Optiver
Quantitative Trading Internship
Leading global electronic market maker committed to improving the world’s financial markets
Banking and investment
Intern
Office | Sydney, NSW, Australia
Visa sponsorship · No
Entry Level · A role for someone with underlying potential, good motivation and ability to learn. Typically no direct experience is required.
·
Why Optiver
Create better access and prices for all – that’s our goal for financial markets the world over. As a leading global electronic market maker, we are dedicated to our mission of continuously improving the market. It’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly. It’s the driving force behind our business. Even in times of extreme volatility, we stay the course. Resolute in our belief that the market should always be liquid for economies to thrive.
As one of the oldest market-making institutions, we’re a trusted partner of exchanges. Our contribution to them ensures they remain stable, transparent and competitive. We provide liquidity to financial markets using our own capital, at our own risk, trading a wide range of products: listed derivatives, cash equities, ETFs, bonds, and foreign currencies.
We strongly believe in the positive power of the world’s markets. That’s why we’re committed to leading the way in market making for environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) products.
Optiver is a global company with offices in Amsterdam, Sydney, Chicago, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, London and Singapore.
About the role
As our Quantitative Trading Intern, you’ll spend your summer tackling complex, quantitative problems at one of the world’s leading tech-driven trading firms. Under the guidance and mentorship of industry experts, you’ll apply your strong reasoning skills to design, develop and enhance our innovative trading strategies, fully immersing in the world of market making.
From derivative theory training to hands-on trading experience, you’ll have deepened your understanding of the quantitative trading industry by the end of the 8-week internship. Plus, if you’ve excelled over the summer, you’ll receive an offer to return as a Graduate Quantitative Trader.
What you’ll do Requiring a pragmatic mindset, logical problem-solving skills and mathematical precision, our internship is as close as you can get to a real trading experience. Led by our dedicated in-house education team that consists of ex-traders and engineers, our Quantitative Trading Internship offers you the opportunity to:
- Complete our curated series of lectures and coursework on trading fundamentals, covering topics such as options pricing, financial markets, trading strategies and cutting-edge technology.
- Apply your recently acquired knowledge in a simulated trading environment, trading options using live market data for a realistic hands-on experience.
- Analyse real historical data to develop your own algorithmic trading strategy and backtest to see how it performed.
- Learn directly from our team of full-time educators and current traders, gaining exposure to our various trading desks and experience the financial markets first-hand.
- Push your limits and accelerate your growth in a fascinating and high-performing environment. Find your niche in trading During the internship, you will gain exposure to the various trading desks at Optiver**. **Discover some of our teams below.
- Read Will’s story to discover how he leverages the data available to make informed trading decisions in the Index Options team**.**
- Read Jason’s story to discover how he uses cutting-edge statistical models and machine learning algorithms to optimise our autotraders in the Delta 1 team.
- Read Matt’s story to discover how he works closely with external counterparties to provide pricing, liquidity and negotiate large trades in the Institutional Trading team.
What you’ll get You’ll join a culture of collaboration and excellence, where you’ll be surrounded by curious thinkers and creative problem solvers. Driven by a passion for continuous improvement, you’ll thrive in a supportive, high-performing environment alongside talented colleagues, working collectively to tackle the most complex problems in the financial markets.
In addition, you’ll receive:
- A highly competitive remuneration package.
- Optiver-covered flights and accommodation for the duration of the internship.
- The opportunity to work alongside best-in-class professionals.
- Training, mentorship and personal development opportunities.
- Gym membership, plus weekly in-house chair massages.
- Daily breakfast, lunch and in-house barista.
- Regular social events.
Who you are
- A penultimate university student. If you are a pre-penultimate university student, discover our 2025 FutureFocus program and apply today.
- An Australian or New Zealand Citizen, Australian Permanent Resident or able to provide evidence of full working rights.
- Lateral thinker, with a passion for quantitative problems and working in collaborative, dynamic environments.
- Holds superior quantitative and logical reasoning skills.
- Experienced in programming or scripting in Python a plus.
What you'll be responsible for
- 📊
Financial and Market Analysis
Conduct financial analysis and market research to inform investment and capital allocation decisions
- ♾
Financial Modeling
Analyze data to create financial models that support planning and projections
- 🤝
Client/Investor Relationship Management
Build and maintain strong relationships with clients and investors, providing ongoing support throughout the transaction lifecycle
Skills you'll need
- 💪🏼
Resilience
Bounces back from stressful experiences while being optimistic, emotionally aware, and adapts to change
- 🧮
Numerical problem solving
Works with numerical information and performs mathematical calculations to solve problems
- 🔍
Attention to detail
Accurately identifies and rectifies discrepancies or errors that exists in information and deliverables
Meet the team
