Linux Engineering Team Lead

CTC Campus - Website; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid workplace model

Competitive compensation

Discretionary bonus

Job summary

Chicago Trading Company is seeking a Linux Engineering Team Lead to guide a global Linux fleet and a fast‑paced trading environment. You will lead hands‑on engineers, define technical direction, and set standards for reliability, performance, and determinism.

The role requires deep Linux expertise, strong leadership, and a track record in stakeholder management, preferably in financial trading. Hybrid work and a discretionary bonus are offered.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a team and driving accountability.
• Experience supporting a large‑scale Linux server fleet.
• Deep knowledge of Linux internals and debugging.
• Proven leadership and stakeholder management abilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Linux Engineering team; translate business needs into a roadmap.
• Own design and operation of global Linux infrastructure for low latency systems.
• Automate fleet operations and improve monitoring/alerting for faster recovery.
• Establish runbooks, incident response, and post‑incident learning.
• Coordinate changes with cross‑functional teams and participate in on‑call.

Skills

Team leadership

People management

Stakeholder management

Problem solving under pressure

Customer service mindset

Financial trading experience

Job description

Chicago Trading Company (CTC) is a premier proprietary trading firm specializing in options market making. Our collaborative culture fuels innovation in quantitative research, systematic trading strategies, and cutting‑edge trading technology. For over three decades CTC has provided critical liquidity across derivatives exchanges worldwide - making them fairer, more transparent, and more efficient.

We strive to be the most innovative firm in the industry today, tomorrow, and long into the future while upholding ethical excellence. We believe that CTC makes a positive impact on the markets, the lives of our employees, and all the communities to which we belong. Started in 1995 by a team of forward‑thinking Traders, we are proud to call ourselves an industry leader that keeps making markets and each other better.

As a Linux Engineering Team Lead, you will oversee the Linux Engineering team while remaining hands‑on. You’ll help set technical direction and operational standards for Linux infrastructure supporting our real‑time trading environment, development systems, research compute, and orchestration clusters. This role requires deep technical, operational, and people leadership skills to deliver results across the trading platform.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and develop the Linux Engineering team; translate business needs into a clear roadmap and drive accountability across project and operational work

• Own the design, implementation, and operation of a global Linux infrastructure footprint with a focus on reliability, performance, and determinism

• Automate and standardize fleet operations (provisioning, configuration management, patching, upgrades, lifecycle) and improve monitoring/alerting to reduce time‑to‑detect and time‑to‑recover

• Establish operational excellence (runbooks, incident response, post‑incident learning) and mentor engineers through debugging, performance tuning, and architecture decisions

• Partner across execution, network, and development teams to plan and coordinate changes; guide projects end‑to‑end and participate in an on‑call rotation

What we’re looking for

• Experience managing a team of people (e.g., conducting 1:1s, contributing to hiring or performance decisions)

• Extensive experience supporting a large‑scale, global Linux server fleet and low‑latency Linux systems

• Deep knowledge of Linux internals and systems‑level debugging, with a track record of solving performance issues

• Demonstrated success in leadership and stakeholder management

• Strong problem‑solving under pressure and a collaborative, customer‑service mindset; financial trading industry experience preferred

Salary Range: $200,000 - $250,000, plus a discretionary bonus.

The discretionary bonus will be dependent upon the individuals skills, experience, qualifications, and firm performance.

Most teams at CTC, with the exception of Trading, follow a hybrid workplace model, subject to change based on business need.

Our Benefits

We strongly believe in the well‑being of our employees and their families so we offer outstanding benefits to support you both professionally and personally. These benefits include generous time off, insurance coverage, paid parental leave, free breakfast and lunch (plus healthy snacks, of course), wellness reimbursement, and a variety of other benefits focused on providing the best employee experience.

(Disclaimer: interns and contractors are not eligible for benefits at CTC)

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

At CTC, we aim to cultivate a workplace that celebrates diversity and each person feels included, engaged and empowered. Where each of us feels we belong. We are committed to having a diverse workforce and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. CTC does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

If you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation in order to search for a job opening or to apply for a position, please contact us at [e-mail]. Note that emails sent to this email account for non‑disability related issues, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Information submitted by job applicants may be subject to review and analysis by automated systems, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), as part of the recruitment process. Such systems are utilized to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our hiring procedures. Applicants are advised that any information provided may be evaluated by AI tools to ensure an equitable and thorough assessment.