Graduate Software Engineer

Optiver Holding BV; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 52,000 - 78,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Performance bonus

Global team work

25 days vacation

Commuting covered

Office perks

Job summary

Optiver Holding BV in Amsterdam is seeking a Graduate Software Engineer to work on systems operating in live financial markets, where speed, reliability and precision impact trading outcomes. You will collaborate with traders, researchers and engineers to understand problems and build real-time solutions.

You will join Optiver’s Global Academy, receive mentoring, and gain hands-on experience with the firm's tech stack.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD in CS/CE or equivalent with outstanding academics.
• Graduating Aug 2024–Aug 2027, maximum 3 years of work experience.
• Proficient in C++, Python or Java with strong system knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Build simple, well-architected solutions alongside traders, researchers, risk analysts and engineers.
• Develop and use frontier agent tooling to create scalable workflows across the trading stack.
• Improve performance, reliability and maintainability as markets and system requirements evolve.
• Contribute tools and capabilities that other engineers and teams can reuse.

Skills

C++

Python

Java

Education

Bachelor’s/Master’s/PhD in CS/CE or equivalent

Job description

As a Graduate Software Engineer, your work is mission-critical at our firm. You will work on systems that operate in live financial markets, where speed, reliability and precision directly affect trading outcomes. You will collaborate with traders, researchers and engineers to understand problems, challenge assumptions and build solutions that can respond to changing market conditions in real time.

Optiver is building with cutting edge AI technology in the most competitive, data rich landscapes in the world: financial markets. That means no two days are the same, and every day brings new, exciting technical challenges to solve.

What you’ll do

Your onboarding

You will participate in Optiver’s comprehensive Global Academy and be equipped with the knowledge needed to make an impact the moment you join your team. The comprehensive training covers trading theory and Optiver’s tech stack to hone your skills for your role. In addition, you will be paired with a dedicated mentor who will empower you to take ownership of your work and make a difference.

As a Graduate Software Engineer, your work is mission-critical at our firm. You will work on systems that operate in live financial markets, where speed, reliability and precision directly affect trading outcomes. You will collaborate with traders, researchers and engineers to understand problems, challenge assumptions and build solutions that can respond to changing market conditions in real time.

Optiver is building with cutting edge AI technology in the most competitive, data rich landscapes in the world: financial markets. That means no two days are the same, and every day brings new, exciting technical challenges to solve.

Your responsibilities

• Build simple, well-architected solutions alongside traders, researchers, risk analysts and engineers.
• Use frontier agentic tooling, and build your own agents, skills and workflows, to solve problems across the trading stack.
• Improve performance, reliability and maintainability as markets and system requirements evolve.
• Contribute tools and capabilities that other engineers and teams can reuse.

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. Motivated by a passion for continuous improvement, you’ll thrive in a supportive, high-performing environment alongside talented colleagues, working collectively to tackle the toughest problems in the financial markets.

In addition, you’ll receive:

• A performance-based bonus structure, enabling all of our employees to benefit from our global profit pool
• The opportunity to work alongside best-in-class professionals from over 50 different countries
• 25 paid vacation days in your first year, increasing to 30 from your second year onwards
• Training opportunities, discounts on health benefits, and fully paid first-class commuting expenses
• Extensive office perks, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, world-class barista coffee, sport and leisure activities, bi-weekly massages and Friday afternoon drinks
• Training and continuous learning opportunities
• International transfer opportunities for global career growth
• Competitive relocation packages and visa sponsorship where necessary for expats

Who you are

• Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or equivalent, with outstanding academic achievements
• Graduating between August 2024 and August 2027, with a maximum of 3 years of work experience
• Passionate about clean code, simple, well-architected systems, and continuous improvement
• Proficient in industry-standard coding languages such as C++, Python, or Java, with a strong understanding of underlying computer architecture and system operations
• A solid grasp of algorithms, memory and concurrency models, CPU-architecture, operating systems and relational databases
• Have an entrepreneurial attitude and an interest in the financial industry
• An analytical mindset and strong problem-solving skills
• Able to work closely with other engineers, traders, researchers and business operations

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. Please let us know if you would like to request any reasonable adjustments by contacting the Recruitment team

via the contact form , selecting "Reasonable Adjustments" as the subject of your inquiry.

For answers to some of our most frequently asked questions, refer to our FAQs.

For applicants based in India, our entry route is via the placement office internship hiring season (July/August).

Optiver has a global application re-apply policy for our intern and graduate roles. If you have completed an online assessment or interviewed for a technology graduate or internship role at any Optiver location in the past 8 months, please note that you are not yet eligible to reapply. We welcome you to re-apply after the 8-month cool off period.