Network Operations Engineer

Pico; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Pico is seeking a Network Operations professional to maintain the operational stability of its electronic trading network, PicoNet. This hybrid role requires diagnosing and resolving network issues, monitoring infrastructure health, and providing excellent customer service to clients. Ideal candidates will have significant experience in a large enterprise, CCNP certification, and skills in IPv4 addressing, firewall support, and network troubleshooting. Compensation ranges from $130,000 to $150,000 USD annually.

Qualifications

• 10 years of experience working in a large enterprise or service-provider environment.
• Hold a CCNP certification at a minimum, ideally CCIE.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Diagnose operational issues and provide technical solutions.
• Monitor network infrastructure using event management systems.
• Work directly with clients to assist with support queries.

Skills

IPv4 addressing

VLANs and Trunks

Static routing

BGPv4

TCP/IP stack

Network traffic engineering

Packet analysis

Firewall support

IPSec VPN troubleshooting

Network Management Systems

Education

CCNP certification

10 years of experience in large enterprise or service-provider

Tools

Cisco ASA

Fortigate

Python

Ansible

SNMP

Job description

Pico fuels the global capital markets community by providing exceptional market data services and customized managed infrastructure solutions. As financial industry experts at the center of markets and technology, we help our clients efficiently scale their business and quickly access markets. From infrastructure to connectivity, we support our clients through the full trading lifecycle. We are a global company headquartered in New York, with offices in Chicago, London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Purpose of the role

The Network Operations team is responsible for maintaining the operational stability of all aspects of Pico’s proprietary electronic trading network, PicoNet, a cutting‑edge, multi‑vendor, multi‑technology network that spans over forty locations globally.

Network Operations provide critical front‑line support across many of Pico’s infrastructure technology domains, including but not limited to:

• Global and Regional WAN connectivity
• Ultra Low Latency Trading Fabric
• Edge connectivity to 200+ financial markets
• Data centre LAN networks in 40+ locations
• Bespoke client trading environments

The team is a global unit with regional groups in London, New York, Singapore, and Tokyo that operates a follow‑the‑sun model, delivering 24/7 support. The role is client‑facing and requires a high standard of customer service and technical support to both internal and external clients. In addition to normal daily activities, the role offers opportunities to participate in project‑based initiatives and collaborate with other technology teams.

Responsibilities and duties (include but are not limited to)

• Diagnose the root cause of operational issues and provide suitable technical solutions for effective resolution.
• Perform triage, troubleshooting, and fault resolution as part of Pico’s Incident Management process.
• Monitor the operational health of the network infrastructure using event management systems and analysis tools.
• Prepare and implement network changes in accordance with Pico’s change management policy.
• Work directly with clients to assist with support queries in alignment with Service Level Agreements, SLAs.
• Identify opportunities within the environment to reduce inefficiencies, increase operational stability, and enhance security.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, including infrastructure diagrams, procedural runbooks, and knowledge‑base pages.
• Adopt the use of the DevOps toolset to efficiently complete discovery and implementation tasks.
• Manage client and internal case queues for all incident and project‑based work.
• Participate in global team collaboration efforts, including shift handover, technical peer reviews, and knowledge transfers.

Education, Skills, and Background (including experience requirements)

• 10 years of experience working in a large enterprise or service‑provider environment.
• Hold a CCNP certification at a minimum, ideally CCIE or equivalent level of knowledge and experience.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to prioritize and manage own workload.
• Experience working within the financial industry preferred.

Required Skills

• Solid understanding of IPv4 addressing with the ability to subnet using VLSM.
• Demonstrable understanding and experience supporting the following:
  • 1Q VLANs and Trunks
  • Multiple Spanning Tree protocol
  • EtherChannel
  • Static routing
  • OSPFv2
  • BGPv4
  • Routing protocol redistribution
  • Network traffic engineering using routing policies
  • Access Control Lists
  • Network Address Translation
• Good understanding of the TCP/IP stack and TCP/UDP operation.
• Ability to diagnose the root cause of networking issues within complex network environments.
• Ability to create and analyze packet captures to identify network and application issues.
• Experience supporting enterprise firewall platforms.
• Experience configuring and troubleshooting IPSec VPNs.
• Experience working with Network Management Systems utilizing SNMP and Syslog.

Preferred Skills

• Demonstrable experience supporting PIM Sparse Mode Multicast, Source Specific Multicast, and IGMPv2/v3.
• Demonstrable experience supporting Network Time protocols – PTP, NTP, PPS.
• Experience supporting the following platforms: Arista, Cisco Nexus, Cisco ASA, Fortigate, Palo Alto, Corvil.
• Experience using automation technologies: Python, Ansible, Git.

Working Arrangements

Hybrid position with weekly time in the office and flexibility to work from home. Travel may be required from time to time, but it is not expected to be regular or frequent. The role holder will be expected to work whatever hours are necessary for the performance of this role, including occasional weekend days, with consideration of multiple jurisdictions/geographies (EMEA, USA, and APAC).

Compensation

Full compensation packages based on candidate experience and relevant certification.

$130,000 – $150,000 USD

Equal Opportunity Employer

Pico is an equal opportunity employer. Pico does not discriminate on the basis of a candidate’s age, race, gender, color, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or other non‑merit factors. All employment decisions at Pico are based on business needs, job requirements and qualifications. If you require any assistance or accommodations to be made for the recruitment process, please inform us when you submit your online application.