Java Backend Engineer (DevOps Focus)

Your Role

• In this role, you act as the link between quantitative researchers and software engineers, ensuring that our trading infrastructure is stable, scalable, and efficient.
• You will actively work on our Java-based systems, support complex codebases as well as build and release processes, and contribute to the evolution of our CI/CD architecture.
• You will make technical decisions, define standards, and implement robust automated pipelines. You will work with technologies such as GitHub, Docker, Maven, and Nexus.
• You will have significant ownership, both in further developing our backend systems and in defining how code moves from commit to production in our highly critical trading environment.

Responsibilities

• Java Backend Development: Develop and maintain our Java-based applications and actively contribute to the evolution of our system architecture.
• CI/CD Architecture & Ownership: Take full responsibility for the architectural design and operational implementation of our continuous integration and delivery processes. You will conceptualize the workflow from scratch to ensure it aligns perfectly with our trading requirements.
• Pipeline Implementation: Translate your architectural vision into reality by building and managing complex pipelines, ensuring automated testing and reliable deployment of our Java-based trading algorithms. Potentially scaling Jenkins or migrating to an alternative like GitHub-Actions.
• Infrastructure & Containerization: Manage application containerization using Docker, ensuring consistency across development, testing, and production environments.
• Artifact Management: Maintain and organize the Sonatype Nexus repository for efficient dependency management and build artifact storage.
• Collaboration & Standardization: Work closely with the development team to support the Eclipse-based development environment, streamline workflows in GitHub, and enforce best practices for version control and release management.
• System Reliability: Monitor the health and performance of the trading infrastructure, ensuring high availability for futures trading.
• Automation: Automate configuration management and repetitive operational tasks to enhance team productivity.
• Troubleshooting: Diagnose and resolve issues within the build, deployment, and runtime environments.

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 5+ years in Software Engineering, with at least 3 years focused on DevOps, Release Engineering, or Infrastructure.
• Architectural Mindset: Proven track record of designing and implementing CI/CD workflows from scratch, demonstrating the ability to think strategically about build systems.
• Tech Stack Proficiency: Strong experience with Java programming (Spring/JEE) and the Java ecosystem.
• Experience with build tools such as Maven or Gradle (including plugin development).
• Deep understanding of Docker and container orchestration (e.g. Kubernetes/OpenShift, Terraform, Ansible).
• Proficiency with Jenkins or alternatives (creating pipelines, managing plugins).
• Experience administering Nexus or Artifactory.
• Solid workflow knowledge of GitHub (Branching strategies, Actions, Hooks).
• Scripting: Competence in scripting (Bash, Python, or Groovy) for automation tasks.
• OS: Strong working knowledge of Linux environments.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting Eclipse IDE setups for development teams.
• Background in the financial sector, specifically with algorithmic trading or futures markets.
• Knowledge in secure virtual networking, cloud/grid-computing, failover/load-balancing strategies and high-availability concepts.