Senior Operations Engineer - North America - SmartTrade

smartTrade Technologies is a software publisher specializing in the trading and finance sector. Its clients primarily include investment banks, stock exchanges, brokers, and pension funds. smartTrade enables real-time computerized management of financial flows among these different stakeholders.

Joining smartTrade means becoming a part of an innovative and international company with offices in Aix-en-Provence, London, Geneva, New York, Toronto, and Tokyo.

Skill development and career progression are top priorities at smartTrade, offering employees numerous opportunities for learning, advancement, and mobility. Sports and their values of teamwork, performance, and dynamism are integral to the company's culture.

Additionally, smartTrade is highly committed to continuously supporting various charitable and environmental initiatives. 

Position Summary

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Senior Operations Engineer to play a critical role in ensuring the seamless operation of our on-premises, low-latency trading infrastructure. 

As a key member of the Platform Product Business Group, you will be responsible for maintaining the stability, performance, and security of our mission-critical systems that power FxSpotStream and other low-latency technologies. 

You will work closely with development teams to champion automation, observability, and continuous improvement. If you are passionate about technology, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and possess a deep understanding of Linux/Unix systems, we encourage you to apply!

Role and Responsibilities

Ensure operational excellence: Take ownership of the day-to-day operations of our FxSpotStream and lowlatency trading systems, proactively identifying and mitigating potential issues.
Champion reliability: Drive incident response, conduct thorough problem resolution, and perform root cause analysis to prevent recurring incidents.
Automate and optimize: Collaborate with development teams to automate tasks, improve system efficiency, and enhance the scalability of our infrastructure.
Enhance observability: Implement robust monitoring and alerting systems to ensure proactive identification of performance bottlenecks and potential issues.
Document and knowledge share: Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation for systems, processes, and incident response procedures.
Be the escalation point: Act as the escalation point for complex technical issues, providing guidance and support to junior team members.
Stay ahead of the curve: Continuously research and evaluate new technologies and industry best practices to improve system reliability and performance.

Qualifications and skills

Technical Expertise:
o Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
o 7+ years of proven experience in systems and network administration, with deep expertise in Linux/Unix environments.
o Hands-on experience with high-availability, low-latency systems, ideally within the financial or trading industry.
o Strong proficiency in scripting languages such as Python and Bash.
o Experience with infrastructure-as-code and automation tools like Chef, Ansible, Puppet, or Terraform.
o Solid understanding of networking protocols (TCP/IP, UDP, multicast) and network security best practices.

Operational Excellence:
o Proven ability to manage incidents effectively, including quick diagnosis, rapid resolution, and thorough post-mortem analysis.
o Experience with monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack) and alerting systems.
o Strong understanding of system performance tuning and optimization techniques.

Collaboration and Communication:
o Excellent communication, interpersonal, and collaboration skills.
o Ability to work effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
o A strong sense of ownership and a proactive, results-oriented approach.