Graduate Algorithmic Trader 2023

Wintermute; London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job description

Graduate Algorithmic Trader 2023

London / Trading / Full-time / On-site

About Wintermute

At Wintermute our mission is to enable, empower and advance the truly decentralized world for more transparent and efficient markets and products. We do this by providing liquidity algorithmically across most trading venues in crypto, supporting all major centralized and decentralized trading venues, AMMs, RFQs, aggregators and chains. Wintermute is also offering best-in-class OTC products to crypto native as well as traditional financial institutions. Wintermute is actively participating in the building and development of the blockchain ecosystem through investments from Wintermute Ventures, partnerships and co-development with upcoming protocols and incubation of own projects. We act as official liquidity providers for a large number of the world’s highest profile blockchain projects. Wintermute is a hyper-growth highly profitable business with a very ambitious vision and roadmap. We manage billions of dollars in assets and trade more than $5B/day. We are backed by Lightspeed, Pantera Capital, Sino Global Capital, Blockchain.com Ventures, Avon Ventures by Fidelity Investments, DeFi Alliance and other top tier investors. We are run as a technology company, not a financial service provider, and we build our culture around core values of ambition, collaboration, entrepreneurship, transparency and meritocracy.

Working at Wintermute

We are looking for an Algorithmic Trader with strong coding skills (Python) and a curiosity about HFT, liquidity provision and crypto trading. At Wintermute, you will be responsible for your own “desk” right from the start. You will have the opportunity to develop your own product (trading algorithms, trading strategies), while also getting advice and guidance from very experienced traders and developers, including the founders/management team. You will get a lot of independence and responsibility right away, and you'll learn at an unprecedented speed! No legacy systems, no corporate bureaucracy, no multiple levels of approvals. It is up to you to make an impact. You will act like an owner and your incentives (incl. equity) will be completely aligned with those of the company!

What will you work on

After a short training period, you’ll be tasked with improving existing strategies, adding new trading products and improving the technology behind our trading systems. You’ll need to analyze large amounts of trading and transaction data, generate insights, prioritize them and build solutions based on your findings. You can expect to be able to make an immediate impact on P&L and will be encouraged to explore new ideas and strategies. We will share more technical details in the interviews. The point is: there is no limit set by the company! Note: we are looking for people with strong quantitative and coding skills, but this is a business/trading (not a research) role first and foremost.

Hard Skills Requirements

• Strong Python skills - you have 1-3 years of experience coding in Python, be that through work, study or personal project experience - we will test!
• Excellent quantitative and analytical skills - we will test!
• Trading knowledge isn’t required but a strong willingness and curiosity to learn algorithmic, high-frequency, quantitative and liquidity provision trading is crucial.
• Strong interest and curiosity in blockchain, crypto and DeFi - you like keeping track of major news and developments in the crypto world.

Other Requirements

• Have an owner mentality - you focus on ultimate result (short and long-term P&L for the company), focus on strategically growing the business for the future vs “cashing-in” fast.
• Love problem solving, and love seeing your products work; you do whatever it takes to do what’s needed (trading, coding, analysing data, collaborating).
• Determined, ambitious yet humble, willing to work hard and learn on the way.
• Like meritocracy and being judged by what you deliver.
• Have an entrepreneurial mindset versus working 9-to-5 mentality; prepared to work non-standard working hours (since we are a high-growth startup operating in 24/7 crypto world).
• Like working in a team environment (not fully remote), at least 75% working from our London office.

Wintermute Offer

• A unique opportunity to work on very interesting projects, get the level of responsibility and ownership that would take 5-10 years longer to get in a traditional trading company/bank/hedge fund.
• A unique opportunity to join one of the fastest growing and most innovative algorithmic trading companies in the world.
• Great culture: highly professional and ambitious, yet informal, non-hierarchical, collaborative and entrepreneurial; we are very flat and hands-on environment - you will work very closely with the CEO, CTO, Head of Trading and the rest of the management team.
• No legacy systems and bureaucracy; access to high performance low latency infrastructure.
• A cool office in central London with a sci-fi touch.
• Aligned incentive structure: a significant part of your compensation is performance-based with substantial upside.

Tips for Successful Application

• Only apply to us if you are genuinely interested or curious about this role and the space; this is not for someone who is just looking for "a job" or is looking to maximize their short-term fixed salary.
• Do your research: look at our website and social media channels.
• Write us a short, honest, and direct message if you'd like to apply. Tell us about why you are interested in crypto and liquidity provision in general and in Wintermute in particular.
• Do not send us generic copy paste applications, we are looking for authentic people who share our interests, values and ambitions! If you don't have some obviously matching experience or skills, make sure you state very clearly what you can bring or how your experience is relevant (but note, we do require Python knowledge).
• Prepare to be tested on your Python knowledge. Your knowledge and ability to get things done fast is very important to us.
• Do your homework on what HFT/liquidity provision/algo trading is. (Hint: we are not in the business of position taking, directional betting, stock/token picking, technical analysis, "AI" (as in the buzz-word) and we are not a research business for the sake of research).
• We get a lot of applications, so unfortunately, we won't be able to proceed if you simply press "submit button"; we do promise to reply to everyone who puts time and effort into making the application relevant!

Application Process

• Online Coding and Quantitative reasoning tests.
• 1st Round - 30-45mins interview with a Trader.
• 2nd Round - 30-45mins interview with a Trader.
• 3rd Round - 45 mins interview with the Head of Trading.
• 4th Round - 45 mins interview with the Head of Talent or COO.
• Please note that this is a rough interview process guideline, it can change on a case by case basis.