Network Engineer - Core Infrastructure

Building the Future of Open FinancePayward - the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.Before you apply, we encourage you to explore our culture page to understand what drives us and how we work.The teamFounded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world s longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. It offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services, with products built for both individual investors and institutional clients. If you thrive in a challenging, fun, fast-paced environment, the Network Engineer role within Core Infrastructure Engineering at Kraken is for you! This is a strategic, security-minded, hands-on position critical to Kraken s success - on a highly dedicated team that designs, builds, secures, and operates the entire network and data-center infrastructure for one of the world s leading cryptocurrency exchanges. We want a dynamic, code-forward self-starter who thinks outside the box, sweats the operational details, and automates the repetitive work away. This role spans four disciplines - build, secure, operate, and automate. We don t expect anyone to master all of them on day one. We hire across levels: earlier-career engineers will focus on hands-on build and the operational request queue and grow into design and tooling, while senior engineers will lead fabric/network design, own automation, and mentor the team.  The opportunity Design & build data centersDesign and build data centers end-to-end: cages, racks, PDU/power, structured cabling, and hardware installDeliver connectivity - circuits, dark fiber, and DIA - including carrier/vendor coordination, cross-connects, and capacity planningStand up and evolve modern data-center fabrics (e.g., Cisco ACI and HPE Juniper Apstra)Secure the networkDesign, implement, and defend a zero-trust, defense-in-depth network, with firewalls at the center (policy, segmentation, secure connectivity)Implement and evolve enterprise network access controls (RBAC, least-privilege, segmentation)Partner with Engineering and IT Security so security is built-in from the start and features ship securely and monitoredOperate & respondServe as a first responder to a high volume of inbound infrastructure requests - provisioning, access, connectivity, and troubleshooting - and keep the queue movingMonitor and maintain all physical infrastructure (network, security, compute), cloud environments, and remote sites; respond to critical incidents to maximize uptimeAutomate & toolManage and deploy infrastructure as code at scaleBuild team tooling - automation, internal utilities, and AI agents - to reduce toil and scale the teamWrite high-quality policies, procedures, and technical documentation; evangelize and (at senior levels) mentor on secure-network practices What you bring2+ years of network engineering with a security-minded approachHands-on with firewalls (e.g., Palo Alto Networks / PAN-OS / Panorama) - a huge plusHands-on data-center / physical infrastructure work: racking, cabling, power, cross-connects, and hardware installWorking knowledge of switching (VLANs, capacity planning) and routing (OSPF, BGP, ECMP, PBR)Exposure to public cloud networking (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and hybrid connectivityFamiliarity with infrastructure-as-code / automation (e.g., Terraform, Ansible) and a code-forward mindsetComfort with VPN / remote-access connectivityA bias for automating repetitive work and a strong operational / ownership instinctIndustry-standard platforms from vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, HPE Juniper Networking, and HPE Aruba NetworkingValid passport and ability to travel internationally as needed Nice to havesData-center design & build at scal