Torchora
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E-Trade Technician

💰 $75,000 - $140,000

Financial ServicesInformation TechnologyTradingTechnical SupportFinTech

🎯 Role Definition

As an E-Trade Technician, you are the first line of defense for our mission-critical trading infrastructure. You will be responsible for the day-to-day operational stability and performance of our electronic trading applications, systems, and connectivity. This role combines deep technical expertise with a strong understanding of financial markets and trade lifecycles. You will work directly with traders, quantitative analysts, developers, and external vendors in a high-pressure, time-sensitive environment to resolve issues swiftly, manage system changes, and ensure the integrity of our trading activities from order inception to execution.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Application Support Analyst
  • IT Helpdesk Specialist (in a financial firm)
  • Brokerage Operations Associate
  • Junior Network or Systems Administrator

Advancement To:

  • Senior E-Trade Technician / Lead Trading Support Engineer
  • Trading Systems Engineer / DevOps Engineer (FinTech)
  • Production Support Manager
  • Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) for Trading Platforms

Lateral Moves:

  • FIX Onboarding Specialist
  • Market Data Engineer
  • QA/Test Engineer for Trading Systems
  • Business Analyst (Trading Technology)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Proactively monitor the health, performance, and stability of mission-critical electronic trading systems and infrastructure using advanced monitoring tools like ITRS Geneos, Grafana, and Nagios.
  • Provide immediate, real-time technical support and troubleshooting for traders and portfolio managers, addressing issues related to order execution, platform functionality, and market data.
  • Manage and resolve complex issues across the entire trade lifecycle, from order entry and routing to execution and post-trade booking, ensuring minimal market impact.
  • Investigate, diagnose, and resolve production incidents, performing deep-dive log analysis (application, system, network) to identify root causes and prevent recurrence.
  • Administer and configure FIX (Financial Information eXchange) protocol connectivity for new and existing clients, brokers, and execution venues.
  • Perform daily system health checks, start-of-day, and end-of-day procedures to ensure all trading components are fully operational for market open and properly shut down.
  • Coordinate and execute the deployment of new software releases, application updates, and configuration changes in a controlled and well-communicated manner.
  • Act as a primary liaison between the trading desk, software development teams, infrastructure engineers, and third-party vendors to escalate and resolve complex technical problems.
  • Manage user entitlements and permissions across various trading platforms, ensuring adherence to security policies and compliance requirements.
  • Develop and maintain custom scripts (e.g., using Python, Perl, or Shell) to automate routine support tasks, improve monitoring capabilities, and streamline operational workflows.
  • Participate in a scheduled on-call rotation to provide 24/7 support for global trading operations and respond to after-hours system alerts and emergencies.
  • Document all incidents, support procedures, and system configurations in a centralized knowledge base (e.g., Confluence, JIRA) to facilitate team learning and efficiency.
  • Conduct thorough root cause analysis (RCA) for significant incidents, presenting findings to technology and business stakeholders and tracking follow-up actions.
  • Communicate system status, planned maintenance, and incident updates clearly and effectively to all relevant stakeholders, including traders and senior management.
  • Support and troubleshoot low-latency market data feeds, ensuring data integrity and timely delivery to all trading applications.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to assist traders and quants in strategy research and performance analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap by providing operational insights on data quality and accessibility.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs and trading requirements into actionable technical specifications for development teams.
  • Participate in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and other agile ceremonies within the production support and engineering teams.
  • Assist in the capacity planning and performance testing of trading systems to ensure they can handle projected volume growth and market volatility.
  • Onboard and certify new algorithmic trading strategies, ensuring they interact correctly with the trading platform and meet performance benchmarks.
  • Ensure all operational activities and system changes are compliant with industry regulations (e.g., Reg NMS, OATS, MiFID II).

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • FIX Protocol: Deep understanding and hands-on experience with the FIX protocol (versions 4.2, 4.4, 5.0), including message types, session management, and troubleshooting.
  • Operating Systems: High proficiency in Linux/UNIX environments, including command-line navigation, system administration, and performance tuning.
  • Scripting Languages: Strong scripting ability for automation and analysis using Python, Perl, and/or Shell (Bash/Ksh).
  • SQL & Databases: Proficiency in writing complex SQL queries (e.g., joins, subqueries, aggregations) for data extraction and troubleshooting in databases like Oracle, Sybase, or PostgreSQL.
  • Networking Concepts: Solid understanding of TCP/IP, multicast, unicast, and network troubleshooting tools (e.g., tcpdump, netstat, ping).
  • Financial Instruments: Working knowledge of various asset classes, such as Equities, Options, Futures, and Fixed Income, and their trade lifecycles.
  • Monitoring Tools: Experience with enterprise monitoring solutions like ITRS Geneos, Zabbix, Prometheus, Grafana, or Splunk for building dashboards and alerts.
  • Trading System Experience: Familiarity with third-party or in-house electronic trading platforms, order management systems (OMS), or execution management systems (EMS).

Soft Skills

  • Problem-Solving Under Pressure: Ability to remain calm, think logically, and make effective decisions in a high-stakes, fast-paced trading environment.
  • Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical issues to both technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Sense of Urgency & Ownership: A proactive, self-starting attitude with a strong sense of ownership and accountability for resolving issues from start to finish.
  • Analytical Mindset: Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills with meticulous attention to detail.
  • Teamwork & Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively within a global team and collaborate across different departments.
  • Customer Focus: A dedication to providing exceptional support and service to internal clients (traders, quants).

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in a relevant technical or quantitative field.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in a STEM field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology
  • Engineering
  • Finance or Financial Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3-7 years in a similar role within the financial services industry.

Preferred: Direct experience in a front-office application support, trade support, or production support role for an electronic trading desk at an investment bank, hedge fund, or proprietary trading firm.

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