---
title: 'Software Engineer Co-Op (January - April 2027) at Optiver Private Jobs'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-co-op-january-april-2027-optiver-private-jobs-chicago-illinois-ar7pzw2xwrjn'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-23'
---

# Software Engineer Co-Op (January - April 2027) at Optiver Private Jobs

- **Company:** Optiver Private Jobs
- **Location:** Chicago Illinois, United States
- **Compensation:** $70k–$85k
- **Posted:** 2026-09-21
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-23
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/optiverprivate/jobs/8784302002

## Job description

Applications will be open for this role through Sunday, September 27th via Handshake.

As a Software Engineer Intern in our Coop (January - April 2027), you’ll work side-by-side with your mentor and teammates to build real-world applications that power a global trading firm. Your projects will be scoped based on your team’s real needs — not hypothetical tasks — and your mentor will be fully invested in helping you build high-quality software that’s designed to last. You’ll contribute to meaningful projects solving trading problems and improving the performance, reliability, and scalability of our systems — and you’ll see your code hit production in real time.

Optiver is building with cutting edge AI technology in the most competitive, data rich landscapes in the world: financial markets. That means no two days are the same, and every day brings new, exciting technical challenges to solve.

This opportunity is exclusively available in our Chicago office.

What you’ll do:

Our Coop is designed for fast thinkers with a critical mindset and a drive to solve tough problems. You’ll experience what it’s like to be a full-time engineer at a leading trading firm – working on projects that push the limits of performance, efficiency, and real-world impact. Mentored by Optiver engineers, our program gives you the opportunity to:

- Deep dive into trading fundamentals, from theoretical concepts to financial markets, strategies, AI-enabled tools and cutting-edge technology.

- Collaborate closely with best-in-class engineers, traders, and business teams to develop, test, and ship your code to production.

- Tackle complex, real-world problems to enhance your critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

- Push your limits and accelerate your growth in a fascinating and high-performing environment.

What you’ll get:

You’ll join a culture of collaboration and excellence, surrounded by curious thinkers and creative problem-solvers. Motivated by a passion for continuous improvement, you’ll thrive in a supportive, high-performing environment alongside talented colleagues, collectively tackling some of the toughest challenges in the financial markets.

In addition, you’ll receive:

- The opportunity to work alongside best-in-class professionals from over 40 different countries

- A highly-competitive internship compensation package

- Optiver-covered flights, living accommodations, and commuting stipends

- Extensive office perks, including breakfast, lunch and snacks, regular social events, clubs, sporting leagues and more

Who you are:

- A student pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s, or PhD in Computer Science or Computer Engineering

- On track to graduate between December 2027 to June 2028, with junior standing or higher

- Passionate for writing clean code, well-architected systems, and continuous improvement

- Proficient in coding languages such as C++, Python, or Java

- A student with strong engineering instincts and a solid understanding of computer science fundamentals

- Driven by an entrepreneurial mindset and curious about how tech powers the financial industry

- A natural problem-solver with a sharp, analytical approach to tackling challenges

- A collaborative teammate comfortable working with developers, traders and business teams

Who we are:

Optiver is a leading technology- and research-driven trading firm. Our teams of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and traders work side by side to develop, test, and scale ideas that shape how we understand and trade global markets. Powered by a global platform built for rapid experimentation and iteration, we combine the scientific rigor of a research institution with the pace of a technology company.

Our differences are our edge. Optiver does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, or other legally protected characteristics. Optiver is supportive of US immigration sponsorship for this role.

Optiver has a global application re-apply policy for our intern and graduate roles. If you have completed an online assessment or interviewed for a technology graduate or internship role at any Optiver location in the past 8 months, please note that you are not yet eligible to reapply. We welcome you to re-apply to after the 8-month cool off period.

Below is the expected compensation for this position. This is a good-faith estimate of the base pay scale and sign-on bonus for this position and offers will ultimately be determined based on experience, education, skill set, and performance in the interview process. This position will also be eligible for the benefits listed above.

