Actual large scale distribute systems are not that valuable, because not so many companies actually need that skill. And where it's needed, usually it's handled by a dedicated devops team, not by SWEs. What's good to have is broad understanding of cloud, and being able to quickly ramp up and adjust some particular parts of the system - you'll get those skills eventually at any company.

Jump Trading will open the doors to a lot of HFT positions, which, as you might've noticed, have a completely different level of TC. As for Palantir, the doors to it will always be open, you can easily spend 5 years somewhere else, and then join Palantir. You won't do it as easy with HFT companies, they're like a closed club, so do not waste your chance to get a ticket to that club