Senior Systems Engineer

Senior Systems Engineer

AKL Trading is seeking a highly motivated Senior Systems Engineer to join our infrastructure and trading technology team. This role is responsible for designing, maintaining, and optimizing the firm’s high-performance trading infrastructure across on-premise and hosted environments. The ideal candidate thrives in fast-paced, mission-critical environments and possesses deep Linux systems expertise, strong automation skills, and experience supporting low-latency trading systems.

The Senior Systems Engineer will work closely with traders, quantitative researchers, developers, and infrastructure vendors to ensure the stability, scalability, and performance of the firm’s global trading environment.

Primary Responsibilities

Systems Administration

• Administer the firm’s Linux server fleet, including provisioning, patching, package management and storage

• Perform performance tuning, capacity planning, log analysis, and root-cause analysis on Linux hosts

• Administer NFS storage on Linux: export configuration, client mounts, permissions, quotas, performance tuning, and troubleshooting

• Administer the firm’s Microsoft 365 tenant, including Entra ID (Azure AD), Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive

• Configure and maintain Intune / endpoint management policies for Windows devices

• Maintain mail flow, anti-spam, anti-phishing, retention, and data-loss-prevention policies

Network Administration

• Administer the firm’s network infrastructure: switches, routers, firewalls, VPN, VLANs,  and wireless

• Manage core network services including DNS, DHCP, NTP, and certificate infrastructure

• Monitor network performance, troubleshoot connectivity and latency issues, and coordinate with carriers, ISPs, and market-data vendors as needed

• Implement and maintain network segmentation, ACLs, and firewall rules aligned with the firm’s security policy

General Systems Operations

• Own the end-to-end identity lifecycle: onboarding, offboarding, role changes, and periodic access reviews across Linux, Windows, and M365

• Manage SSO, MFA, password policies, and privileged-access controls

• Administer access to internal applications, file shares, mailing lists, and shared mailboxes

• Run monitoring, alerting, and on-call/incident response for infrastructure and end-user systems

• Manage workstation and laptop imaging, deployment, and full hardware lifecycle

• Maintain technical documentation, runbooks, and disaster-recovery procedures

Required Qualifications

· Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field

· 5+ years of experience in systems engineering, infrastructure engineering, site reliability engineering, or technical operations

· Deep expertise administering Linux environments across multiple distributions

· Strong experience with scripting and automation using Python, Bash, or similar languages

· Experience within proprietary trading, hedge funds, market making, fintech, or other low-latency environments

· Strong understanding of networking fundamentals including TCP/IP, multicast, routing, switching, and performance troubleshooting

· Familiarity with configuration management and orchestration tools such as Ansible, Kubernetes, Docker, or similar platforms

· Experience with monitoring and observability platforms such as Prometheus, Grafana, Nagios, Icinga, InfluxDB, or similar tools

· Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills with the ability to operate independently under pressure

· Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate with both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications

· Experience with cloud infrastructure platforms such as AWS or GCP

· Experience with storage systems and high-throughput data environments

· Knowledge of low-latency performance tuning and systems optimization

· Exposure to cybersecurity best practices and infrastructure hardening

Compensation & Incentives

Base Salary Range: $150,000 - $175,000, plus eligibility for a performance-based bonus

Benefits

• Competitive pay package 
• 401k Retirement Savings Plan with Employer Match 
• Medical coverage through BlueCross BlueShield 
• Dental and vision coverage 
• Paid Time Off 
• Company paid life and disability insurance 
• Gym and rec space on site 

About AKL Trading Located in the southwestern Chicago suburbs, AKL Trading LLC is a growing proprietary trading firm that started in early 2024. AKL Trading utilizes innovative trading strategies implemented in markets around the globe. The firm emphasizes a culture of entrepreneurship and data-driven decision making, while striving to provide a work atmosphere that is conducive to continuous learning.