Much has changed since our early days as floor traders at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Today, Optiver’s Software Engineers leverage technology to solve a variety of complex problems: optimising for scarce bandwidth, responding to market events with nanosecond speed, automatically pricing complex sets of financial instruments with extremely low error tolerance, and analysing huge volumes of data. Our systems are built to add to the stability of the market, not detract from it; therefore they must operate at peak efficiency in the most extreme market conditions. To achieve this, our user interfaces must present coherent, responsive, real-time visualisations of market activity and system performance while providing intuitive control of a highly complex system.  The atmosphere we work in is fast, but incredibly exciting. This makes Technology at Optiver a great challenge in which expertise, innovation and fun go hand-in-hand every day.

Who we are:

Optiver is a tech-driven trading firm and leading global market maker. As one of the oldest market making institutions, we are a trusted partner of 70+ exchanges across the globe. Our mission is to constantly improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency and acting as a stabilising force no matter the market conditions. With a focus on continuous improvement, we participate in the safeguarding of healthy and efficient markets for everyone who participates.

As one of the world’s major financial centres, London was selected as the home of Optiver’s FX trading business, our UK-focused Institutional Trading Team and rapidly growing commodities trading arm of the business. Established in 2019, Optiver’s London office is quickly growing as a key player in the FX market. With its position in England’s capital city bridging European, Asian and American time zones, Optiver London embraces a truly global mindset. And it’s no wonder why. London is one of the most diverse cities in the world, comprising more than 270 nationalities and 300 languages.

What you'll do:

Being part of our Automated Trading Technology Team, you are responsible for the full stack of applications required to run the trading business. Activities range from developing ultra-low-latency exchange protocol encoders and decoders, writing and fine-tuning our automated trading strategies, and helping our monitoring and analysis effort by creating and extending user interfaces to provide the traders with more information and control. You interact closely with traders and researchers to understand the business needs and design effective solutions. Sitting on the trading floor you will be amidst the action and get instant feedback on the results of your work and ramp up our data driven trading.

In this video, you can watch Dovile Vitonyte and David Gross, both Software Engineers at Optiver, describe what Engineering entails within an electronic trading firm and what you need to join our Automated Trading Technology Team.

Who you are:

• Mastery of one or more OOP languages (e.g. C++, C# or Java) or C;
• The ability and desire to write simple and clean code;
• A solid grasp of computer science, algorithms, memory, and concurrency models, CPU-architecture, operating systems, relational databases;
• A low-level understanding of systems being able to comprehend physical constraints and latency challenges;
• An entrepreneurial attitude with an interest and an affinity to trading problems;
• An ambition to stay on top of things and keep improving.

What you’ll get:

You will be part of a well-established and high performing global firm whilst experiencing the excitement that comes from a growing operation. As our London operations grows there is a real opportunity to make a huge impact and take us and your career to a new level. We offer a supportive environment for you to perform at your best. Some of our key benefits include:

• Competitive remuneration
• 27 paid vacation days, plus all UK public holidays
• Daily breakfast and lunch
• Home to office commute covered
• 50% paid gym subscription  
• Private Medical Insurance
• Pension scheme
• Training and continuous learning opportunities
• Access to conferences and continuous training/development
• International transfer opportunities

When applying for a role with Optiver UK Limited, the recruitment process is run via our Optiver global recruitment team. The personal data you will submit as part of the recruitment process may be processed in the UK, US and the Netherlands. By continuing with your application you hereby consent to your personal data being processed in these locations. More information on how Optiver processes your personal data can be found in our Privacy Policy.

Diversity Statement:

As an intentionally flat organisation, we believe that great ideas and impact can come from everyone. We are passionate about empowering individuals and creating diverse teams that thrive. Every person at Optiver should feel included, valued and respected, because we believe our best work is done together. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is hardwired through every stage of our hiring process. We encourage applications from candidates from any and all backgrounds, and we welcome requests for reasonable adjustments during the process to ensure that you can best demonstrate your abilities.