Senior Network & Systems Engineering Lead

Clearwater Analytics; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 171,000 - 244,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k)

PTO

Parental leave

Medical leave

Job summary

Clearwater Analytics is seeking an experienced Platform Infrastructure Engineering leader to guide Network and Systems Engineering for a hybrid on‑premises/public‑cloud estate. You’ll shape technical direction, mentor engineers, and stay hands‑on in architecture decisions, incident response, and problem solving.

You’ll own data center LAN/WAN design, edge routing, BGP/MPLS, Linux systems, Kubernetes, and IaC tooling while collaborating with security, DevOps, and client connectivity teams to

Qualifications

• 10+ years of hands‑on experience in network engineering, systems administration, infrastructure operations, or DevOps— with at least 5 years in a senior/lead technical role managing infrastructure at enterprise scale.
• 3+ years of people management experience, with demonstrated success building and scaling engineering teams.
• 2+ years in a financial services or FinTech environment; experience with regulated infrastructure is a meaningful advantage.
• Deep, hands‑on network engineering expertise: strong command of BGP, MPLS, OSPF, and other dynamic routing protocols; proven ability to design and operate data center LAN/WAN networks at scale.
• Production‑grade hands‑on experience with Cisco data center LAN switching, Arista edge routing, and Palo Alto firewalls; deep familiarity with CLI conventions and vendor‑specific configurations.
• Strong expertise in MPLS design, implementation, and troubleshooting; experience with MPLS‑based traffic engineering, Fast Reroute (FRR), or segment routing is expected.
• Experience with layer 2 technologies (VPLS, multicast, spanning‑tree, VXLAN, dark fiber terminations); understanding of next‑generation data center network architectures.
• Hands‑on Linux systems administration with RHEL and Debian‑based distributions; strong command‑line proficiency and systems‑level diagnostic ability.
• Production‑grade experience with Kubernetes cluster operations, workload scheduling, resource governance, and service mesh configuration.
• Proven infrastructure automation experience: Ansible, Terraform, Salt, or equivalent IaC tooling—not just scripting, but designing automation frameworks.
• CI/CD platform expertise: GitLab CI, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Spinnaker, or equivalent; solid understanding of software delivery pipeline design.
• Hands‑on observability stack experience: Prometheus, Grafana, Elastic Stack (ELK/EFK), CheckMk, or equivalent enterprise monitoring and log aggregation tooling.
• Strong networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, DNS, TLS/PKI, load balancing, VPN, security architectures—especially as applied to host‑based and data center environments.
• Experience working with Tier 1/Tier 2 global ISPs and configuring BGP routing with external partners and clients.
• Familiarity with financial data connectivity: FIX protocol, SWIFT messaging, SFTP/FTPS file transfer workflows, market data feed management, and custodian integration patterns.
• Experience with SOC 2, PCI‑DSS, or equivalent compliance frameworks; understanding of audit evidence, access control, and change management.
• Solid scripting and automation skills in Python, Bash, Perl, or equivalent; comfort with API‑driven infrastructure management.
• Strong communication skills: ability to explain complex technical trade‑offs to non‑technical stakeholders, lead technical discussions, write clear documentation.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and scale both the Network Engineering and Systems Engineering squads; set technical direction, hire high performers, and create a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement.
• Own network infrastructure strategy: design and implement scalable data center LAN architectures on Cisco, edge routing on Arista, and edge security on Palo Alto; drive BGP routing strategy for external connectivity with clients, vendors, and partners.
• Drive MPLS strategy, implementation, and optimization across our hybrid on‑premises/public‑cloud environment; ensure MPLS‑based traffic engineering and failover mechanisms meet carrier‑grade reliability standards.
• Lead data center network operations: manage LAN/WAN/MAN networks, oversee connectivity provisioning, handle infrastructure technology reviews and purchasing decisions.
• Own full‑stack systems engineering: Linux systems administration, hypervisor/VM operations, Kubernetes cluster strategy and operations, CI/CD pipeline architecture, and infrastructure‑as‑code frameworks.
• Drive observability and reliability: design monitoring, alerting, and log aggregation strategies; establish SLIs, SLOs, and SLAs aligned with financial platform requirements.
• Architect and operate the platform's hybrid cloud footprint: manage on‑premises infrastructure, AWS integration, co‑location facilities, and ensure seamless connectivity and failover across environments.
• Champion infrastructure automation and tooling: drive adoption of Ansible, Terraform, or equivalent IaC frameworks; evangelize configuration management and infrastructure versioning practices.
• Support financial data connectivity: ensure robust integration patterns for market data feeds, custodian integrations, FIX/SWIFT/SFTP protocols, and third‑party data vendor connectivity.
• Partner with Security and Compliance to ensure infrastructure adherence to SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and applicable financial industry regulatory requirements.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and vendor solutions; make architectural recommendations grounded in operational maturity, business impact, and team capability.
• Lead incident response for platform‑level outages; drive root cause analysis and permanent resolution of systemic reliability issues.

Skills

Network engineering

BGP

MPLS

OSPF

Linux administration

Kubernetes

Ansible

Terraform

CI/CD

Prometheus

Grafana

ELK/EFK

Observability/SRE

Data center design

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Cisco data center LAN

Arista edge routing

Palo Alto firewalls

Kubernetes

GitLab/Jenkins/GitHub Actions CI/CD

Ansible

Terraform

Prometheus/Grafana/ELK

Job description

Clearwater Analytics is seeking an experienced Platform Infrastructure Engineering leader to guide Network and Systems Engineering for a hybrid on‑premises/public‑cloud estate. You’ll shape technical direction, mentor engineers, and stay hands‑on in architecture decisions, incident response, and problem solving.

You’ll own data center LAN/WAN design, edge routing, BGP/MPLS, Linux systems, Kubernetes, and IaC tooling while collaborating with security, DevOps, and client connectivity teams to