Options Trader

Wintermute; New York (NY); On-site; USD 260,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

Wintermute is seeking an experienced options trader to build and scale its option trading business in New York. You will own the full investment lifecycle from thesis to execution, working with engineering to optimize execution and latency.

We value a strong track record in top-tier firms, deep option-pricing knowledge, and the ability to learn quickly. A highly autonomous, owner-mentality culture awaits in a fast-paced crypto environment.

Qualifications

• 3-5+ years of option trading experience at top tier trading firms.
• Deep understanding of option pricing and risk frameworks; ability to design these from scratch.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and rationalise crypto market flows across spot, perpetuals, futures, and options to identify volatility and skew dislocations.
• Analyse exchange-level positioning, funding dynamics, open interest, and on/off-exchange flows to uncover trading opportunities.
• Research and backtest volatility surface dynamics, term structure, skew behaviour, and dispersion trades across major digital assets.
• Develop and refine alpha signals combining market microstructure insights with quantitative tools.
• Actively participate in trading and risk-managing a multi-exchange crypto options portfolio; monitor delta, vega, gamma, and cross-venue risk.
• Contribute to expansion into systematic volatility strategies and own the full investment lifecycle from thesis to post-trade analysis.

Skills

Option trading

Quantitative analysis

Algorithmic trading

Python coding

Tools

Python

Job description

About Wintermute

Wintermute is one of the largest algorithmic trading companies in digital assets. We provide liquidity algorithmically across all major cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms, a broad range of OTC trading solutions as well as support high profile blockchain projects and traditional financial institutions moving into crypto.
Wintermute is not just a trading company, it is one the most prominent and influential players in the digital asset markets: we are connected and partnering with all major players in the industry, we actively participate in the development of the blockchain ecosystem through investments, partnerships, and incubation of projects. You can read more here.

What will you work on

We are looking for an experienced options trader with a proven track record at a top tier trading firm. At Wintermute, you will be responsible for building and scaling our option trading business.
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 will be completely aligned with those of the company!
Coding experience or some demonstrated ability to learn it very quickly is required.

Responsibilities:

• Monitor and rationalise crypto market flows across spot, perpetuals, futures, and options to identify volatility and skew dislocations.

• Analyse exchange-level positioning, funding dynamics, open interest, and on/off-exchange flows to uncover structural and tactical trading opportunities.

• Research and backtest volatility surface dynamics, term structure, skew behaviour, relative value and dispersion trades across major digital assets (e.g. BTC, ETH and liquid altcoins).

• Develop and refine alpha signals combining market microstructure insights with quantitative research tools.

• Actively participate in trading and risk-managing a multi-exchange crypto options portfolio, including delta, vega, gamma, and cross-venue risk.

• Contribute to the desk’s expansion into systematic and semi-systematic volatility strategies.

• Own the full investment lifecycle from intuition and thesis development through modelling, execution, and post-trade performance analysis.

• Collaborate with engineering and infrastructure teams to optimise electronic execution, improve latency-sensitive routing, and enhance automation across exchanges.

• Monitor exchange counterparty risk, liquidity fragmentation, and structural inefficiencies unique to crypto derivatives markets.

Hard skills requirements:

• 3-5+ years of option trading experience at one of the top tier trading firms in the space (must have); we prefer proprietary trading experience with significant component of systematic and algorithmic trading (not only position taking or executing client trades).
• Deep understanding of option pricing and risk frameworks; ability to design these from scratch based on prior expertise.
• Excellent quantitative and analytical skills: we will test (must have).
• Python/coding skills is a significant advantage; otherwise, willingness and ability to learn Python within several months on own time is required.

Other requirements:

• Have an owner mentality - you focus on the ultimate result - P&L for the company and strategically growing the business and Wintermute partnerships.
• 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 pivotal player in the crypto markets that don’t stop 24/7 ).
• Like working in a team collaborative environment.