Senior Data Platform Engineer
Chicago, IL (Hybrid - 4 Days Onsite)
We are partnering with a leading technology-driven quantitative trading and financial markets firm seeking a Senior Data Platform Engineer to join a team responsible for building and evolving large-scale data infrastructure. This role sits at the intersection of data engineering, distributed systems, and platform development, supporting high-volume, mission-critical data used across trading, research, and analytics functions.
What You'll Do
- Design, build, and maintain large-scale data platforms and storage systems supporting real-time and batch workloads.
- Develop and enhance data ingestion and processing pipelines using technologies such as Python, Java, Spark, Kafka, and related Big Data frameworks.
- Partner with software engineers, infrastructure teams, and data consumers to improve data accessibility, reliability, and performance.
- Support the evolution of modern data lake and table architectures, enabling scalable access to large datasets across the organization.
- Troubleshoot complex production issues, perform root-cause analysis, and drive long-term platform improvements.
- Contribute to data modeling, storage optimization, and capacity planning initiatives.
- Serve as a subject matter expert on distributed data systems and platform best practices.
What We're Looking For
- 5+ years of experience in Data Engineering, Data Platform Engineering, or related fields.
- Strong hands-on development experience with Python and SQL.
- Experience building and maintaining large-scale data pipelines and distributed data systems.
- Exposure to technologies such as Kafka, Spark, Hadoop/HDFS, Flink, Iceberg, Databricks, or similar platforms.
- Solid understanding of Linux/Unix environments and production troubleshooting.
- Experience working with cloud object storage platforms such as S3 or equivalent.
- Ability to read, understand, and collaborate on application code, with Java experience considered a strong plus.
- Demonstrated ownership mindset and ability to operate in fast-paced, highly technical environments.
Preferred Background
- Experience supporting large-scale data platforms serving engineering, analytics, or research organizations.
- Exposure to modern lakehouse architectures and large-volume data storage solutions.
- Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, monitoring, and observability tooling.
- Background in financial services, quantitative trading, large-scale technology companies, or other data-intensive environments is highly valued.
Why Consider This Opportunity?
- Join a highly technical team solving complex distributed systems and data challenges.
- Work on modern data platform initiatives involving next-generation storage and processing technologies.
- Influence critical infrastructure used across the business.
- Collaborative environment with significant ownership and visibility.
FAQs
Congratulations, we understand that taking the time to apply is a big step. When you apply, your details go directly to the consultant who is sourcing talent. Due to demand, we may not get back to all applicants that have applied. However, we always keep your CV and details on file so when we see similar roles or see skillsets that drive growth in organisations, we will always reach out to discuss opportunities.
Yes. Even if this role isn’t a perfect match, applying allows us to understand your expertise and ambitions, ensuring you're on our radar for the right opportunity when it arises.
We also work in several ways, firstly we advertise our roles available on our site, however, often due to confidentiality we may not post all. We also work with clients who are more focused on skills and understanding what is required to future-proof their business.
That's why we recommend registering your CV so you can be considered for roles that have yet to be created.
Yes, we help with CV and interview preparation. From customised support on how to optimise your CV to interview preparation and compensation negotiations, we advocate for you throughout your next career move.