In this role, you'll be instrumental in enhancing our alpha research and trading capabilities. We're looking for someone with a solid background in developing large-scale data platforms, ready to apply their senior engineering expertise to our challenges. Your responsibility will include leading our approach to building a new platform that meets our research needs, ensuring scalability and efficiency across our global trading operations.

You will join the Delta One Quantitative Research team, where your work on real-time data capture and processing will directly influence our trading strategies for a wide range of products. This role demands a hands-on approach to technical problem-solving and a collaborative mindset to meet the data needs of our traders and researchers. Your efforts will be key to enabling smarter, data-driven decision-making and positioning our trading practices at the forefront of the industry.

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 50+ exchanges across the globe. Our mission is to constantly improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency and acting as a stabilizing 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.

Our Amsterdam office is where it all began. Over 35 years ago, Optiver’s business started with a single trader on the floor of Amsterdam’s European Stock Exchange. Since our 1986 founding, Optiver’s Amsterdam office has grown 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

Some of the things we're doing right now:

• Develop software for live capturing of data from external and internal systems to build a data lake
• Work with trading/researchers to build derived datasets from the data lake, using batch processing to generate a history and using stream processing for real-time data feeds.
• Continuously improve our research framework to allow it to scale to the consumption of arbitrary datasets whilst maintaining point in time correctness and without sacrificing performance
• Engage with stakeholders across the business both inside/outside tech to solve problems around the ingestion and consumption of data
• Develop the frameworks for end users to perform transformations within the data lake, making it easier to plug and play with new datasets
• Mentor junior colleagues and support their growth through PR reviews, feedback sessions and knowledge sharing.

Some of the example projects that you could help us with:

• Design data systems that automate recovery processes with minimal human involvement in case of interruptions or failures
• Build protections into our data systems to ensure that heavy queries on busy days don't result in large scale outages
• Build reconciliation mechanisms into data pipelines to be able to handle problems of late arriving data whilst respecting the point in time correctness of datasets

Who you are

• Excited about solving engineering challenges around the building of a data platform that operates from capture to consumption.
• Experience building a data platform, having made mistakes and confident using what you've learned to construct an even more robust platform
• Reasons about technical fundamentals such as networking, database behaviour and system performance when designing systems
• Familiar with  building batch and stream processing systems for diverse data sources.
• Driven to maintain operational excellence and reduce the dependency on humans within data operations.

What you'll get:

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

Alongside this you will get great secondary benefits such as 25 paid vacation days, fully paid first-class commuting expenses, training opportunities, discounts on health insurance, breakfast and lunch facilities, sports 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:

Apply directly via the form below for the position of Software Engineer – Data Platform Please provide us with a CV and letter of motivation in English. Applications without a letter of motivation will not be reviewed. When we think there is a potential match, you will hear from us sooner than you expect. If you have any questions feel free to contact our Recruiter Tommy Smith ([email protected]) Please note, we cannot accept applications via email for data protection reasons. 

If you are selected from your application to proceed to the next round for the position of Software Engineer – Data Platform you will be required to take an online assessment.

Kindly note that we do not require any assistance from third-parties including agencies in the recruitment of this role.

Diversity Statement

As an intentionally flat organization, 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