---
title: 'Software Engineer, Early Career at Aquatic Capital Management'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-early-career-aquatic-capital-management-chicago-3xc4zkmhmyp6'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# Software Engineer, Early Career at Aquatic Capital Management

- **Company:** Aquatic Capital Management
- **Location:** Chicago, IL / New York, NY
- **Posted:** 2026-04-01
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/aquaticcapitalmanagement/jobs/8489226002

## Job description

Aquatic was founded with a shared passion for tackling some of the most complex challenges in one of the world’s most competitive arenas—global financial markets. From the very beginning, we have been driven by a deep commitment to applying cutting-edge scientific research and technological innovation to deliver unparalleled performance. Our journey is one of continuous growth and exploration, marked by a spirit of curiosity and relentless drive for excellence.

At Aquatic, we are actively recruiting for software engineers in our Chicago or New York offices. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with some of the best and most experienced researchers and technologists in the financial services industry to build systems that are critical to the success of our company.

Aquatic is a place where individual contributions have significant impact. As an Early Career engineer, you will rotate through 2 or 3 different technology teams, where your day-to-day will be focused on building systems that directly contribute to the profitability of the firm. As your skills and experience grow, you’ll have opportunities to dive deeper into the research technologies at the core of Aquatic’s business.

Responsibilities:

- Work 1-on-1 with senior engineers who will mentor and guide you in each tech rotation
- Apply hands-on software development using Python or C++
- Learn software design and testing techniques, such as Refactoring and Test Driven Development

Required Experience:

- A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent
- A history of building software solutions in Python or C++. Stronger candidates will have knowledge of:
- Event-driven architectures
- Distributed systems
- Strong quantitative skills preferred
- No more than 3 years of professional (post-education) experience

Desired Qualities:

- Strong bias for action
- Enthusiasm for detail
- Eager to learn through direct mentoring
- Prefers working in a team towards common objectives
- Comfortable providing and receiving actionable feedback
- Motivated by an ambitious environment and driven colleagues

The base salary for this role is anticipated to be between $150,000 and $200,000, which is based on information at the time of posting. This position may also be eligible for additional forms of compensation, such as a discretionary bonus, and benefits. Discretionary bonus can be a significant portion of total compensation. Actual compensation for successful candidates will be carefully determined based on a number of factors, including their unique skills, qualifications and relevant experience. Benefits:

- Benefits: For full-time employees, fully paid medical, dental, and vision for employees and dependents, competitive 401k plan, employer-paid life & disability insurance
- Perks: Wellness programs, casual dress, snacks, lunch, game room, team and company events
- Development: Open environment to maximize learning and knowledge sharing
- Time: Generous PTO, paid holidays, competitive paid caregiver leaves

[Aquatic Capital](https://www.aquatic.com/)

This role represents a unique opportunity to join a quantitative investment manager in its early stage of growth. The firm’s culture will be shaped by collaboration, meritocracy, ambition, and calm determination.

Aquatic is a proud equal opportunity workplace. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics.

## About Aquatic Capital Management

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Aquatic Capital Management is a quantitative investment management firm that combines a high-performance research and development platform with disciplined risk management to manage systematic strategies.
- **Entity Type**: Private (no disclosed funding rounds)
- **Headquarters**: Chicago, Illinois, United States
- **Founded**: Year not publicly available
- **Founders**: Jonathan Graham

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Financial Services (systematic quantitative investing)
- Target customers: Institutional investors (B2B)
- Mission or purpose statement: "Building a lasting quantitative investment manager" and "applying science and technology to build the world’s best prediction machine" [aquatic.com](https://www.aquatic.com/)

## Products & Services
- **Systematic Investment Strategies**: The firm manages quantitative strategies across global financial markets, leveraging a proprietary R&D platform for alpha generation and risk management.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: Estimated annual revenue in the range of $5–15 million (unverified third-party estimate) [leadiq.com](https://leadiq.com/c/aquatic-capital-management/5dc09ebcfdf36bee53c436ab). Official figures not disclosed.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not disclosed; the firm commits its own capital alongside investors.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount of ~100 employees (+3.5% YoY) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aquatic). LinkedIn followers grew +47.7% yearly. Active job postings increased +433.3% yearly, indicating aggressive hiring [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aquatic).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Talent Concentration**: Small, nimble team of best-in-class researchers and engineers in a carefully architected environment optimized for quiet focus and collaboration [aquatic.com](https://www.aquatic.com/).
- **Founder Experience**: Jonathan Graham spent 13+ years at Citadel as a Partner and Senior Managing Director, leading the Global Quantitative Strategies business [aquatic.com](https://www.aquatic.com/).
- **Culture of Meritocracy**: Values diverse backgrounds, collaboration, and steady determination with a flat structure where every voice counts [aquatic.com](https://www.aquatic.com/).
- **Commitment to Carbon Neutrality**: Differentiator for environmentally conscious talent [aquatic.com](https://www.aquatic.com/).

## Strategic Focus
- Continued investment in applied scientific research and development to build a lasting quantitative investment manager [aquatic.com](https://www.aquatic.com/).
- Scaling the team across research, technology, and operations, with active hiring in Chicago, New York, and London [greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/aquaticcapitalmanagement).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Casual, relaxed environment designed for deep work and innovation; daily catered meals, happy hours, and office perks [aquatic.com](https://www.aquatic.com/).
- **Work Model**: Offices in Chicago (HQ), New York, and London. Hybrid/remote policy not explicitly stated; roles appear office-based.
- **Benefits**: Comprehensive benefits, mentoring and development programs, open source projects, and "Vacation++" policy [aquatic.com](https://www.aquatic.com/).
- **Engineering & Research Focus**: High concentration of technical and research roles (29% technical, 23% research) with a tech stack including Python, C++, PyTorch, Kubernetes, and more [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aquatic).
- **Employee Rating**: 4.4/5.0 (based on 4 reviews) with perfect scores in compensation, culture, and career [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aquatic).

## Sources
1. [aquatic.com](https://www.aquatic.com/)
2. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aquatic)
3. [greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/aquaticcapitalmanagement)
4. [leadiq.com](https://leadiq.com/c/aquatic-capital-management/5dc09ebcfdf36bee53c436ab)

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