Software Engineer Internship - 2026

As a Software Engineer Intern at Optiver, you’ll work alongside experienced engineers to develop innovative solutions that enable us to respond to the financial markets at lightning-fast speeds.

Kickstart your learning in our renowned training program, where you’ll learn the fundamentals of trading and complete a C++ Developer course. Then, you’ll apply this knowledge in an impactful project that solves real-world challenges. In just a few weeks, you could develop latency-critical applications that contribute towards our trading success.

By the end of the 12-week internship, you’ll have deepened your understanding of how technology is used in the quantitative trading industry. Plus, if you’ve excelled over the summer, you’ll receive an offer for a return internship and/or as a Graduate Software Engineer.

What you’ll do

Led by our in-house education team that consists of ex-traders and engineers, you’ll delve into advanced engineering concepts and lead innovative projects, during our world-class training program. Whether it's developing ultra-low latency exchange protocol encoders and decoders, or fine-tuning our automated trading strategies and pricing models, you’ll work closely with traders and other engineers to build simple, well-architected solutions that meet the needs of our business.

You’ll experience the excitement of a fast-paced development cycle – owning a tight feedback loop, testing and shipping your code to production. You could be working on a change to a trading system in the morning and see it run live by the afternoon. No two days are the same, and it’s up to you and your team to drive our success in the ever-evolving capital markets.

Aside from technical skills, our education team will also work with you on your development, including:  

• Workshops on a variety of tech-based topics, along with soft skills to support your holistic growth as an engineer.
• A dedicated mentor who will guide you through our development process and how our trading systems work.
• Trader training to get you up to speed on our business. This helps you understand the fundamentals of trading, enabling you to make an impact from the early stages of your Optiver career.

Find your niche in technology

We offer a range of opportunities in our technology teams. Discover the exciting projects that you could work on during your internship. 

• Read Bharath’s story to discover the market-facing projects that he’s working on, to ensure our automated systems meet the requirements to trade safely with the exchange.
• Read Lena’s story on production engineering, where they build tools and systems that enable us to trade smoothly.
• Read Brenda’s story on delivering low-latency, high-throughput systems that improve our connectivity to the financial market.

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 highly competitive remuneration package, including an attractive bonus structure and additional leave entitlements.
• Corporate health insurance
• Training, mentorship and personal development opportunities
• Daily breakfast, lunch and snacks
• Weekly in-house chair massages
• Regular social events

Who you are

• Optiver encourages Singaporean nationals or Singapore Permanent Residents to apply.
• A university student graduating in December 2026 or later.
• Studying a Computer Science, Software/Electrical/Mechatronic Engineering or similarly technical degree.
• Problem solver who will enjoy building high-performing, low latency designs that critically impact trading success.
• Curious to learn and comfortable exploring complex technical ideas.
• Have a range of out-of-classroom projects or extra-curricular activities that demonstrates your passion in technology, particularly software development.
• Excited to work alongside the best engineers and traders in the industry, with the humility to continually upskill and improve yourself.
• Knowledgeable about object-orientated design and development concepts (experience with C++, Java or Python is required for our technical assessment).

Diversity statement

Optiver is committed to diversity and inclusion. 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.

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.