Junior Network Engineer

Company insightOne of the leading proprietary trading firms is looking to expand its Infrastructure team with a passionate Network Engineer who has around 1–3 years of experience supporting low-latency trading environments. For over 20 years, the firm has been at the forefront of global derivatives trading, combining technology, data, and quantitative expertise to deliver consistent results across multiple markets.This technology-driven trading firm operates with a flat, highly collaborative culture, more like a high-performance software company than a traditional financial institution. Engineers work directly with traders and quantitative researchers, taking full ownership of their systems and driving meaningful performance improvements in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.Responsibilities as a Network EngineerThe firm is seeking an innovative, curious-minded, and proactive engineer to join the infrastructure team in Chicago. Key responsibilities include:Provide technical expertise to support a high-frequency trading environment.Identify, design, and implement network optimizations to improve performance and reliability.Automate routine network operations and reduce manual intervention.Assist with planned upgrades, maintenance, and configurations (hardware/software migrations, expansions, or upgrades).Ensure the WAN and LAN networks operate effectively across global data centers and colocations.Contribute to capacity planning, connectivity improvements, and traffic flow optimization.Required CompetenciesStrong passion for network monitoring, performance, and capacity planning.Experience with LAN and WAN technologies in a trading or low-latency environment.Comfortable working in a multi-vendor environment (Cisco, Arista, Palo Alto).Solid understanding of network transport and routing protocols (TCP/UDP, OSPF, BGP, Multicast).Familiarity with firewalls and network security best practices.Experience with network monitoring and alerting tools.Strong communication skills, able to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical colleagues.Scripting experience (Python or similar) for automation is a plus but not required.