Senior Cloud Platform Engineer — Architecture Foundry

Chicago Mercantile Exchange • Chicago, IL

19h

About The Position

CME Group is seeking a Senior Cloud Platform Engineer to join the Central Hub within our Architecture Foundry. Sitting inside an innovative, cross-functional "Architecture-as-a-Product" pod, you will partner directly with Enterprise Architects and an AI Solutions Specialist to build next-generation platform blueprints, automated deployment patterns, and highly optimized workload models on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). In this role, you will be the operational foundation of our applied architecture initiative. Rather than acting as a traditional administrative gatekeeper, you will champion "Architecture by Enablement." You will build highly automated, scalable cloud environments, implement robust Policy-as-Code guardrails, and engineer the underlying platform building blocks that empower delivery teams across CME Group to ship secure, resilient applications with push-button simplicity.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience with a proven track record of designing modular, enterprise-wide platform architectures.
• Experience operating within a highly regulated, tier-one financial services environment or a SIFMU-compliant organization is highly preferred.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Deep hands-on experience managing GCP environments, focusing on core network security, GKE, IAM, Vertex AI infrastructure, and hybrid connectivity.
• Exceptional proficiency with Terraform , KCC , Helm , and modern CI/CD automation tools (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Argo).
• Advanced knowledge of GKE / Kubernetes networking, storage, secrets management, and custom resource definitions (CRDs).
• Strong coding skills in Python, Go, Bash, or similar languages to write automation tooling and custom pipeline steps.

Nice To Haves

• GCP Professional Cloud Architect, GCP Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer, or GCP Professional Cloud Security Engineer.
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD), or HashiCorp Certified Terraform Associate.

Responsibilities

• Build Paved Path solutions: Design, build, and maintain enterprise-grade Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), configuration templates (principally using Terraform, Kubernetes Config Connector [KCC], and Helm Charts), and for Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Automation & Guardrails: Develop and enforce Policy-as-Code (PoC) frameworks, DevSecOps pipelines, and Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) guardrails to ensure pattern conformance, detect drift, and automate security auditing and compliance.
• Optimize GKE & Cloud Workloads: Implement advanced container orchestration strategies utilizing Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), addressing workload optimization, autoscaling, and compute resource allocation to prevent stockout issues.
• Partner for Applied AI: Securely provision and connect the cloud environments, API gateways, and GKE infrastructure necessary to host next-generation AI agents and large language model (LLM) workflows.
• Workload Performance & FinOps Resilience by Design: Integrate highly resilient configurations (such as active/active multi-region topologies, automated failover, and robust disaster recovery) directly into standard platform templates.
• FinOps-Driven Optimization: Build and embed cost optimization models within foundational templates to guide forecasting, monitor, scale, and lower resource spend across various cloud-native workloads.
• Promote "You Build It, You Run It" (YBIYRI): Deliver highly visible telemetry, logging, and self-healing tools inside application templates to foster a strong operational ownership culture across engineering teams.

Benefits

• A supportive environment fostering career progression, continuous learning, and an inclusive culture.
• Broad exposure to CME's diverse products, asset classes, and cross-functional teams.
• A competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.
• Comprehensive health coverage
• A retirement package that includes both a 401(k) and an active pension plan
• Highly competitive education reimbursement provisions
• Paid time off
• A mental health benefit

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior