Operational Resiliency Engineer

NinjaTrader; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO

401k with company match

Paid holidays

Life and Disability Insurance

Job summary

NinjaTrader is seeking an L1 Operational Resilience Specialist to provide front-line support for the FCM Core team’s Account Acquisition, Compliance/AML, and Treasury functions. You will work at the intersection of engineering and operations to keep critical financial processes running while collaborating across teams to improve reliability.

Responsibilities include incident management, building robust monitoring, and maintaining runbooks and documentation.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 2+ years of experience with distributed systems in production.
• Comfort using AI tooling to improve workflows and surface insights.
• Solid understanding of security best practices for backend services.
• Excellent verbal communication and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Manage incident response by triaging events and applying runbooks to restore services.
• Design and implement metrics and monitors; integrate with observability frameworks.
• Develop and improve runbooks for FCM processes with clear procedures.
• Maintain the DAG controlling FCM processes for reliable execution.
• Implement monitoring and logging with industry-standard tools like OpenTelemetry.
• Update technical docs for critical path processing; set SLA/SLO/SLI targets.
• Manage event platforms like Kafka and IBM MQ for reliable data connectivity.
• Provide operational feedback to engineering to improve resiliency of processes.
• Leverage AI tooling to identify gaps in monitoring, analysis, and docs.

Skills

Distributed systems experience

AI tooling proficiency

Excellent communication

Security best practices

Education

BS or MS in CS/Software Engineering

Tools

OpenTelemetry

Kafka

IBM MQ

Job description

JOIN US ON OUR MISSION TO BECOME THE #1 RETAIL TRADING PLATFORM IN THE WORLD

Welcome to the dynamic world of NinjaTrader! As an industry-leading trading platform and futures broker, we're empowering traders to take control of their financial destiny. How do we do it? We provide cutting-edge products and services that enhance the trading journey. Whether a seasoned pro or just starting out, NinjaTrader equips traders with award-winning software and brokerage services to navigate the world's leading financial markets with confidence.

Our growth story is nothing short of exhilarating. Since 2003, NinjaTrader has been dedicated to understanding and supporting traders on their journey toward trading triumph. Through those efforts, our user base has grown to over 2 million users and we have become the number one rated futures brokerage worldwide.

But we're not stopping there. We're constantly evolving, pushing boundaries, and modernizing the futures industry. Our commitment to innovation means users will always have access to dynamic tools, real-time support, and a community of like-minded traders.

So, why work at NinjaTrader? Here, you're not just part of a team; you're part of a movement. We empower employees to reach new heights in their careers by providing a dynamic culture focused on social connection, professional development, and employee recognition initiatives. Sounds too good to be true? Take it from our employees.

Join us as we redefine what's possible in trading, advocate for our customers, and continue our journey toward becoming the world's top retail-focused trading platform in the world.

What you’ll do:

NinjaTrader is looking for an L1 Operational Resilience Specialist to provide front-line operational support to our FCM Core team across Account Acquisition, Compliance/AML, and Treasury functions. This role sits at the intersection of engineering and operations — you’ll keep critical financial processes running smoothly while working closely with Engineering, Product, QA, and cross-functional partners to drive continuous improvements in reliability and observability.

In this role you will:

• Manage incident response by acknowledging and triaging incoming events, applying runbooks to restore service quickly and consistently
• Design and implement metrics and monitors across our distributed application, collaborating with the SRE team to integrate into our observability framework
• Develop and continuously improve runbooks for FCM processes, ensuring clear, repeatable procedures for operational events
• Understand and maintain the DAG controlling all FCM processes and their dependencies, ensuring accurate sequencing and reliable execution
• Implement robust monitoring and logging using industry-standard observability tooling such as OpenTelemetry
• Update and maintain technical documentation describing the critical path processing for FCM; establish SLA, SLO, and SLI targets for each process
• Manage event platform systems such as Kafka and IBM MQ to ensure reliable data connectivity with external partners
• Surface operational feedback to engineering teams to drive improvements in the resiliency and robustness of business processes
• Leverage AI tooling to proactively identify gaps in monitoring, analysis, documentation, and other operational domains

What you’ll need:

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience
• 2+ years of experience working with distributed systems in a production environment
• Comfort leveraging AI tooling to improve workflows and surface operational insights
• Strong understanding of security best practices for backend services
• Excellent verbal communication skills with a collaborative, team-first approach

Bonus Points for:

• Familiarity with finance back office systems and trading concepts
• Background in multi-tenant SaaS platform architectures
• Experience working in a regulated fintech, trading, or brokerage environment

ompensation:

The salary range for this role will be $100,000.00 - $150,000.00 USD. In addition, this position will also receive an annual target bonus of 10%. Bonus pay at NinjaTrader is based on individual performance (50%) as well as company/team performance (50%).

Salary and bonus earnings are only two components of the total compensation package offered by NinjaTrader. NinjaTrader offers a 401(k) plan through ADP under which the company will match up to 3.5% of employee contributions. Annual paid time off allowance accrues at a rate of 18 days per year plus seven paid holidays.

Location:

This role is based in Chicago, IL. We are not open to remote candidates for this role.

Hybrid:

For Chicago-based employees, we follow a hybrid work schedule: In-office Tuesday through Thursday, with remote work on Mondays and Fridays. In addition to these weekly remote days, we offer:

• 20 additional flex remote days annually
• 5 Company Wide Office-Optional weeks tied to major holidays

Our Core Benefits Include:

• Generous PTO
• 7 Paid Holidays Annually + 5 Conditional Holidays Annually
• 1 Service Day Annually
• 401k with 3.5% Company Match
• Life and Disability Insurance Covered 100% by NinjaTrader

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.