High-Performance Linux Engineer

About the role

A leading global trading environment is looking for a High-Performance Linux Engineer in Amsterdam to design and optimise the infrastructure powering real-time systems at scale. It is not a standard infrastructure role: the work takes place in a highly customised bare-metal environment where every microsecond counts, from kernel-level tuning to large-scale automation.

Key responsibilities

• Design, deploy and manage a global fleet of high-performance Linux servers across multiple data centres.
• Build and evolve infrastructure supporting demanding, real-time workloads.
• Optimise system performance at every layer, from hardware interaction to OS-level tuning.
• Develop automation-first solutions and use observability data to drive performance improvements and capacity planning.
• Collaborate with infrastructure, networking and software teams on complex, cross-domain challenges.
• Diagnose and resolve system issues quickly and contribute to on-call rotations.

Required profile

• Strong Linux engineering experience, including system administration, debugging and OS provisioning.
• Deep understanding of networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, DNS, UDP/TCP, multicast, packet analysis).
• Proven expertise in kernel and hardware-level performance tuning (CPU pinning, cache optimisation, BIOS/UEFI).
• Experience with infrastructure automation and familiarity with monitoring and observability stacks.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work in a fast-paced, performance-focused environment.

Required skills

• Linux system administration and kernel/hardware tuning (CPU affinity, NUMA, HugePages, IRQ balancing)
• Diagnostics: eBPF, tcpdump, strace, lsof, netcat
• Automation: Python, Ansible, Terraform
• Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, Alertmanager, Elastic

What we offer

• Total compensation of EUR 150,000 to EUR 300,000 depending on experience.
• Full relocation and visa sponsorship where applicable.
• Health insurance and wellbeing support.
• Commuting and in-office perks, including meals and wellness services.
• Budget for certifications, training and conferences.