Principal Linux Platform Engineer - hybrid; Chicago, Kansas or NYC

Position: Principal Linux Platform Engineer - flexible hybrid (Chicago, Kansas City or NYC)

Principal Linux Platform Engineer – flexible hybrid (Chicago, Kansas City or NYC)

Job Description:

Location Overview

Cboe HQ is located in the historic Old Post Office district in Chicago, offering expansive high‑ceiling spaces, large windows, panoramic city skyline views, and convenient access to major transportation hubs. The building provides restaurants, a fitness center, and collaborative work spaces.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Principal Linux Platform Engineer to lead the design, automation, and scalability of our global infrastructure that powers mission‑critical financial applications. The ideal candidate has deep expertise in Linux systems, Kubernetes orchestration, and modern development practices, and thrives in high‑performance, regulated environments. As a senior technical leader, you will set architectural standards, mentor engineers, and drive platform reliability, observability, and security across hybrid cloud and on‑prem environments.

In

this role you’ll be responsible for

• Designing and evolving the firm’s container orchestration and compute platforms (Kubernetes, Incus/LXD, or hybrid systems) to support low‑latency, high‑availability financial applications.
• Defining infrastructure‑as‑code (IaC) standards (Terraform, Pulumi, or similar) and ensuring consistent, auditable deployments across environments.
• Leading the adoption of immutable infrastructure principles, secure baseline images, and reproducible environments (RHEL‑based).
• Architecting and implementing CI/CD pipelines for infrastructure and application deployment with an emphasis on developer experience and velocity.
• Partnering with development, SRE, and security teams to ensure regulatory compliance, change control, and observability across all layers.
• Establishing monitoring, logging, and metrics strategies (Prometheus, Loki, Grafana, Open Telemetry, etc.) for production and pre‑production systems.
• Driving performance tuning and capacity planning for large‑scale, latency‑sensitive services.
• Serving as a technical mentor and thought leader within the organization.
• Providing strategic input into infrastructure roadmap, vendor selection, and emerging technology evaluations.

The ideal candidate has

• 10+ years of professional experience in Linux systems engineering, ideally Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or derivatives.
• 5+ years of experience architecting and operating enterprise‑grade Kubernetes platforms, with hands‑on experience deploying and managing clusters in bare‑metal and on‑premises environments.
• Strong proficiency with Python or Go for automation, tooling, and integration with APIs.
• Deep understanding of networking (TCP/IP, DNS, load balancing) and security fundamentals (RBAC, TLS, secrets management).
• Expertise with CI/CD tooling (Jenkins, Git Hub Actions, ArgoCD, Tekton, etc.) and artifact lifecycle management (Harbor, Pulp, or Artifactory).
• Proven experience with IaC (Terraform, Pulumi, or Ansible/Salt Stack).
• Familiarity with container image lifecycle management, base image hardening, and SBOM compliance.
• Exposure to on‑prem and hybrid cloud environments (AWS, GCP, or private cloud).
• Background in SRE practices, including SLI/SLO management, error budgets, and runbook automation.
• Experience with Git Ops, event‑driven automation, and declarative configuration management.
• Exceptional problem‑solving ability and technical judgment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including documentation and presentation skills.
• Strong sense of ownership, accountability, and ability to influence without direct authority.

You’ll really stand out with

• Advanced certifications such as RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) or LFCE (Linux Foundation Certified Engineer).
• Extensive experience working in cloud‑based environments like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure.
• Understanding of compliance frameworks (SOC2, ISO
  27001, or NIST).
• Experience supporting financial systems, trading platforms, or other latency‑sensitive workloads.
• Experience in leading Agile teams and familiarity with Agile methodologies.

Benefits And Perks Of Working For Cboe Global Markets

• Fair and competitive salary and incentive compensation packages with upside for over achievement.
• Generous…