Base Salary Range $70,000—$85,000 USD

## About Optiver Private Jobs

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Optiver is a technology-driven global market maker that provides liquidity and accurate pricing across exchanges using advanced quantitative research, low-latency engineering, and risk management.
- **Entity Type**: Private (bootstrapped, no external funding disclosed)
- **Headquarters**: Amsterdam, Netherlands (with major offices in Chicago, Austin, Sydney, Shanghai, Singapore, and London)
- **Founded**: 1986
- **Founders**: Johann Kaemingk, Arnold van der Woude, and Juul Jansen (original founders of the Amsterdam trading floor)

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Financial services, market making, proprietary trading, quantitative finance
- **Target customers**: Exchanges, institutional investors, brokers (B2B/wholesale); as a liquidity provider, Optiver serves the broader financial ecosystem
- **Mission or purpose**: "To constantly improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency, and acting as a stabilising force no matter the market conditions."

## Products & Services
- **Market Making**: Pricing and trading a broad universe of instruments — options, ETFs, equities, bonds, currencies — across more than 100 global exchanges
- **Quantitative Research**: Using deep learning, LLMs, statistical modelling, and reinforcement learning to extract predictive signals from market and alternative data
- **Low-Latency Technology**: Building proprietary high-speed trading systems with C++, FPGA hardware, and large-scale data platforms
- **Risk Management**: Sophisticated real-time exposure management and probabilistic pricing models

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private firm)
- **Key Metric**: Executes over 10 million trades daily; connects to 70+ exchanges as a trusted market maker (as stated on the company website)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: None (self-funded); partners include exchanges globally
- **Growth Signals**: Continues to expand offices (Austin opened as innovation hub), invests heavily in machine learning and AI workflows, and maintains consistent hiring across trading, research, and engineering teams worldwide

## Competitive Advantages
- **40 years of compounding market experience and historical data**: Decades of proprietary market data and broker relationships provide a foundation for predictive models that newer firms lack.
- **Technology-first culture**: In-house FPGA, C++, and large-scale data engineering teams build systems where a 1% improvement shows up across millions of live decisions — giving a measurable edge.
- **Global scale with local expertise**: A network of offices in different time zones and regulatory regimes (US, Europe, APAC) enables 24/7 trading and adaptation to local market structures.
- **Attracts top talent**: Known for highly competitive compensation, global profit sharing, and a collaborative, non-hierarchical environment that draws engineers, quants, and traders from top universities and tech companies.

## Strategic Focus
- **Deepening AI/ML integration**: Expanding use of machine learning, LLMs, and reinforcement learning in pricing and signal generation.
- **Innovation in hardware**: Continued investment in FPGA acceleration and low-latency network infrastructure to maintain millisecond-level advantages.
- **Talent growth**: Scaling offices in growth hubs like Austin and Shanghai, with a focus on quantitative research, software/hardware engineering, and data science.
- **Global expansion**: Connecting to new exchanges and instrument classes to broaden liquidity provision.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as "collaboration and excellence" with "curious thinkers and creative problem-solvers"; a flat structure where engineers work directly with traders.
- **Work policy**: Hybrid/in-office depending on role; offices offer extensive perks (breakfast, lunch, snacks, social events, clubs, sporting leagues) and 25 paid vacation days plus market holidays.
- **Compensation**: Highly competitive base salaries (e.g., FPGA Engineer base $200k in Chicago), discretionary bonuses, global profit-sharing pool, 401k match up to 50%, and comprehensive health/benefits.
- **Engineering culture**: Emphasis on low-level systems, FPGAs, C++, and big data; teams own projects from concept to production with rapid experimentation cycles.
- **Global mobility**: Opportunities to rotate or relocate between offices in Chicago, Austin, Sydney, Shanghai, Singapore, and Amsterdam.

## Sources
1. [optiver.com](https://www.optiver.com/)
2. [optiver.com/join-us](https://www.optiver.com/join-us/)
3. [optiver.com/join-us/jobs](https://www.optiver.com/join-us/jobs/)
4. [greenhouse.io (Optiver Private Jobs) - FPGA Engineer posting](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/optiverprivate/jobs/8375608002)

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