Trading Engineer - Strategy

IMC Trading; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 175,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus

Paid leave

Insurance

Job summary

IMC Trading is seeking a hands-on Trading Engineer for our Strategy Development team in Chicago. You will own systems powering trading strategies, build automations to increase speed, and maintain operations under market pressure.

This role is ideal for someone with an SRE/operations background who wants close involvement in real-time trading where milliseconds matter. You will collaborate with traders, quants, and developers to drive reliability and performance, while continuously improving

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field
• 3+ years in site reliability, systems engineering, or technical operations, ideally supporting high-performance or real-time systems
• A software-development mindset applied to automating operational problems (Python required)
• Hands‑on experience managing production Linux and Kubernetes environments
• Familiarity with Prometheus, SQL/MongoDB, InfluxDB, Kafka, or similar technologies
• A proactive, problem-solving mindset. We are looking for someone who thrives under pressure and enjoys learning new systems quickly
• Excellent communication skills and a collaborative spirit

Responsibilities

• Be on the front lines of trading: Monitor system health and performance in real time, respond to market-driven incidents, and ensure our systems stay up and fast during trading hours. Dive deep into distributed architectures to identify root causes and prevent recurrences.
• Engineer away the pain: Build tools and automations that eliminate manual processes, scale our reliability, and free time for innovation.
• Collaborate across disciplines: Partner with traders, quants, and developers to deliver high-impact improvements to our trading stack.
• Continuously improve: Challenge existing processes, propose creative solutions, and drive reliability and performance through engineering excellence.

Skills

Python

Kubernetes

Linux

Prometheus

SQL

MongoDB

Kafka

Real-time

Communication

Teamwork

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/IT

Tools

Prometheus

Kafka

Job description

We’re looking for a hands-on, entrepreneurial Trading Engineer to join our Strategy Development team. This role sits at the heart of IMC’s trading operation, where technology, data, and market strategy meet. You’ll own systems that power our trading strategies, build automations that make us faster and smarter, and keep our trading running smoothly under pressure.

This is an ideal opportunity for someone with an SRE or operations engineering background who wants to get closer to the action, where milliseconds matter and creativity drives impact.

Your Core Responsibilities

• Be on the front lines of trading: Monitor system health and performance in real time, respond to market-driven incidents, and ensure our systems stay up and fast during trading hours. Dive deep into distributed architectures to identify root causes and prevent recurrences.
• Engineer away the pain: Build tools and automations that eliminate manual processes, scale our reliability, and free time for innovation.
• Collaborate across disciplines: Partner with traders, quants, and developers to deliver high-impact improvements to our trading stack.
• Continuously improve: Challenge existing processes, propose creative solutions, and drive reliability and performance through engineering excellence.

Your Skills & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field
• 3+ years in site reliability, systems engineering, or technical operations, ideally supporting high-performance or real-time systems
• A software-development mindset applied to automating operational problems (Python required)
• Hands‑on experience managing production Linux and Kubernetes environments
• Familiarity with Prometheus, SQL/MongoDB, InfluxDB, Kafka, or similar technologies
• A proactive, problem-solving mindset. We are looking for someone who thrives under pressure and enjoys learning new systems quickly
• Excellent communication skills and a collaborative spirit

The Base Salary range for the role is included below. Base salary is only one component of total compensation; all full-time, permanent positions are eligible for a discretionary bonus and benefits, including paid leave and insurance. Please visit Benefits - US | IMC Trading for more comprehensive information.

Salary Range

$175,000—$225,000 USD

About Us

IMC is a research-driven trading firm where quantitative modeling, machine learning, and engineering shape how modern markets are traded. A stabilizing force in markets since 1989, we provide liquidity across trading venues, delivering the best outcome in value and risk management to investors. Using our own technology and capital, we build proprietary systems and algorithms that operate across global markets. Our researchers, traders, and engineers work as a collective, combining rapid experimentation, advanced infrastructure, and real-time feedback to turn insight into execution and execution into advantage.