Network Engineer - Core Infrastructure

Kraken; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 639,000 - 879,000; Full time

Job summary

Kraken is seeking a Network Engineer to join the Core Infrastructure Engineering team. You will design, secure, operate, and automate the company’s data-center and network fabric on a global crypto platform.

This role emphasizes hands-on build and security, with duties spanning data centers, network access controls, incident response, and tooling development to reduce toil and scale the team. Candidates should bring experience with firewalls (PAN-OS preferred), switching and routing, cloud

Qualifications

• 2+ years of network engineering with a security-minded approach.
• Hands-on with Palo Alto firewalls (PAN-OS) a huge plus.
• Hands-on data-center / physical infrastructure work (racking, cabling, power).
• Working knowledge of switching and routing; exposure to cloud networking.
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code and automation tools.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and defend a zero-trust network with strong security features.
• Design, build, and operate data-center fabrics and connectivity.
• Serve as first responder to infrastructure requests and incidents to maximize uptime.
• Develop tooling and IaC to automate and scale the team’s work.

Skills

Network engineering

Palo Alto firewalls

Data-center hardware

Switching

Routing

Cloud networking

Infra as code

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

PAN-OS

Job description

Building the Future of Open Finance

Payward - the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.

Building the Future of Open Finance

Payward - the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.

Before you apply, we encourage you to explore our culture page to understand what drives us and how we work.

The team

Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. It offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services, with products built for both individual investors and institutional clients.

If you thrive in a challenging, fun, fast-paced environment, the Network Engineer role within Core Infrastructure Engineering at Kraken is for you! This is a strategic, security-minded, hands-on position critical to Kraken's success - on a highly dedicated team that designs, builds, secures, and operates the entire network and data-center infrastructure for one of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchanges. We want a dynamic, code-forward self-starter who thinks "outside the box," sweats the operational details, and automates the repetitive work away. This role spans four disciplines - build, secure, operate, and automate. We don't expect anyone to master all of them on day one. We hire across levels: earlier-career engineers will focus on hands‑on build and the operational request queue and grow into design and tooling, while senior engineers will lead fabric/network design, own automation, and mentor the team.

The opportunity

Design & build data centers

• Design and build data centers end-to-end: cages, racks, PDU/power, structured cabling, and hardware install
• Deliver connectivity - circuits, dark fiber, and DIA - including carrier/vendor coordination, cross-connects, and capacity planning
• Stand up and evolve modern data-center fabrics (e.g., Cisco ACI and HPE Juniper Apstra)

Secure the network

• Design, implement, and defend a "zero-trust," defense-in-depth network, with firewalls at the center (policy, segmentation, secure connectivity)
• Implement and evolve enterprise network access controls (RBAC, least-privilege, segmentation)
• Partner with Engineering and IT Security so security is "built-in" from the start and features ship securely and monitored

Operate & respond

• Serve as a first responder to a high volume of inbound infrastructure requests - provisioning, access, connectivity, and troubleshooting - and keep the queue moving
• Monitor and maintain all physical infrastructure (network, security, compute), cloud environments, and remote sites; respond to critical incidents to maximize uptime

Automate & tool

• Manage and deploy "infrastructure as code" at scale
• Build team tooling - automation, internal utilities, and AI agents - to reduce toil and scale the team
• Write high-quality policies, procedures, and technical documentation; evangelize and (at senior levels) mentor on secure-network practices

What You Bring

• 2+ years of network engineering with a security-minded approach
• Hands-on with firewalls (e.g., Palo Alto Networks / PAN-OS / Panorama) - a huge plus
• Hands-on data-center / physical infrastructure work: racking, cabling, power, cross-connects, and hardware install
• Working knowledge of switching (VLANs, capacity planning) and routing (OSPF, BGP, ECMP, PBR)
• Exposure to public cloud networking (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and hybrid connectivity
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code / automation (e.g., Terraform, Ansible) and a code-forward mindset
• Comfort with VPN / remote-access connectivity
• A bias for automating repetitive work and a strong operational / ownership instinct
• Industry-standard platforms from vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, HPE Juniper Networking, and HPE Aruba Networking
• Valid passport and ability to travel internationally as needed

Nice to haves

• Data-center design & build at scale (multi-site buildouts, carrier/circuit delivery, capacity planning)
• Data-center fabric design: Cisco ACI, HPE Juniper Apstra
• Deep firewall design & operations (multi-site policy, HA clusters, PAN-OS/Panorama at scale)
• Building AI agents / developer tooling that reduce operational load (agentic triage, runbook automation)
• Defensive security systems against internal and external threats; IDS/IPS, security monitoring; security testing (performance- and threat-based); offensive/defensive concepts
• Deeper public / private / hybrid cloud experience; owning IaC pipelines end-to-end

Unless a specific application deadline is stated in the job posting, applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.

Please note, applicants are permitted to redact or remove information on their resume that identifies age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution.

We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, assessing candidates in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Our commitment

Payward is powered by people from around the world and we celebrate the diverse talents, backgrounds, contributions, and unique perspectives that everyone brings to the table. We hire based on merit, seeking out people with the right abilities, knowledge, and skills for the job. We encourage you to apply for roles where you don't fully meet the listed requirements, especially if you're passionate or knowledgeable about crypto.

We may ask candidates to complete job-related skills or work-style assessments as part of our hiring process. These assessments evaluate competencies relevant to the role and are applied consistently across candidates for similar positions. Results are considered alongside experience and interviews, and are not the sole basis for any employment decision.

As an equal opportunity employer, we don't tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind, whether based on race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

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Compensation Range: $40K - $55K