Optiver is a proprietary trading firm and global market maker. Founded in 1986 in Amsterdam, we have grown to around 2,000 people across offices in Europe, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. We provide liquidity to financial markets using our own capital, at our own risk — trading a broad range of listed derivatives, cash products, and commodities.
Our Singapore office is a key APAC hub, and home to our APAC options trading technology. From Singapore we trade a growing book of commodities across India, China, Australia, and global markets — spanning both listed and over-the-counter products.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
We're looking for an experienced C++ software engineer to join our commodities technology team in Singapore, working closely with the trading desk. You'll build and evolve the systems that price, quote, and execute in our commodity markets — and just as importantly, the data, research, and backtesting infrastructure that powers our systematic and research-driven strategies. The work sits at the intersection of engineering, quantitative research, and trading, with immediate and measurable impact on the business. Your responsibilities will include:
- Partner closely with commodities traders and quant researchers to understand trading objectives — across pricing, quoting, execution, and systematic research — and translate these into robust software systems.
- Build the research, and backtesting infrastructure that powers our systematic strategies. Turn trader and quant ideas into parameterised, production-ready systems, and close the loop from research to live trading.
- Design and implement performance-sensitive trading components where latency matters, grounded in strong engineering fundamentals.
- Contribute to the architecture and evolution of our commodities trading platform — reliable, testable, and low-latency.
- Operate in a fast-paced development environment — testing and deploying code frequently, and iterating closely with the desk on both engineering and research workflows.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
Key requirements:
- At least 3 years' experience as a software engineer working on distributed, low-latency, or data- and research-heavy systems.
- Strong C++ skills, with a good understanding of modern C++ and the performance characteristics of the language.
- Solid grounding in computer science fundamentals — operating systems, data structures, algorithms, concurrency.
- Familiarity with a scripting language such as Python for tooling, research workflows, and automation.
- Comfort using AI tools to accelerate your work where appropriate, without compromising on code quality or runtime performance.
- Genuine enthusiasm for technically challenging problems and for working close to the business.
Nice to have
- Prior experience at an electronic trading firm, or a working knowledge of derivative trading fundamentals.
- Proficiency with data tech such as Spark and Databricks, used for analytics and research workflows.
- Exposure to quantitative research infrastructure, data pipelines, or systematic strategy implementation.
WHAT WE OFFER
- A performance-based bonus structure tied to a global profit pool — designed to reward collaboration across desks, teams, and offices.
- A collegial, intellectual environment surrounded by curious and talented people.
- Serious investment in your development: training, mentorship, internal mobility, and the chance to work alongside some of the strongest engineers and traders in the industry.
- Daily breakfast and lunch, gym membership, and regular in-house chair massages.
- Regular social events and a company-wide weekend trip every two years.
At Optiver, engineers sit at the centre of the business. The code you ship has an immediate, visible impact on the firm's ability to make markets and manage risk. You'll be working on complex, high-stakes problems in financial markets, alongside peers who hold each other to a high bar. We care about excellence, curiosity, and getting things right.
We encourage Singapore citizens or Singapore permanent residents to apply.
Skills Required
- At least 3 years' experience as a software engineer
- Strong C++ skills
- Good understanding of modern C++ and performance characteristics
- Knowledge of computer science fundamentals (operating systems, data structures, algorithms, concurrency)
- Familiarity with a scripting language such as Python
Optiver Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Optiver and has not been reviewed or approved by Optiver.
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Career-Linked Recognition & Rewards — Pay is considered highly competitive in trading, quantitative, and engineering paths, with performance-linked bonuses materially elevating total earnings for strong contributors. High performers are described as seeing outsized upside when firm and team results are strong.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is depicted as comprehensive, including medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance, alongside HSA/FSA options and mental-health support. Some locations note unlimited therapy access through a partner platform.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — U.S. roles are often described as offering 25 days of paid vacation plus market holidays, alongside generous parental leave. This breadth of time off is highlighted as helping to offset a high-intensity environment.
Optiver Insights
What We Do
Optiver’s story began over 30 years ago, when we started business as a single trader on the floor of Amsterdam’s options exchange. Today, we are at the forefront of trading and technology as a leading global electronic market maker, focused on pricing, execution and risk management.
Why Work With Us
People at Optiver love challenges, welcome collaboration, and strive to be better tomorrow than they are today. Improving the market is an extraordinary challenge that requires a carefully crafted approach. Optiver provides a collaborative working environment to tackle these challenges. In fact, it is this way of working that sets us apart.
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