Full-Time
Systems Engineer 2
ESP
Posted on 12/13/2025
CME Group
1,001-5,000 employees
Runs global futures and options markets
No salary listed
Belfast, UK
Hybrid
Hybrid role; on-site presence in Belfast.
 DevOps & Infrastructure (1) |
|---|
- Demonstrate expertise in administering and troubleshooting Linux and Windows-based systems within an enterprise setting.
- Apply strong problem-solving and analytical abilities to complex technical scenarios.
- Exhibit excellent communication and collaboration skills, working effectively across diverse technical and business teams.
- Possess foundational knowledge and experience working with distributed systems and their unique failure modes.
- Utilize experience with metrics and monitoring tools such as Splunk and Grafana to maintain system health.
- Script proficiently using languages like Python, Bash, or equivalent for automation and process improvement.
- Show an eagerness to learn and adapt quickly in a demanding, fast-paced trading environment.
- Collaborate closely with SREs, Systems Engineers, and Product teams to diagnose, maintain, and optimize our core markets technology platforms.
- Enhance observability by working with stakeholders to refine metrics, alerting, and logging (Splunk, Grafana), enabling faster incident resolution and data-driven business decisions.
- Drive incident response and on-call rotation, owning and resolving escalated issues across distributed computing architectures (client-server, cloud, hardware & virtualization).
- Lead the delivery of moderately complex incidents, problems and changes, ensuring high quality and minimal market impact.
- Present technical solutions and approaches, leading discussions for your assigned work streams.
- Support the critical migration of markets applications and infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
- Automate operational tasks and system provisioning using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles to boost system scalability and resilience.
- Mentor L1 and L2 colleagues, sharing knowledge and elevating the technical capabilities of the team.
- Experience with containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes (K8s) or cloud platforms such as GCP (GKE, GCE).
- Familiarity with fundamental networking concepts (HTTP, TCP/UDP/IP).
- Background in the Financial Markets or high-throughput transaction processing environments.
- Experience operating within an Agile development and operations framework.
CME Group runs the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, offering futures and options across major asset classes on four exchanges (CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX). Its services include trading platforms, clearing and settlement, and market data, serving individual traders, institutions, and commercial entities. How it works: traders buy and sell standardized contracts (futures and options) on its platforms; the trades are cleared through a central clearinghouse, which handles margining, settlement, and risk management, providing price discovery and transfer of risk. How it differs: CME Group combines a broad range of benchmark products with integrated services (trading, clearing, market data) across multiple exchanges, giving wide instrument access, global reach, and a unified risk-management framework. Goal: to provide a reliable, efficient system for price discovery, hedging, speculating, and managing risk in global derivatives markets.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
Founded
1848
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Q1 2026 revenue hit record $1.9B with 22% volume surge across asset classes.
- 24/7 crypto futures launch on May 29 diversifies from interest rates.
- Google-BMO tokenized cash platform launches H2 2026 for 24/7 settlement.
What critics are saying
- CyrusOne cooling failure suspended Globex trading in November 2025.
- Elizabeth Warren's STOP Corrupt Bets Act targets prediction markets now.
- ICE's ERIS clearinghouse erodes interest rate futures share in 2026.
What makes CME Group unique
- Vertically integrated clearing model creates high barriers unlike securities exchanges.
- Globex platform serves 180,000 global customers across all asset classes.
- Operates four exchanges: CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX for benchmark products.
Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?
Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Mental Health Support
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
Hybrid Work Options
Professional Development Budget
Gym Membership
Company News
CME Group has announced plans to expand its cryptocurrency derivatives offering with Avalanche and Sui futures in standard and micro contract sizes, and will launch 24/7 trading of its crypto futures and options from 29 May, pending regulatory review. The move reinforces CME's diversification strategy alongside its planned summer 2026 launch of single stock futures on over 50 major US companies. However, the exchange operator remains heavily reliant on interest rate and equity futures volumes as its core revenue driver. CME's narrative projects $7.7 billion revenue and $4.3 billion earnings by 2029, requiring 5.9% annual revenue growth. The company's fair value is estimated at $306.86, roughly in line with its current price. Analysts note that sustained lower market volatility could pressure trading volumes and earnings.
Tidewater, an offshore service vessel operator with over 200 vessels spanning 30 countries, stands out amongst cash-producing stocks with a 26.1% trailing 12-month free cash flow margin. The company has demonstrated strong performance with annual revenue growth of 27.8% over the past five years and improving EBITDA profits. Meanwhile, Lumen Technologies and CME Group face challenges. Lumen's sales have declined 9.7% annually over five years, with its free cash flow margin decreasing by 10.5 percentage points. CME Group, despite a 64.3% free cash flow margin, has posted muted 6% annual revenue growth and earnings per share growth of just 9.6% annually over the past two years, lagging behind peers.
CME Group, the Chicago-based derivatives marketplace valued at $105.4 billion, is expected to announce first-quarter 2026 earnings on 22 April. Analysts forecast earnings of $3 per share, up 7.1% year-over-year, with the company having beaten Wall Street estimates in its last four quarters. For fiscal 2026, analysts project earnings per share of $11.90, representing 6.3% growth from 2025. CME shares have risen 12.2% over the past year, outperforming the S&P 500's 11.9% gain. The company's growth is driven by increased activity across interest rates, energy, metals, agriculture and crypto products, alongside new initiatives including securities clearing and 24-hour crypto trading. Analysts maintain a "Moderate Buy" rating on the stock, with an average price target of $312.50, suggesting 6.4% upside potential.
Donald Trump endorsed prediction markets, saying they "predicted me pretty right... by a landslide" and called them better than "fake polls". His comments come as the industry surpasses $17 billion in monthly volume whilst facing criminal charges and multiple congressional bills. Robinhood Markets CEO Vlad Tenev called prediction markets the company's fastest-growing business, with a revenue run rate exceeding $300 million. Robinhood moved over 4 billion event contracts in January alone. CME Group hit 100 million event contracts traded in eight weeks, powering FanDuel Predicts. Five bills targeting prediction markets landed in Congress this month, including Elizabeth Warren's STOP Corrupt Bets Act. However, analyst Jaret Seiberg called them "messaging bills" unlikely to pass, noting a presidential veto is near-certain.
BMO, CME Group and Google Cloud have announced plans to introduce 24/7 tokenized cash capabilities for institutional clients, launching in the second half of 2026 pending regulatory approval. The solution will enable clients to convert US dollars into tokenized instruments for use with margined products at CME Group, operating on Google Cloud Universal Ledger. The platform will support real-time settlement for margin calls, trading and collateral management outside traditional banking hours. BMO also plans to offer tokenized deposits for broader business-to-business payments and treasury applications. As North America's eighth-largest bank by assets, BMO is the first to offer CME Group's tokenized cash solution on Google Cloud's infrastructure. The collaboration aims to modernise capital market efficiency and reduce operational friction for global markets requiring continuous operations.