Linux Systems Engineer - Bare Metal & Kubernetes

As a Linux Engineer in the Global Linux team, you will design, build and operate the critical infrastructure that powers our trading environment. The team owns both large-scale bare-metal Linux platforms and on-prem Kubernetes clusters across our global datacenters.

You will play a key role in evolving our Kubernetes platform while continuing to support and improve our high-performance Linux estate.

What you’ll do

Design, deploy and operate on-prem Kubernetes clusters in a bare-metal environment (Rancher-managed)

• Maintain and improve our bare-metal Linux infrastructure, including provisioning, lifecycle management and performance tuning

• Own and operate core Kubernetes components including Cilium (CNI), ArgoCD (GitOps), and Rancher

• Build and maintain CI/CD workflows for infrastructure and cluster deployments using ArgoCD and GitHub Actions

• Develop and maintain infrastructure as code using Terraform and bespoke on-prem systems

• Participate in on-call rotation covering both Kubernetes clusters and other Linux-based production systems

• Drive reliability, scalability and performance improvements across both containerized and non-containerized workloads

• Contribute to monitoring, observability and security posture across the Linux and Kubernetes platforms

• Ensure the broader team can effectively operate and support the Kubernetes and Linux platforms by building clear documentation, operational runbooks, and providing practical, hands-on guidance

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Who you are

• Strong Linux systems engineering experience in production environments

• Hands-on experience operating Kubernetes on-prem (not only managed cloud offerings)

• Experience with:

  • Rancher

  • Cilium or other CNI technologies

  • ArgoCD (GitOps workflows)

  • Terraform

  • CI/CD systems such as GitHub Actions

• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals (L2/L3, routing, firewalls, load balancing)

• Experience troubleshooting performance issues across kernel, container and network layers

• Production mindset with experience in incident response and post-mortem driven improvements

Nice to have

• Experience building monitoring stacks (e.g. Prometheus, Grafana)

• Experience with Kubernetes security controls (network policies, RBAC, policy engines)

• Knowledge of low-latency or performance-sensitive environments

• Experience contributing to internal platform tooling

No prior trading or financial experience is needed – our onboarding program will kick-start your career at Optiver and support you in gaining all the relevant knowledge about our business.

Who we are
At Optiver, our mission is to constantly improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency and acting as a stabilizing force no matter the market conditions. With a focus on continuous improvement, we participate in the safeguarding of healthy and efficient markets for everyone who participates. As one of the largest market making institutions, we are a trusted partner of 70+ exchanges across the globe.

What you'll get
You’ll join a culture of collaboration and excellence, where you’ll be surrounded by curious thinkers and creative problem solvers. Motivated by a passion for continuous improvement, you’ll thrive in a supportive, high-performing environment alongside talented colleagues, working collectively to tackle the toughest problems in the financial markets.

In addition, you’ll receive:

• A performance-based bonus structure, enabling all of our employees to benefit from our global profit pool.
• The opportunity to work alongside best-in-class professionals from over 50 different countries.
• Training opportunities, discounts on health insurance, and fully paid first-class commuting expenses.
• Extensive office perks, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, world-class barista coffee, in-house physio and chair massages, organized sports and leisure activities.
• Training and continuous learning opportunities, including access to conferences and tech events.

Please note:

• We do not require any assistance from third-parties including agencies in the recruitment of this role
• We cannot accept applications via email

Diversity statement

Optiver is committed to diversity and inclusion. We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, and welcome requests for reasonable adjustments during the process.

Questions? Get in touch with the recruitment team at [email protected].

Personal information protection is of utmost importance to Optiver. Before you provide any personal information to us, we strongly urge you to read our Privacy Policy to acknowledge how we collect and process your personal information.