Quantitative Risk Analyst — Derivatives & Clearing

Polymarket; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary & equity

Unlimited PTO

Health, Vision, Dental coverage

401k match

MacBook Pro + setup

Job summary

Polymarket is seeking a Quantitative Risk Analyst to design and implement enterprise-scale risk models at the heart of our clearing operation. You’ll own models for market risk, volatility and correlation of derivatives, stress testing, and automated liquidation.

This hands-on role requires building models in production code and using AI tools for development and research, with rigorous validation against established risk frameworks.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree or equivalent experience in a quantitative field.
• Proven track record of building production risk models at enterprise scale.
• Experience with volatility, correlation, and derivatives risk in a clearing context.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain enterprise-scale risk models for market risk, margin, and counterparty exposure.
• Develop volatility and correlation models for derivatives and calibrate/backtest them.
• Run stress-testing frameworks including historical scenarios and hypothetical shocks.
• Design and tune auto-liquidation logic with safeguards against cascading liquidations.
• Validate AI-generated models and code against established risk frameworks before deployment.
• Monitor model performance in production and iterate quickly.

Skills

Python

AI tooling

Risk modeling

Model validation

Statistics

C++

Education

Quantitative degree

Tools

NumPy

Pandas

SciPy

C++

Job description

About Polymarket

Polymarket is the world's largest prediction market platform. We enable individuals to express views on real-world events by trading on outcomes across politics, economics, sports, culture, and current affairs. Built as a peer‑to‑peer marketplace with no centralized "house," Polymarket aggregates diverse opinions into transparent, market‑based probabilities that reflect collective expectations about the future.

We're growing fast — both in terms of volume ($21B traded in 2025) and adoption as an alternative news source. Our ambition is to become a ubiquitous beacon of truth in global media and we need your help adding fuel to the fire.

About the Role

Polymarket is hiring a Quantitative Risk Analyst to design and implement enterprise-scale risk models at the heart of our clearing operation. You'll own models for market risk, volatility and correlation of derivatives, stress testing, and automated liquidation — the systems that keep the platform solvent and users protected in fast-moving markets. This is a hands‑on role: you'll be building models in production code, not just specifying them. We expect you to work fluently with AI tools for development and research — and to be the skeptic in the room, pressure‑testing AI-generated models and code against well‑established risk frameworks before anything ships.

What You'll Do

• Design, implement, and maintain enterprise-scale risk models covering market risk, margin, and counterparty exposure for a clearing organization.
• Build volatility and correlation models for derivatives, including calibration, backtesting, and ongoing model validation.
• Develop and run stress‑testing frameworks: historical scenarios, hypothetical shocks, and reverse stress tests.
• Design and tune auto‑liquidation logic — trigger thresholds, liquidation waterfalls, and safeguards against cascading liquidations.
• Use AI tools extensively to accelerate model development, coding, and research — and rigorously validate AI outputs against established risk models before deployment.
• Monitor model performance in production, investigate breaks, and iterate quickly.
• Partner with engineering, trading, and product teams to embed risk controls into platform architecture.
• Document model assumptions, limitations, and validation results to an audit‑ready standard.

What We’re Looking For

• 5–7 years of quantitative risk experience at a clearinghouse, exchange, prime broker, trading firm, or similar.
• Proven expertise designing and implementing risk models at enterprise scale — production systems, not just research prototypes.
• Deep experience modeling volatility, correlation, option skews, and option pricing at scale for trad‑fi derivatives, perpetuals, and fully collateralized event contracts.
• Hands‑on experience with market risk modeling, stress testing, and auto‑liquidation mechanics in a clearing context.
• Strong fluency with AI‑assisted development and coding, paired with the judgment to pressure‑test AI outputs against well‑established risk models and catch what looks plausible but is wrong.
• Expert‑level Python (NumPy, pandas, SciPy; solid software engineering practices).
• Advanced degree in a quantitative field (math, statistics, physics, financial engineering, CS) or equivalent experience.
• Strong mathematical foundation in stochastic calculus and linear algebra.
• (Plus) C# and/or C++ for performance‑critical or production systems.
• (Plus) Familiarity with crypto market structure, perpetuals, or prediction markets.
• (Plus) Experience with CCP risk frameworks (CPMI‑IOSCO PFMI, default management, margin methodology).
• (Plus) Experience building real‑time risk systems.

Benefits

• Competitive salary & equity
• Unlimited PTO
• Full Health, Vision, & Dental coverage
• 401k match
• Hardware setup: new MacBook Pro, big display, & accessories