Optiver is looking for a Technical Operations Manager to help enable and advance the business’s technology strategy in an operationally sound and scalable manner. The Technical Operations function drives operational excellence within the Tech domain at Optiver – prioritizing and executing numerous projects simultaneously, all while enabling cross-team collaboration and owning multiple business-critical processes. The team focuses on continuous improvement, driving a wide range of initiatives forward consistently with efficiency and efficacy.

 As a member of the Technical Operations and Operational Risk Management team, you will be responsible for operational improvements to allow the business to operate efficiently, effectively, and safely – all while working hand-in-hand with trading, development, and IT operations. If you are interested in gaining experience on the business and technical sides of a leading global trading firm while leveraging and continuing to develop technical operations expertise, this role will provide that opportunity.

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:

• Actively manage and implement strategic improvements to all processes enabling Optiver tech and trading team operations, including:
  • Overseeing the technical change management process, ensuring we're not introducing undue risk into our environment
  • Investigating production events in our environment and coordinating firm-wide incident management and trend analysis
  • Lead coordination efforts to effectively monitor and adapt to any external 3rd party / exchange changes and events that impact production systems
  • Completing new trading initiative due diligence, working with leadership to understand the relative value/risk tradeoff to the firm
• Design and implement continuous updates to Optiver operational processes in an effort to continually improve daily tech and trading efficiency
• Engage with the business through feedback loops and retrospectives to help stakeholder teams achieve optimal performance
• Work collaboratively with members of trading, development, enterprise technology, and IT operations to establish best practices and enable them to do their best work
• Manage access to a wide variety of third-party applications and trading platforms
• Coordinate tech responses to requests from Trading, Business Operations, and control teams related to our core trading activities
• Actively coach and mentor junior operations analysts on communication, leadership, and overall operational effectiveness

Who you are:

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree
• 6 – 9 years of experience working in an operations manager or associate/analyst role, or within an operationally focused team 
• Industry experience working in a technical environment, preferably in financial services, consulting, or tech
• A demonstrated history of operational excellence – both in designing/implementing/improving processes and in running an established process end-to-end
• An ability to manage multiple complex projects concurrently and autonomously
• A high aptitude for understanding the technical requirements to support our trading and corporate infrastructure, along with high curiosity of how our design/implementation decisions tie back to increasing firm profit
• Ability to influence decision-making processes and foster an environment of healthy team debate
• Strong leadership, communication, time management, problem solving, and analytical skills
• Strong risk awareness and the ability to identify imminent risks
• Ability to take abstract problems and turn them into concrete solutions

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.