Jobs › Jump Trading

HPC Data Center Infrastructure Planning Lead

Jump Trading · Chicago, IL · IT Infrastructure + WCW

Posted Sep 2, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Sep 20, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

Behavioral

Walk me through a time you had to manage a full portfolio of infrastructure projects at once. How did you decide what got attention first when everything felt urgent?

whether the candidate has real experience juggling competing priorities with a defensible method, not just reacting to noise

Tell me about a project you had to jump in and personally drive from planning to execution, even though your role was mostly oversight. What made you decide to step in rather than delegate?

judgment about when leadership should get hands-on versus stay at the portfolio level

Describe a contractor relationship that went sideways, maybe on schedule or on quality. What did you do, and how did it end?

real vendor management scars and whether they hold contractors accountable without burning the relationship

Tell me about a time a vendor's implementation caused an operational issue after go-live. How did you work with them to resolve it?

troubleshooting partnership skills with vendors under pressure, not just contract enforcement

Tell me about a decision you made on an infrastructure project where you had to choose fast, knowing you'd own the outcome either way. What happened?

whether they can make a call under uncertainty and take responsibility rather than deferring endlessly

Technical

How do you structure a contract negotiation with a major IT vendor to protect both cost and delivery timelines?

depth of actual negotiation experience versus someone who has only received vendor proposals

What do you look at first when evaluating whether a potential data center lease can actually support a high-density HPC deployment?

whether they understand power, cooling, and space constraints well enough to catch a bad lease before signing

How would you explain the tradeoffs between InfiniBand and high-performance Ethernet to someone planning network infrastructure for a compute cluster?

genuine technical fluency in HPC networking versus buzzword familiarity

Give me an example of using AI tools in your day-to-day project or infrastructure work. What specifically did it save you time on?

whether AI use is a real habit already baked into their workflow or just a checkbox answer for this posting

Walk me through how comfortable you are at a Linux command line, maybe a time you had to troubleshoot a system issue directly instead of handing it to an engineer.

whether the technical background is hands-on enough to credibly step into execution when needed

Have you used scripting, say Python, to automate part of a planning or reporting workflow? Tell me about that.

practical automation skill versus theoretical familiarity

Situational

Say you have five HPC infrastructure projects in flight, and a new data center lease evaluation lands on your desk with a tight deadline. How do you figure out what slips and what doesn't?

a concrete prioritization framework tied to business impact and technical dependency, not just gut feel

What's your approach to giving leadership a clear, honest status update on a portfolio when two or three projects are actually behind schedule?

comfort with transparent reporting versus a tendency to soften or hide risk

This role sits inside a global engineering team with people across time zones and functions. Describe a time you had to coordinate a project across teams that didn't report to you.

cross-functional influence and communication skill in a matrixed, fast-paced environment

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The full job description

As published by Jump Trading.

