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.

Optiver Chicago’s culture parallels the energetic city we’re immersed in. Home to the Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago Board Options Exchange, and Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago has established itself as the trading capital of the US. Active on leading US exchanges, Optiver’s Chicago office trades a wide range of products from listed derivatives to cash equities, ETFs, bonds and foreign exchange.

What you’ll do:

At Optiver, we hire academically accomplished, intellectually well-rounded thinkers and we mold them into great traders. Considering, no prior trading knowledge is needed. Your career here will begin with six months of comprehensive training on the fundamentals of trading: theory, markets, strategies and cutting-edge technology.                    

From there, you’re off and trading. You and your team, armed with a vast amount of proprietary data, will develop cutting edge statistical models to predict future prices, and design strategies to best execute in fast-moving environments. The only constant in the market is change and what worked today may not work tomorrow. And you definitely won’t have to wait until tomorrow to see the impact of your decisions. It requires nimble, decisive thinking and bold action.

Who you are:

• Graduating with a Bachelors, Masters, or PhD in a STEM field
• Have an expected graduation date between December 2022 and June 2023 (Spring and Fall 2023 start dates available)
• Superior quantitative and logical reasoning skills
• Interest in strategic games and/or competitive activities
• Experience with programming or scripting in Python is a plus

What you’ll get:

• Work alongside best-in-class professionals from over 40 different countries.
• Performance based bonus structure that is unmatched anywhere in the industry. We combine our profits across desks, teams and offices into a global profit pool fostering a truly collaborative environment to work in.
• Ownership over initiatives that directly solve business problems.  

Alongside this you will get great other benefits such as 25 paid vacation days and market holidays, fully paid commuting expenses and health insurance, daily breakfast and lunch, training opportunities, 401(k) match up to 50% and charitable match opportunities, regular social events and clubs, and many more.

*We accept one trading application per role per year. If you have previously applied to a trading position in any office  during this season and have been unsuccessful or have taken our Zyvo assessment within the past 12 months, you can reapply once the next recruitment season begins in 2023.