Optiver
Graduate Quantitative Trader
Leading global electronic market maker committed to improving the world’s financial markets
Banking and investment
Full-time
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.
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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 Graduate Quantitative Trader, you’ll develop cutting-edge strategies that directly impact and improve the global financial markets. You’ll manage a trading book as part of a team of expert traders and work alongside researchers and engineers to design, develop and enhance trading strategies, fully immersing in the world of market making.
If you have a pragmatic mindset, logical problem-solving skills and mathematical precision, you are the ideal candidate for this role. Join us and be a part of a dynamic team where you can make a meaningful impact.
What you’ll do Your onboarding and training Kickstart your training in the Optiver Academy, our four-week global training program in Amsterdam. Here you’ll learn from our dedicated in-house education team and other industry experts through a series of lectures, coursework and collaborative project work.
Following this, the comprehensive training program in Sydney will equip you with the knowledge needed to make an impact from the moment you join your trading desk. You’ll learn the intricacies of option theory and apply your knowledge in a simulated trading environment, so that you can hit the trading floor with confidence at the end of the nine-week program. We believe a realistic hands-on experience is the best way to learn, and that is exactly what we provide.
After joining one of the teams on the floor, you’ll trade and gain a deeper insight into the different products and trading strategies within the team. Our education team will continue to provide training through a curated series of lectures over your first 12 months as a graduate trader.
Your responsibilities From your first day on the trading floor, you’ll have the autonomy and responsibility to make decisions that create an immediate impact. Every day will present you with new and interesting challenges to solve, and it’s up to you and your team to drive our success through Optiver’s market-leading technology-stack. Key responsibilities may include:
- Trading, while constantly looking for creative quantitative solutions to real-world events, ahead of the competition.
- Developing robust pricing models and algorithms to offer the best price on the products you trade.
- Building tools, conducting analysis and leading projects that take your team’s trading strategies to the next level.
- Working collectively with our talented team of traders, engineers and researchers, to solve complex problems and remain at the forefront of the industry.
- Seeking continuous improvement in everything you do.
Find your niche in trading We offer a range of opportunities in our trading teams and we'll work with you to ensure the role is most suitable for you. Below are examples of the different roles available.
- 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 prices, 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 performance-based bonus structure unmatched anywhere in the industry. We combine our profits across desks, teams and offices into a global profit pool, fostering a truly collaborative environment.
- 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 an in-house barista.
- Regular social events, including an annual company trip.
Who you are
- Final year university student or recent graduate. 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.
- Experience with programming or scripting in Python is a plus.
What you'll be responsible for
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Financial and Market Analysis
Conduct financial analysis and market research to inform investment and capital allocation decisions
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Financial Modeling
Analyze data to create financial models that support planning and projections
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Client/Investor Relationship Management
Build and maintain strong relationships with clients and investors, providing ongoing support throughout the transaction lifecycle
Skills you'll need
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Resilience
Bounces back from stressful experiences while being optimistic, emotionally aware, and adapts to change
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Numerical problem solving
Works with numerical information and performs mathematical calculations to solve problems
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Attention to detail
Accurately identifies and rectifies discrepancies or errors that exists in information and deliverables