HPC Infrastructure Planner Lead Location: Chicago or New York (On-site 5 days/week) Jump Trading Group is committed to world class research. We empower exceptional talents in Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science to seek scientific boundaries, push through them, and apply cutting edge research to global financial markets. Our culture is unique. Constant innovation requires fearlessness, creativity, intellectual honesty, and a relentless competitive streak. We believe in winning together and unlocking unique individual talent by incenting collaboration and mutual respect. At Jump, research outcomes drive more than superior risk adjusted returns. We design, develop, and deploy technologies that change our world, fund start-ups across industries, and partner with leading global research organizations and universities to solve problems. Trading Infrastructure is a global organization of Engineers who architect, build and maintain our world-class infrastructure. From colo design/implementation, to optimizing our exchange connectivity, to building world class low latent Wide Area Networks, we leverage research and automation to consistently adapt and innovate our infrastructure to scale and drive our trading and evolving business. We are looking for an experienced HPC Infrastructure Planner Lead to oversee the full portfolio of infrastructure projects across our high-performance computing environment. In this role, you will own project prioritization and reporting, manage contractor relationships and schedules, and support new data center lease efforts. While this is a leadership and planning-focused position, you must also be able to step in and directly plan and drive projects when needed. If you have a strong background in infrastructure project planning, vendor and contractor management, and working in fast-paced global teams, join us to lead the delivery of world-class infrastructure solutions. What You'll Do: Project Portfolio Management <ul class="ak-ul" data-local-id="4632218e92e1" data-indent-level="1"> <li> Oversee and manage the full portfolio of HPC infrastructure projects, ensuring alignment with business priorities and timely delivery. </li> <li> Drive prioritization of infrastructure projects based on business impact, resource availability, and technical dependencies. </li> <li> Step in to directly plan and execute infrastructure projects as needed, including scoping, scheduling, resource allocation, and stakeholder coordination. </li> </ul> Reporting & Visibility <ul class="ak-ul" data-local-id="65bdd0b346a5" data-indent-level="1"> <li> Provide high-level project reporting and status updates to leadership, maintaining visibility into progress, risks, and resource needs across all active projects. </li> </ul> Contractor & Vendor Management <ul class="ak-ul" data-local-id="31df211236ce" data-indent-level="1"> <li> Manage contractor relationships end-to-end, including contract negotiations, schedule coordination, performance oversight, and relationship management. </li> <li> Work with major IT vendors to troubleshoot and resolve implementation and operational issues. </li> </ul> Data Center Planning & Lease Support <ul class="ak-ul" data-local-id="d95d811ddb12" data-indent-level="1"> <li> Assist with new data center lease evaluations, including space planning, power requirements, and facility readiness assessments. </li> <li> Oversee the successful implementation of new compute, storage, and network infrastructure within HPC environments. </li> </ul> AI-Driven Planning <ul class="ak-ul" data-local-id="1e612cf83f79" data-indent-level="1"> <li> Must actively use AI tools in day-to-day work to drive efficiency in project planning, reporting, analysis, and operational workflows. AI fluency is a core expectation of this role. </li> </ul> Additional duties as assigned or needed. Skills You'll Need: <ul class="ak-ul" data-local-id="b174e019c34a" data-indent-level="1"> <li> Significant experience managing infrastructure projects in HPC or large-scale data center environments. </li> <li> Proven ability to oversee multiple concurrent projects and prioritize effectively based on business needs. </li> <li> Experience managing contractors and vendors, including contract oversight, schedule management, and performance accountability. </li> <li> Strong understanding of data center operations, including space planning, power, cooling, and structured cabling. </li> <li> Familiarity with HPC infrastructure, including compute, storage, and high-performance networking (InfiniBand, Ethernet). </li> <li> Experience with project planning tools and methodologies for infrastructure deployments. </li> <li> Previous experience demonstrating strategic thinking skills and maturity in tackling complex problems, dealing with people, technology, and processes. </li> <li> Good judgment, ability to evaluate short and long-term impact, and confidence to select and execute decisions when required and take full responsibility for end results. </li> <li> Demonstrates a high level of energy, results driven, and able to work under pressure with tight deadlines. </li> <li> Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to provide clear project reporting to leadership and work across a global engineering team. </li> </ul> Technical Skills: <ul class="ak-ul" data-local-id="1426e2977656" data-indent-level="1"> <li> Experience planning and operating high-density/HPC data center environments, including power, cooling, space, and structured cabling considerations. </li> <li> Strong understanding of networking concepts, configuration, and troubleshooting. A qualification like CCNA is great; equivalent experience is also fine. </li> <li> Experience working at the command line of Linux systems, including system administration and troubleshooting. </li> <li> Proficiency with scripting languages (such as Python) for automation and operational efficiency. </li> <li> Extremely high personal standards for work quality. </li> <li> Reliable and predictable availability. </li> <li> Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field preferred. </li> </ul>  <div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description">Benefits <ul> <li style="font-size: 14px;">Discretionary bonus eligibility </li> <li style="font-size: 14px;">Medical, dental, and vision insurance</li> <li style="font-size: 14px;">HSA, FSA, and Dependent Care options</li> <li style="font-size: 14px;">Employer Paid Group Term Life and AD&D Insurance</li> <li style="font-size: 14px;">Voluntary Life & AD&D insurance</li> <li style="font-size: 14px;">Paid vacation plus paid holidays</li> <li style="font-size: 14px;">Retirement plan with employer match</li> <li style="font-size: 14px;">Paid parental leave</li> <li style="font-size: 14px;">Wellness Programs </li> </ul></div><div class="title">Annual Base Salary Range </div><div class="pay-range">$150,000—$200,000 USD</div></div></div>

Apply at Jump Trading

HPC Data Center Infrastructure Planning Lead

Likely interview questions for this role

Practice this interview out loud.

The full job description

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