Weekday Network Engineer Python Jobs in Chicago, IL

***We are unable to sponsor as this is a permanent full time role***

***Hybrid, 4 days onsite, 1 day remote***

A highly regulated, face paced company is looking for a Sr. Manager, Network Engineering. This Sr. Manager will manage over a team of network engineers that will focus on low-latency network design and optimization, advanced knowledge of Layer 2 and Layer 3 protocols, and network automation.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing network engineering team, fostering technical excellence, strong accountability, and disciplined engineering practices across a global, multi-region environment
• Drive strategic network initiatives from concept through execution, including pre-implementation research, design validation, vendor evaluation, and production deployment, ensuring high-quality delivery and strong execution discipline
• Own the architecture and long-term evolution of low-latency trading network infrastructure, guiding design decisions around topology, routing, performance optimization, and scalability in environments where latency and determinism are critical
• Partner closely with senior technical contributors, including Principal Engineers, to lead complex design efforts, validate architectural decisions, and raise the overall technical bar of the organization
• Manage a dynamic project portfolio, continuously reprioritizing work based on business needs, market events, and operational risk while maintaining alignment to key strategic initiatives
• Collaborate across infrastructure, security, cloud, and application teams to deliver integrated solutions, ensuring reliable, secure, and high-performance connectivity across all environments
• Establish and enforce strong operational practices, including structured change management, validation procedures, incident response expectations, and post-implementation review processes
• Support and influence network automation strategy, encouraging scalable, maintainable approaches using Python and API-driven tooling to improve efficiency and reduce operational friction
• Oversee vendor relationships and hardware/software evaluation efforts, including participation in RFPs, proof-of-concept testing, and critical design reviews, ensuring informed technology decisions
• Serve as a senior escalation point for complex network issues, leading high-impact troubleshooting efforts and ensuring timely resolution across engineering and operations teams
• Contribute to budgeting and capacity planning for network infrastructure, aligning investments with performance requirements and business growth
• Define and maintain engineering standards, architecture documentation, and technical processes, including contributions to regulatory-facing documentation where required

Qualifications:

• 10+ years of progressive network engineering experience in low-latency, mission-critical environments, with at least 3 years in a leadership or management capacity
• Deep expertise in low-latency network design and optimization, with a strong understanding of switching behavior, buffering, and techniques required to achieve deterministic performance at scale
• Advanced knowledge of Layer 2 and Layer 3 protocols, including BGP, OSPF, MPLS, VXLAN, multicast (PIM-SM), and resilient traffic engineering across global networks
• Proven ability to design, scale, and operate complex, highly available network infrastructure in environments where performance and reliability are critical to the business
• Strong track record of leading and developing engineering teams, including mentoring senior engineers, driving technical standards, and building a high-performance, accountable culture
• Experience leading large, complex projects from research and design through implementation, with disciplined execution and strong operational rigor
• Hands-on experience with network automation using Python and API-driven approaches to improve efficiency, consistency, and scalability
• Solid understanding of network security principles, including segmentation, access control, and secure design practices within enterprise and trading network environments
• Familiarity with contributing to architecture standards, technical documentation, and, where applicable, materials supporting regulatory or audit requirements