--- title: 'Quantitative Researcher (Experienced) at Valkyrie Trading' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/quantitative-researcher-experienced-valkyrie-trading-chicago-2y250cqw4jwk' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-11' --- # Quantitative Researcher (Experienced) at Valkyrie Trading - **Company:** Valkyrie Trading - **Location:** Chicago, IL - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2022-12-12 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/valkyrietrading/c4b4fe8f-bcec-4b4e-a5dd-cbd26f1f4943 ## Job description What You’ll Do: At Valkyrie, Quantitative Researchers are expected to apply their quantitative skill set to solve challenging problems in financial modeling, algorithm development, and system optimizations. In this role, you will have an opportunity to work with traders and software developers in a highly collaborative environment to improve Valkyrie’s complex, ever-evolving algorithmic infrastructure. Specific responsibilities can range from building tools for traders to exploring new trading ideas, to writing algorithms from scratch, to automating and refining existing strategies, to analyzing and optimizing system performance. You will also inform traders about the market developments, tools, and models that drive Valkyrie’s trading activities. Quantitative Researchers here focus on one of two areas: modeling or execution. Modeling Quantitative Researchers are expected to design automated market-making and risk management algorithms, and to build statistically driven position taking strategies. Execution Quantitative Researchers are expected to perform post-trade analysis, system behavior investigations, algo parameter optimizations, market microstructure studies, and other execution system optimizations. This role is for experienced applicants. Those with 3+ years of relevant experience will be considered for a Senior-level role. What You’ll Need: - 2+ years of full-time, professional experience in quantitative research, trading, or technology role—ideally in an algorithmic trading firm or a similar high-performance environment - Degree in mathematics, physics, engineering, computer science or equivalent - Ability to write and maintain a repository of clean, organized, object-oriented Python code; C++ experience is a plus - Proven experience in Options and volatility modeling, or statistical analysis on large data sets OR Diagnosing and optimizing algo logic in latency-sensitive or high-throughput distributed systems - Expertise working with MySQL or similar databases in conducting historical research and back-testing - Passion for innovation and solving open-ended, data-rich problems - Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to explain complex, technical ideas clearly - Collaborative attitude with a competitive drive and comfort with metrics-based performance evaluation - Practical mindset with a focus on delivering impactful, production-grade solutions What You’ll Get: - Competitive salaries and performance bonuses - Top-tier medical and dental coverage - Relocation assistance packages - Generous vacation policy - Training opportunities and continuing education - Catered lunch, snacks, and beverages - Group outings and company parties - Casual dress environment Salary range - $155,000 - $190,000 a year - This position is also eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. Our Vision - Valkyrie’s vision is to be an organization where curious, driven, and innovative people are able to compete and win in the world’s most competitive landscape – the financial markets.   Daily competition in the financial markets provides the ideal arena to push ourselves further as we are ever striving to grow, improve, and win.  We recognize that there are extraordinary opportunities to be had every day, and by exploring, collaborating, and building, we can accomplish remarkable results together. ## About Valkyrie Trading ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Valkyrie Trading builds high-performance automated trading systems to embrace trading opportunities in modern derivatives markets. - **Entity Type**: Private (Privately Held) - **Headquarters**: Chicago, Illinois, United States - **Founded**: 2011 - **Founders**: James Yeung (Co-Founder and Partner) ## Core Business - **Primary industries**: Capital Markets / Proprietary Derivatives Trading - **Target customers**: The firm trades for its own account (not client-facing). It operates in B2B market infrastructure and is a market-making/prop trading firm. - **Mission or purpose**: To tackle complex and practical challenges in dynamic financial markets by building cutting-edge technology from the ground up, with a focus on quantitative innovation and data-driven decision-making. ## Products & Services - **Automated Trading Systems**: Proprietary, in-house developed high-frequency and algorithmic trading software for derivatives (options, futures). - **Quantitative Research & Modeling**: Data science-driven strategy development that bridges trading and software teams. - **Market Making & Execution**: Real-time trading operations across global derivatives exchanges. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not disclosed (private company). - **Key Metric**: Total employees ~44 (as of 2026); headcount growth -1.9% YoY. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Privately held; no external funding rounds disclosed. Partners include James Yeung, Sean Tseng, Brian Severyn. - **Growth Signals**: Active hiring for Junior Software Engineer, Junior Derivatives Trader, and Trade Support Engineer roles (2026-2027 start dates). LinkedIn follower growth of +19.7% year-over-year. High employer rating (4.4/5, 22 reviews) and strong culture/career scores (4.6/5). ## Competitive Advantages - **Collaborative, flat structure**: “No one is a cog in the machine” – developers, traders, and quants work closely together, iterating daily. - **In-house technology**: All trading systems built from scratch, giving full control over speed and optimization. - **Data-centric culture**: Decisions guided by quantitative analysis, not intuition. - **Location in Chicago’s derivatives hub**: Access to talent and proximity to CME/CBOE. ## Strategic Focus - **Growth through talent**: Prioritizing campus recruiting for junior roles (no internships for 2026-2027, but a potential Trading Boot Camp is being explored). - **Technology & automation**: Continually improving trading system performance, scalability, and reliability. - **Global expansion**: Distributed workforce (United States, Namibia, Germany, Canada) and European hours trading desk. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Highly collaborative, data-driven, and entrepreneurial. Employees report very high culture and career satisfaction (4.6/5). - **Remote/hybrid/office**: All current job listings are **on-site** in Chicago, IL. - **Benefits**: Health insurance (PPO/HMO/HSA), dental, vision, daily lunch, discount gym memberships, performance bonuses. - **Engineering culture**: Developers work on real-time trading systems, solving challenging problems in programming, networking, and latency optimization. Direct impact on firm profitability. - **Compensation**: Competitive – Senior Software Engineer ~$165K/year, Senior Trader ~$174K/year (based on public salary data from LinkedIn). ## Sources 1. [valkyrietrading.com – What We Do](https://www.valkyrietrading.com/what-we-do/) 2. [valkyrietrading.com – Careers & Benefits](https://www.valkyrietrading.com/careers/) 3. [LinkedIn – Valkyrie Trading](https://linkedin.com/company/valkyrie-trading) 4. [Lever – Valkyrie Trading Jobs](https://jobs.lever.co/valkyrietrading) 5. [Built In Chicago – Valkyrie Trading Profile](https://www.builtinchicago.org/company/valkyrie-trading) ## Other roles at Valkyrie Trading - [Trade Support Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/trade-support-engineer-valkyrie-trading-chicago-qfjr3e20qfkm) — Chicago, IL - [Junior Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/junior-software-engineer-valkyrie-trading-chicago-y759dwa8ssd9) — Chicago, IL - [Junior Derivatives Trader](https://feeny.ai/job/junior-derivatives-trader-valkyrie-trading-chicago-7cyxk76a67nx) — Chicago, IL - [Derivatives Trader (European Hours)](https://feeny.ai/job/derivatives-trader-european-hours-valkyrie-trading-chicago-wsebwn6epr39) — Chicago, IL - [Senior Derivatives Trader (Experienced)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-derivatives-trader-experienced-valkyrie-trading-chicago-p2vjp65dv1qk) — Chicago, IL