Network Engineer

Autonomai Recruitment; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Autonomai Recruitment is seeking an experienced network engineer in Chicago to design, build, and support a high-performance trading network. You will focus on ultra-low-latency LAN/WAN, data-centre connectivity and automation to boost platform resilience.

The role requires extensive TCP/IP, BGP/OSPF, and Linux networking expertise, with hands-on experience in trading or latency-sensitive environments. Strong troubleshooting skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, Electronics/Telecommunications or related field.
• 10+ years of hands-on networking experience, ideally in HFT/latency-sensitive environments.
• Deep knowledge of TCP/IP, UDP, multicast, routing (BGP/OSPF), switching, data-centre networking.
• Practical experience with Arista and/or Cisco NX-OS in production trading or financial services."
• Strong Linux networking fundamentals; comfortable in terminal and with performance tooling.
• Proven troubleshooting skills for low-latency issues (packet captures, NIC/driver tuning, switch buffers, PTP/NTP).

Responsibilities

• Design, implement and maintain low-latency network infrastructure for trading applications (Arista/Cisco, leaf–spine, bare-metal servers).
• Configure and tune Layer 2/3 protocols: BGP, OSPF, VRF, PIM/IGMP, multicast, QoS, STP, NAT.
• Support exchange connectivity, cross-connects and colocation deployments; work with carriers and data-centre teams.
• Troubleshoot latency, jitter, packet loss and microbursts using tcpdump, Wireshark, NIC stats and switch telemetry.
• Automate network changes and validations using Python, Bash and/or Ansible; contribute to IaC and CI/CD pipelines.
• Monitor network health and performance; create dashboards and alerts for proactive incident management.

Skills

Low-latency networking

BGP/OSPF

Linux networking

Network automation

TCP/IP/UDP

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

Arista NX-OS

Cisco NX-OS

tcpdump

Wireshark

Ansible

Python

Job description

Location: Chicago

Type: Permanent

Experience: 10 plus years in network/infrastructure engineering (trading/HFT experience strongly preferred)

Design, build and support the high-performance network that powers a proprietary trading firm's global strategy. You'll work on ultra-low-latency LAN/WAN, multicast market-data distribution and exchange connectivity across colocation data centres, with a heavy focus on performance, resilience and automation. This role sits at the core of the trading platform—close to traders, developers and infrastructure teams—where microsecond-level improvements matter.

What you'll do

• Design, implement and maintain low-latency network infrastructure for trading applications (Arista/Cisco, leaf–spine, bare-metal servers).
• Configure and tune Layer 2/3 protocols: BGP, OSPF, VRF, PIM/IGMP, multicast, QoS, STP, NAT.
• Support exchange connectivity, cross-connects and colocation deployments; work with carriers and data-centre teams.
• Troubleshoot latency, jitter, packet loss and microbursts using tcpdump, Wireshark, NIC stats and switch telemetry.
• Automate network changes and validations using Python, Bash and/or Ansible; contribute to IaC and CI/CD pipelines.
• Monitor network health and performance; create dashboards and alerts for proactive incident management.

What we're looking for

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, Electronics/Telecommunications or related field.
• 10 plus years of hands‑on networking experience, ideally in HFT, prop trading, exchanges or other latency‑sensitive environments.
• Deep knowledge of TCP/IP, UDP, multicast, routing (BGP/OSPF), switching, VLANs and data‑centre networking.
• Practical experience with Arista and/or Cisco NX‑OS in production trading or financial‑services environments.
• Strong Linux networking fundamentals; comfortable working in a terminal and with performance tooling.
• Proven troubleshooting skills for low‑latency issues (packet captures, NIC/driver tuning, switch buffers, PTP/NTP).