HPC & Compute Engineering Lead

Autonomai Recruitment; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Autonomai Recruitment is assisting a leading quantitative trading firm in Chicago to hire a Senior HPC and Compute Engineering Lead. This is a hands-on leadership role shaping the architecture of a large-scale research infrastructure used for demanding ML and data workloads.

You will own design decisions, evaluate new technologies, and drive major engineering initiatives across compute, storage, and orchestration. Collaboration with researchers, traders, and tech leaders is essential for success.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in HPC, large-scale compute, or demanding systems environments.
• Proven track record architecting and delivering infrastructure at scale.
• Deep Linux knowledge and strong performance understanding.
• Ability to operate strategically while remaining technically hands-on.
• Experience leading engineering teams, programs, or architectural initiatives.
• Strong communication to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Define the architecture and technical direction of large-scale HPC platforms.
• Design and scale bare-metal Linux infrastructure.
• Build platforms for quantitative research, ML, and compute workloads.
• Evaluate processors, GPUs, storage, networking, and orchestration tools.
• Optimise performance, capacity, resilience, and observability.
• Establish architectural standards and best practices.
• Lead major infrastructure projects from design to production deployment.
• Collaborate with researchers and developers to improve resource access.
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring across the org.
• Contribute to disaster recovery, business continuity, and capacity planning.

Skills

Linux

Kubernetes on bare metal

Slurm

Docker

HPC infrastructure

Performance tuning

Python

Go

C++

Infrastructure automation

Tools

VAST

DDN

Isilon

Lustre

GPFS

Weka

Networking gear

Job description

A leading quantitative trading firm is hiring a senior HPC and Compute Engineering Lead to shape the architecture and future direction of its large-scale research infrastructure.

This is a highly influential, hands-on position at the intersection of high-performance computing, infrastructure architecture, and quantitative research. You will own the design and evolution of an advanced compute environment supporting demanding research, machine learning, and data-intensive workloads.

You will work directly with quantitative researchers, software engineers, traders, and senior technology leaders to understand their computational requirements and translate them into scalable, resilient, and exceptionally high-performing infrastructure.

This is not a traditional infrastructure maintenance role. You will make critical architectural decisions, evaluate emerging technologies, lead major engineering initiatives, and solve complex performance challenges across compute, storage, networking, and orchestration.

What you’ll be doing:

• Defining the architecture and technical direction of large-scale HPC and compute platforms
• Designing and scaling bare-metal Linux infrastructure
• Building platforms for quantitative research, machine learning, and computationally intensive workloads
• Evaluating processors, GPUs, storage platforms, networking technologies, and orchestration tools
• Optimising performance, capacity, resource utilisation, resilience, and operational visibility
• Establishing architectural standards and engineering best practices
• Leading major infrastructure projects from initial design through production deployment
• Partnering with researchers and developers to improve how compute resources are accessed and utilised
• Providing technical leadership and mentoring engineers across the organisation
• Contributing to disaster recovery, business continuity, and long-term capacity planning

Relevant technical experience may include:

• Large-scale Linux and HPC infrastructure
• Kubernetes on bare metal
• Slurm, Docker, or other compute orchestration technologies
• High-performance storage platforms such as VAST, DDN, Isilon, Lustre, GPFS, or Weka
• High-speed Ethernet, InfiniBand, routing, and network performance tuning
• GPU infrastructure and AI/ML compute platforms
• Datacentre architecture and large-scale bare-metal deployments
• Python, Go, C++, or similar programming languages
• Monitoring, performance analytics, and infrastructure automation

What we’re looking for:

• 10+ years of experience within HPC, large-scale compute, research infrastructure, or similarly demanding systems environments
• A proven track record of architecting and delivering complex infrastructure at scale
• Deep Linux knowledge and a strong understanding of systems performance
• The ability to operate strategically while remaining technically hands-on
• Experience leading engineering teams, technical programmes, or major architectural initiatives
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Previous trading or financial markets experience is helpful but not required. Senior engineers from hyperscale technology, AI infrastructure, semiconductor, scientific computing, cloud platforms, and advanced research environments are strongly encouraged to apply.

The position offers genuine technical ownership, direct access to the users of the platform, major upcoming infrastructure projects, and highly competitive compensation.

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