Network Engineer Aquatic · Chicago, United States 3 hours ago

Aquatic was founded with a shared passion for tackling some of the most complex challenges in one of the world’s most competitive arenas—global financial markets. From the very beginning, we have been driven by a deep commitment to applying cutting‑edge scientific research and technological innovation to deliver unparalleled performance. Our journey is one of continuous growth and exploration, marked by a spirit of curiosity and relentless drive for excellence.

At Aquatic, we are actively recruiting for a Network Engineer to join our Infrastructure team, based in Chicago, New York, or London. Our networks carry everything the firm does, from research compute and storage to live production trading, and we are expanding them as the firm grows globally. This role sits at the center of that effort: designing, building, and owning the research, corporate, and production trading networks the rest of the firm depends on.

You will collaborate with Infrastructure, Research, and Engineering teams. The work is hands‑on, high‑leverage, and visible.

Role Details

• Ownership of Aquatic's networks across three domains: Research/HPC, Corporate/Office, and Production Trading.
• Design, build, and maintain low‑latency, multicast‑heavy production trading networks, including market data distribution and exchange connectivity.
• Build and scale the Research/HPC network that supports our GPU grid and high‑performance storage clusters as they continue to expand.
• Maintain and extend the corporate and office networks across Aquatic's offices, including new office buildouts.
• Extend our network footprint into new regions as we enter new markets, with consistent, repeatable designs as the default rather than one‑off builds.
• Own network monitoring and packet capture so the firm can see what is happening on the wire, what changed, and what broke.
• Move network configuration and change management toward infrastructure‑as‑code: version controlled, reviewed, and repeatable.
• Support basic datacenter operations when needed (roughly 5‑10% of time), including rack and stack and cross‑connect troubleshooting, in partnership with our Datacenter Engineers.

Technical Experience

• Postgraduate study with a focus in networking is desired, but not required; equivalent practical experience is valued just as highly.
• 6+ years of professional networking experience, with meaningful time in finance
• FinTech or HFT networking experience, with a track record of building and maintaining complex financial and multicast networks.
• CCNP/CCIE caliber depth. Certification is not required, but is a plus.
• Deep understanding of TCP/IP.
• Hands‑on experience with PIM‑SM, BGP, and VXLAN/EVPN.
• Experience with Layer 1 switching.
• Experience with network capture and monitoring tooling.
• Experience with Arista EOS and Palo Alto or comparable firewall platforms.
• Knowledge of different networking merchant silicon types and their tradeoffs.
• Basic Linux systems administration.
• Familiarity with basic IaC concepts and tools (git, Terraform, Ansible).

Candidate Qualities

• Strong bias for action
• Driven by accountability and internal urgency
• A builder's instinct for automation and repeatable designs
• Desire to independently seek best solutions
• Preference for working in a team that focuses on delivering results aligned with Research and Trading goals
• Comfortable providing and receiving actionable feedback in a collaborative team setting
• Motivated by an ambitious environment and driven colleagues

Compensation

The base salary for this role is anticipated to be between $150,000 and $300,000, which is based on information at the time of posting. This position may also be eligible for additional forms of compensation, such as a discretionary bonus, and benefits. Discretionary bonus can be a significant portion of total compensation. Actual compensation for successful candidates will be carefully determined based on a number of factors, including their unique skills, qualifications and relevant experience.

Benefits:

• Benefits: For full‑time employees, fully paid medical, dental, and vision for employees and dependents, competitive 401k plan, employer‑paid life & disability insurance
• Perks: Wellness programs, casual dress, snacks, lunch, game room, team and company events
• Development: Open environment to maximize learning and knowledge sharing
• Time: Generous PTO, paid holidays, competitive paid caregiver leaves

Aquatic Capital

This role represents a unique opportunity to join a quantitative investment manager in its early stage of growth. The firm’s culture will be shaped by collaboration, meritocracy, ambition, and calm determination.

Aquatic is a proud equal opportunity workplace. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics.