, enabling users to write custom queries in a SQL-like language to aggregate results from any scenario report, resulting in a significant increase in efficiency and accuracy of risk analysis. As a result of my contributions, I was promoted to Senior Developer with responsibilities for the development and architecture of the system. I oversaw the successful transition of the system to include the rates asset class, expanding its capabilities and impact. Technologies used in this project included .NET Framework 4.5, WPF (MVVM), WinForms, Windbg, RabbitMQ, ProtoBuf, Irony, MS SQL Server, Rx, and TPL.

London, United Kingdom

I designed and developed a distributed calculation engine that significantly improved grid performance and was utilized by multiple risk engine systems throughout the investment bank. The engine made use of a distributed cache and intelligent batching with some affinity, and interfaced directly with the quant library, which was COM-based. I also provided a friendly .NET API for consumers.In addition, I developed a tool to rapidly establish causes for process crashes/hangs, which was used by various teams throughout the bank. For this achievement, I received the European Monthly Derivatives IT Recognition award in October 2009. This tool was developed in C#/C++ using debugging tools for the Windows API. Technologies used in this project included .NET 3.5, C++, and COM (ATL).

Woking, Surrey, Uk

I played a key role in developing the core user interface components of the multi-asset trading platform used by major international banks. I was responsible for providing basic UI components which interface with Fidessa servers. This included real-time ticking grids and numerical controls. Component performance was paramount to minimize latency between a trader placing an order and it arriving in the exchange. I also contributed to migrating the system from purely C++/COM to C# .NET, enabling Fidessa to stay up-to-date with the latest technologies and improve the performance and stability of the platform. In addition, I implemented a crash analysis system that automatically ascertained the causes of crashes from a client's PC. This tool was used by Fidessa support teams and greatly improved customer relations by suggesting solutions to common problems. As a Graduate Developer at Fidessa, I worked with a range of technologies including C++, C#, Tcl, ASPX, and MS SQL Server

Part-time web developer whilst studying at university. Helped develop website which was used by a major international corporation for in-house staff training.Developed utility to automatically convert database table metadata into 3-tier compatible class.Technologies used: C#, ASP.NET, MS SQL Server