The Backbone Network Engineer will design, implement, and optimize global backbone infrastructure for high-speed trading operations, collaborating on capacity planning and troubleshooting.
We are seeking a highly skilled Backbone Network Engineer to join our global network team. In this role, you will design, implement, and optimize the backbone infrastructure that underpins our global trading operations. You'll work closely with engineers worldwide to ensure our network continues to deliver the ultra-low latency, high availability, and robust security required to maintain our competitive edge.
Core Responsibilities:
Skills and Experience:
While this is a hybrid position, we expect an in-office presence in our Chicago office 3-4 times per week
Core Responsibilities:
- Design and optimize backbone infrastructure for high-speed, low-latency data transmission and scalability.
- Deploy and configure high-performance routing and optical hardware to minimize congestion and maximize availability.
- Engineer low-latency routing paths between data centers, trading venues, and counterparties.
- Proactively detect, troubleshoot, and resolve network issues using advanced monitoring and analysis tools.
- Plan and scale backbone capacity to support global growth.
- Partner with trading, development, and infrastructure teams to integrate network changes seamlessly into production.
- Collaborate globally to maintain documentation, policies, and operational standards.
Skills and Experience:
- 5+ years of experience in network engineering, with a focus on backbone or large-scale infrastructure.
- Deep knowledge of routing protocols (BGP, IS-IS, MPLS, PIM, Segment Routing) and traffic engineering.
- Expertise with routers, switches, and optical networking technologies (DWDM/ONS).
- Strong troubleshooting skills across LAN, unicast/multicast routing, and packet-level analysis.
- Experience with network automation and scripting (Python, Bash, Ansible).
- Proven ability to solve complex problems quickly and effectively.
- Strong communication skills for cross-team collaboration.
- Willingness to participate in on-call rotations during trading hours and critical events.
While this is a hybrid position, we expect an in-office presence in our Chicago office 3-4 times per week
Top Skills
Ansible
Bash
Bgp
Dwdm
Is-Is
Mpls
Ons
Optical Networking Technologies
Pim
Python
Routers
Segment Routing
Switches
IMC Trading Chicago, Illinois, USA Office
IMC Chicago opened its doors in 2000, becoming our first overseas office. It now hosts more than 650 employees, making it the largest IMC location. Home to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the city is at the centre of the global market.
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