software engineer

trader

quantitative trader

data scientist

director of quantitative research

Optiver

This place is great if you're coming in as a Developer or Trader. You can make crazy money, but it requires a ton of work.

Outside of that, you have no real hope of growth or mobility at Optiver. Even though money is being made, the company feels like it's on the decline. It is clear that shareholders are looking to line their pockets instead of prioritizing employee growth and wellbeing.

A lot of changes have been made over the past year that demonstrate that:
- Majority of employees removed off of the marbles/profit sharing bonus system
- Rollover vacation days lowered from 10 to 5
- 401k matching takes place 2 years after employment
- Salaries are well below finance/tech industry standards
- The company no longer tries to grow/train employees
- Company is burning out employees to promote aimless globalization
- Regional office buildouts plans scrapped entirely

If you're looking for a place with strong culture and innovation, don't come here. 
- Junior management have no clue what they are doing, and they have no authority to make decisions (big or small). 
- Promotions and pay raises are practically non-existent for a majority of teams.
- Upper management have been here for years and have no clue what life looks like outside of Optiver. They hardly have presence within the company. 99% of people here cannot tell you what they do or what they stand for, all they know is that they're making a ton of money.
- Do not work for any office outside of the flagship, you will have to deal with even worse management and lack of mobility.
- The only way to get promoted to higher level management is by being a trader or dev (ie: Head of People is a Trader, Head of Recruiting is a Trader, etc.)



This place is not for everybody, but it might a perfect landing spot for those that it is.

Typical Day
Spend 8 hours a day in front of your computer trading.
Spend a couple hours during and after market hours working on side projects.

Management went through lots of changes throughout the years.  I think they made a lot of progress in the last couple of years, but at such a young company with such young employees, a lot of lessons and processes must still be developed in order to maximize office productivity.

I generally spent free time working on projects that I believed matter most to the bottom line, and those that I found the most interesting.

There is a trend towards more technically inclined new hires, but much of the senior staff does not possess the same traits.

Everybody is very smart.  Most tend to be humble and team oriented, but there were a couple outliers in that respect.

There were not employee development practices in place as of my departure, so there was the onus of self-development, with a high chance of developing a skill set that may only be useful for other market making companies.

Compensation and benefits are excellent. In return, you are expected to work long hours (sometimes 16+ hours) and never make mistakes. You are also expected to be available any night or weekend they need you to be, often on very little notice. Culture is very toxic and the data center team is treated especially poorly. This job is not for the faint-hearted. However, you will learn a lot and there are opportunities to move into different roles. If you have thick skin and a strong work ethic, it can be a good opportunity.

Management
In general, managers at Optiver have very strong technical skills, but not necessarily great people skills.

Culture
There's a big difference between the way they advertise their culture and what it's actually like working there. Communication can be very bumpy and awkward making it hard to get useful feedback.

Overall
My experience working at Optiver was overall decent, but a little more intentionality behind communication would have gone a long way.

Good management and culture.  The company treats it's employees fairly and maintains a great life/work balance. Hardest part is keeping up, they move quickly and they hire top tier talent.  I enjoyed the work hard, play hard mentality.

if you are looking for money, benefits, fun and parties it is a nice place, if you are looking for advancement in technology it is a not a nice place to be,

good place to work. nice benefits plus amazing PTO!  You get to learn a lot as they invest in technology. There is also massage available for employees at the office once a week.

Great place to work, everyone is fun and encouraging. Great benefits including lunch and massages. Long work days. Meaningless work. Recommended if you are interested in finance.

Great place to work, they are very welcoming and accepting. Lots of freedom do drive your own projects and great support. Wouldn’t change anything really. Also new office is very nice. 

One of the largest trading firms in all of Europe.  Has established a foothold in America despite only being in existence for a relatively small amount of time.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Software engineer 5 salaries reported	$190,000 per year
Trader 6 salaries reported	$162,500 per year
Quantitative trader 6 salaries reported	$160,000 per year
Data scientist 3 salaries reported	$128,333 per year
Director of quantitative research 6 salaries reported	$170,833 per year

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