Graduate Quantitative Trader - 2026

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.

Optiver is committed to diversity and inclusion, and it is hardwired through every stage of our hiring process. We encourage applications from candidates from any and all backgrounds, and we welcome requests for reasonable adjustments during the process to ensure that you can best demonstrate your abilities.

Questions? Check out our Optiver Sydney Campus recruiting FAQs or get in touch with the team at careers@optiver.com.au.

We accept one application per role per year. If you have previously applied to this position during this season and have been unsuccessful, you can re-apply when the next recruitment season begins in 2026.