Position: Platform Engineer
Reports to: Head of Platform Engineering
About Us
Systematica Investments Limited (acting as general partner of Systematica Investments LP) is a Jersey-based hedge fund manager with c.US$16b assets under management (AUM) across a diversified range of trading strategies. We employ over 130 colleagues in Jersey, Geneva, London, Singapore, New York and Shanghai.
Purpose and Overview of Role
This is a hands-on engineering role within the Platform Engineering team, part of Technology Operations. Platform Engineering is responsible for building and operating the infrastructure, platforms and developer tooling that enable our engineering and quantitative research teams to deliver software reliably, securely and at scale.
The role will help design, build, automate and operate a hybrid production platform across AWS and on-premises environments, with a particular focus on the HashiCorp platform: Nomad, Consul and Vault. The successful candidate will treat infrastructure as software, promote automation-first practices and build reusable platform capabilities that improve developer experience, operational resilience and security.
The role requires strong judgement when making platform changes, including understanding architecture, satisfying deployment prerequisites, managing YAML and infrastructure configuration carefully, and assessing impact across the wider platform during maintenance and change activity.
Primary Duties
- Design, build, automate and operate the production platform across AWS and on-premises infrastructure.
- Own, maintain and evolve the HashiCorp platform, including Vault, Consul, Nomad and associated integrations.
- Use Terraform to define and manage infrastructure resources, configuration and reusable platform modules.
- Use Ansible to support multi-stage deployment workflows, configuration management and repeatable operational procedures.
- Build internal tooling, automation and self-service capabilities that improve developer productivity and reduce operational overhead.
- Support and enhance CI/CD platforms and engineering workflows, including safe promotion of infrastructure and platform changes.
- Improve platform reliability, security, observability, performance and operational excellence.
- Partner with software engineers, quantitative developers, research teams, Tech Ops and security colleagues to deliver secure, scalable and resilient platforms.
General
- Any other duties commensurate with the post holder's position and seniority; and
- All employees should understand that it is their personal responsibility to comply with all organisational, statutory and regulatory policies and procedures.
Experience, Knowledge, & Skills
- Five or more years of experience in platform engineering, DevOps, SRE, infrastructure engineering or a closely related role;
- Strong experience operating production or production-like infrastructure, ideally across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments;
- Hands-on experience with HashiCorp technologies, particularly Nomad, Consul and Vault;
- Strong Linux systems administration and networking knowledge, including DNS, TLS, load balancing, routing, firewalls and certificate management;
- Strong infrastructure-as-code experience using Terraform and automation experience using Ansible;
- Experience building automation or operational tooling using Python, Go, Bash or similar scripting languages;
- Good understanding of CI/CD, source control, deployment workflows and change management for infrastructure platforms;
- Strong attention to detail, commitment to process improvement and awareness of the impact of platform changes; and
- Cool under pressure, able to prioritise effectively and adaptable when dealing with uncertainty or complex operational problems.
Essential, desirable and standout technical expertise
- Strong Linux and networking fundamentals
- Terraform Infrastructure as Code
- Ansible playbooks, roles and inventories
- Python, Go or Bash automation
- GitHub and CI/CD pipelines
- AWS and cloud-native infrastructure
- Kubernetes / Amazon EKS
- Grafana stack, Prometheus, Loki or Datadog
- JFrog Artifactory or artifact management
- Docker or container runtime experience
- AWS Batch, Step Functions, IAM and Karpenter
- Hybrid cloud platform migration or modernisation
- Secure platform design in regulated environments
Educational & Professional Qualifications
- Educated to degree (or equivalent) level or higher, preferably from a leading university;
- Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Engineering, Infrastructure, Cyber Security or an equivalent field; and
- Relevant practical experience and/or certifications in HashiCorp, cloud, Linux, security, networking or DevOps disciplines would be advantageous.
Key Internal Relationships
The individual will be expected to liaise and/or consult with the following personnel in order for them to fulfil the requirements of their role:
- Platform Engineering / DevOps team;
- Technology Operations team;
- Infrastructure management and Cyber security teams;
- Software engineering and quantitative development teams;
- Research Group and quantitative research teams;
- Execution Trading desk and Middle Office teams; and
- External vendors and service providers as required.
Personal Attributes
- Collaborative - works with colleagues at all levels to understand requirements, assist with queries and find practical solutions;
- Flexible - considers each problem on its own merits and is comfortable operating across cloud, on-premises and legacy environments;
- Passionate - has a genuine desire to improve platform reliability, developer experience and operational efficiency;
- Confident - is able to initiate conversations, challenge assumptions and take control of situations when needed;
- Positive - exudes a can-do approach and ethos to all colleagues;
- Pro-active - looks ahead for risks, operational improvements and automation opportunities; and
- Security-conscious - applies least-privilege, secure-by-default and careful change-management principles.
Diversity and Inclusion Statement
Systematica Investments is proud to employ a vastly diverse workforce, and, as part of its commitment to retaining and growing diversity throughout its offices, we encourage and welcome applications from appropriately qualified and experienced individuals from all social and ethnic backgrounds.
Every colleague - irrespective of the personal attributes that make them individuals - is supported in their development and encouraged to succeed in their area of expertise.
Team Culture & Investment Philosophy
- The pursuit of excellence permeates all of Systematica's activities;
- Collaborative working environment within and across all functional teams;
- Rigorous review by peers throughout the research, engineering and development cycle;
- We aim to be systematic investors and avoid intervening with the model - our interaction with the model is via the research process;
- Significant investment in technology and platform engineering as core enablers of scalable research and trading; and
- All aspects of the investment process and platform are subject to continuous research and improvement.
Platform Engineering / DevOps team;- Technology Operations team;
- Infrastructure management and Cyber security teams;
- Software engineering and quantitative development teams;
- Research Group and quantitative research teams;
- Execution Trading desk and Middle Office teams; and
- External vendors and service providers as required.
Systematica Investments provides you with excellent benefits from day 1. We provide private medical insurance for you and your immediate family. We offer competitive salaries combined with an attractive bonus and pension plus free drinks and snacks at the office. We also offer paid parental leave with enhanced leave for mothers/primary carers.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company.
Systematica Investments, launched in January 2015 after a decade of experience within BlueCrest Capital Management, is an innovative technology-driven firm focused on a quantitative and systematic approach to investing. The firm was founded by Leda Braga and manages assets across a number of futures, equity and OTC based strategies.
The philosophy of the firm is one of innovation, excellence in research and a commitment to fostering a strong alignment with investors. Systematica Investments has a global presence with offices in Jersey, Geneva, London, New York, Singapore and Shanghai.
