Linux System Engineer

Autonomai Recruitment; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Autonomai Recruitment seeks a Linux Systems Engineer to design, build, and operate the high‑performance Linux infrastructure that underpins global trading operations. You will automate workflows, tune performance, and collaborate with software, DevOps, and trading teams to maintain reliable systems.

The role emphasizes automation‑first infrastructure, incident response, capacity planning and scalable architectures for latency‑sensitive workloads in a fast‑paced environment.

Qualifications

• Strong Linux systems engineering experience in high‑performing environments (trading/fintech).
• Hands‑on Linux administration, troubleshooting and production operations.
• Solid programming/scripting in Python and Bash.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimise Linux based production infrastructure supporting trading and research systems.
• Develop automation, tooling and operational workflows using Python and Bash.
• Manage Linux server environments: provisioning, configuration, patching, hardening, performance tuning.
• Support production systems: incident response, root-cause analysis and remediation.

Skills

Linux systems engineering

Python

Bash

Networking fundamentals

Observability tooling

Configuration management

Infrastructure as code

Incident response

Troubleshooting

Communication skills

Job description

Location: Chicago

Employment type: Full-time

A leading global proprietary trading firm is seeking a talented Linux Systems Engineer to help build, automate and operate the high-performance infrastructure that supports its global trading operations.

This is a hands-on engineering role at the intersection of Linux systems, automation, networking and mission critical trading infrastructure. You will work closely with software engineers, infrastructure teams, traders and operations stakeholders to deliver reliable, scalable and highly performant systems in an environment where speed, stability and precision matter.

The opportunity

You will join a highly technical engineering team responsible for the Linux based infrastructure underpinning trading, research, market-data and testing environments. Your work will have a direct impact on the reliability, performance and scalability of systems used across the firm’s global trading platform.

You will help drive an automation first approach to infrastructure engineering, improving operational efficiency, reducing manual toil and ensuring the platform remains resilient under demanding real-world workloads.

What you’ll do

• Design, build, maintain and optimise Linux based production infrastructure supporting trading and research systems.
• Develop automation, tooling and operational workflows using Python and Bash.
• Manage and improve Linux server environments, including provisioning, configuration, patching, hardening and performance tuning.
• Support mission-critical production systems, including incident response, troubleshooting and root-cause analysis.
• Build and maintain observability solutions across metrics, logging, tracing and alerting.
• Improve deployment pipelines, configuration management, release processes and infrastructure-as-code practices.
• Collaborate with software engineers, DevOps, networking, data centre and trading teams to solve complex technical problems.
• Conduct performance analysis, capacity planning, stress testing and system optimisation.
• Identify and eliminate operational inefficiencies through automation and reusable engineering solutions.
• Contribute to the design of resilient, scalable infrastructure for latency sensitive workloads.

What we’re looking for

• Strong Linux systems engineering experience, ideally within trading, financial technology, cloud infrastructure or another performance‑critical environment.
• Excellent hands‑on knowledge of Linux administration, troubleshooting, performance tuning and production operations.
• Strong programming and scripting skills, particularly in Python and Bash.
• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, UDP, DNS, routing, switching and network troubleshooting.
• Experience with configuration management, infrastructure automation and deployment tooling.
• Familiarity with observability tooling, monitoring, alerting, logging and tracing.
• Strong diagnostic ability across the application, operating‑system, network and hardware layers.
• A pragmatic, ownership‑driven mindset with excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Comfort operating in a fast‑paced, mission‑critical environment where reliability and performance directly impact the business.