Low-Latency Network Engineer (Hybrid Data Center)
Autonomai Recruitment · Sydney, Australia ·
- Category
- Network engineering
Design, build, and operate ultra-low latency networks for an electronic trading firm, covering exchange gateways, colocation cages, kernel tuning, and NIC optimization while collaborating with FPGA and quant infra teams.
A top-tier electronic trading firm is hiring a Low Latency Network Engineer to design, build, and operate the networks that move their alpha. This is a hands-on role for someone who lives in the data centre, sweats the microsecond, and treats every hop like it matters.
The Role
You’ll own the trading network end to end: from exchange gateways and colocation cages, through core switching and smart NICs, to the servers running matching engines and risk systems. You’ll architect resilient, deterministic paths, tune kernels and NICs, and work shoulder-to-shoulder with systems, FPGA, and quant infra teams to squeeze latency without sacrificing stability.
When things break (and they will), you’re the one who diagnoses, fixes, and hardens so it doesn’t happen again.
What You’ll Do
- Design and implement ultra–low latency network architectures for trading, market data, and risk systems
- Build and maintain colocation footprints across multiple exchanges and data centres
- Optimise Linux networking stacks, interrupt handling, and NIC offloads for deterministic performance
- Develop automation and tooling in Python/Go to provision, monitor, and validate network behaviour
- Partner with systems/FPGA engineers to align network design with application and hardware requirements
- Lead incident response, root-cause analysis, and post-mortems for network-related events
- Define and enforce standards for cabling, patching, documentation, and change control in production environments
What You’ll Bring
- Proven experience operating low latency networks in HFT, prop trading, or similarly latency-critical environments
- Deep understanding of Linux networking, kernel tuning, and performance troubleshooting
- Strong scripting/automation skills (Python, Go, or similar) and comfort working in CLI-heavy environments
- Hands-on experience with colocation, cross-connects, and exchange infrastructure
- Ability to reason about latency budgets, jitter, and determinism across the full stack
- Clear communication under pressure and a bias for action in incident scenarios
- Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
Nice to Have
- Exposure to FPGA-based NICs or smart NIC offload frameworks
- Background in high-performance computing, GPU clusters, or similar deterministic workloads
- Experience supporting global, multi-site trading infrastructures
The Offer
- Market-leading base + performance bonus
- Significant impact on the core trading platform
- Hybrid/onsite model with regular time in the data centre and trading floor
- Visa/relocation support where needed
If you’ve built networks where microseconds are the product, this is your seat