Can you solve this puzzle?

An ant leaves its anthill in order to forage for food. It moves with the speed of 10cm per second, but it doesn’t know where to go, therefore every second it moves randomly 10cm directly north, south, east or west with equal probability.

1. If the food is located on east-west lines 20cm to the north and 20cm to the south, as well as on north-south lines 20cm to the east and 20cm to the west from the anthill, how long will it take the ant to reach it on average?
2. What is the average time the ant will reach food if it is located only on a diagonal line passing through (10cm, 0cm) and (0cm, 10cm) points?
3. Can you write a program that comes up with an estimate of average time to find food for any closed boundary around the anthill? What would be the answer if food is located outside an area defined by ( (x – 2.5cm) / 30cm )2 + ( (y – 2.5cm) / 40cm )2 < 1 in coordinate system where the anthill is located at (x = 0cm, y = 0cm)?

Was that easy to solve? If you enjoy mathematical challenges and writing computer programs, you could be instrumental in the success of Optiver's dynamic trading floor as our next Graduate Quantitative Researcher. With your statistics knowledge and top-tier analytical abilities, you’ll create the insights, reports and proposals that drive impactful new trading strategies. Get ready to collaborate with world-class Traders and Software Engineers from more than 50 countries to improve financial markets across the globe. This is your chance to demonstrate how valuable research and data are to the future of electronic trading.

WHO WE ARE:

At Optiver, our mission is to 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 play an active role in the safeguarding of healthy and efficient markets for all participants. We tackle the toughest problems, challenge the status quo and always aim for excellence. As one of the largest market making institutions, we are a trusted partner on 70+ exchanges across the globe.

Our Amsterdam office is where it all began. Since our founding in 1986, Optiver’s Amsterdam office has developed into one of the most dynamic and exciting trading floors in Europe. Our culture reflects the Dutch capital city’s progressive, innovative and inclusive nature. With its unique spirit, Amsterdam is the ideal hub for our teams to trade a wide range of products, from listed derivatives to cash equities, ETFs, bonds and foreign exchange.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

Quantitative Research acts as the foundation upon which Optiver’s trading activities are built. Our research teams – experts with MSc and PhDs in a variety of STEM subjects – utilise a scientific approach to research and design our world-class trading algorithms. This means applying and developing state-of-the-art stochastic models to price options and predict market volatility, as well as utilising Monte Carlo methods to determine how to perform differentiation on discrete realisations of stochastic processes. It also means developing statistical arbitrage strategies by working with petabytes of low latency, high-frequency market data sets, an extensive high-powered computing back-testing framework and much more.

Optiver Researchers believe in academic discourse, and therefore invite their teammates and Traders to challenge each hypothesis. Can it be mathematically improved? Does it pose a potential risk? Does it exploit a market behavioural pattern? Can is sustain its output goals? Constant testing, analysis, refinement and innovation ensures our quantitative models remain at the cutting-edge of constantly evolving capital markets – you will play a key role in keeping us there.

WHO YOU ARE:

We're looking for Graduate Quantitative Researchers who are versatile, flexible and creative in innovating new solutions. In return, we'll give you the freedom to pursue your ideas and implement them right into our production systems. 

In terms of skills and qualifications, we're looking for:

• An academic degree, with top grades, in Engineering, Physics, Maths, Econometrics, Computer science or equivalent 
• Programming experience in any language (C, C++, Python, Basic, JAVA, etc.)
• Ability to apply basic concepts of probability, calculus and linear algebra
• Competitive attitude and eagerness to constantly improve yourself
• Self-starting, ‘can do’ attitude
• Ability to learn quickly
• Excellent verbal and written English language skills

WHAT YOU’LL GET:

The chance to start your career working alongside best-in-class professionals from over 40 countries.

Alongside this you will get great secondary benefits such as 25 days paid vacation days, full paid first-class commuting expenses, training opportunities, discounts on health insurance, breakfast and lunch facilities, sport and leisure activities, Friday afternoon drinks and even weekly in-house chair massages.

Being highly international, we are accustomed to guiding expats through their relocation, offering competitive relocation packages and providing visa sponsorship where necessary.

HOW TO APPLY: 

Are you interested in furthering your career on one of the most dynamic and exciting trading floors in Europe?

Apply directly via the form below for the position of Graduate Quantitative Researcher. Please provide us with a CV and letter of motivation in English.  Unfortunately we cannot accept applications via email for data protection reasons. 

If your application is selected to proceed to the next round, you will be required to complete online assessments. By submitting your application you are confirming that you will be able to take the assessment within 14 days.

Kindly note that we do not require any assistance from third-parties including agencies in the recruitment of this role. If you have any questions feel free to contact our Recruitment team via [email protected].

*We accept one application per role, per year, across all office locations. If you have applied to this role across any of our offices in the last year and have been unsuccessful, you can reapply once your 8 month waiting period has concluded. Please note: If you reapply before the end of your cooling period, this will be considered your most recent unsuccessful application. For applicants based in India, our entry route is via the placement office internship hiring season (July/August).

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 accommodations during the process to ensure that you can best demonstrate your abilities. Please let us know if you would like to request any reasonable adjustments by contacting the Recruitment team via [email protected].

More information on how Optiver Europe processes your personal data can be found in our Privacy Policy.