Strategy Intern

DRW; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 99,000 - 121,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Housing near office

Mentorship program

Challenging projects

Educational opportunities

Job summary

DRW seeks a Strategy Intern to identify, quantify, and develop plans for new business opportunities across global markets and trading technology. You’ll work with our centralized strategy team to partner with trading businesses, helping operations, trading, and tech teams think beyond today.

You will collaborate on strategic priorities, build cross‑group relationships, and drive initiatives with project managers, delivering actionable, data‑driven planning to senior leaders.

Qualifications

• Pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s in Business, Finance, Economics, Mathematics, or related science with expected graduation between December 2027 and June 2028.
• Proven ability to work on cross‑functional teams and collaborate with stakeholders.
• Hands‑on experience with AI‑assisted development tools to automate tasks, build analyses, or improve productivity.
• Ability to effectively leverage data to analyze and quantify new business opportunities.
• Understanding of derivative markets.
• Work authorization in the United States without sponsorship.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Identify and define strategic priorities in collaboration with DRW leadership.
• Build relationships across trading groups to identify opportunities and expand into new or incremental opportunities.
• Drive implementation of new initiatives with the relevant desk and a project manager.
• Deliver data‑based business planning recommendations to senior leaders.
• Analyze market data and competitive landscape to inform opportunities and cost models.

Skills

Cross‑functional teamwork

AI‑assisted tools

Data analysis

Derivative markets

US work authorization

Writing & presentation

Education

Bachelors/Masters in business, finance, economics or math

Job description

Our formula for success is to hire exceptional people, encourage their ideas and reward their results.

We are looking for a forward‑looking Strategy Intern to identify, quantify and develop plans for new business opportunities to leverage our deep expertise in global markets and cutting‑edge trading technology. This role will be part of a growing, centralized strategy team tasked with partnering with a diverse set of trading businesses across the firm to develop and execute on business plans. Within assigned areas of focus, you will be tasked with helping our operations, trading and technology teams think beyond today into what’s possible tomorrow, identify gaps in our team’s experience, and highlight underutilized expertise.

Responsibilities

• Identify and define strategic priorities in close collaboration with DRW leadership.
• Build relationships across trading groups to identify opportunities and use our unique capabilities to expand into new or incremental opportunities.
• For selected projects, help drive implementation of new initiatives, in partnership with the relevant desk and a dedicated project manager.
• Deliver concrete and data‑based business planning recommendations to senior leaders within DRW’s business units.
• Identify and investigate new business opportunities using market data and other market insights, including:
• Analyzing data from exchanges, including volume trends and new market efforts.
• Staying current on competitive landscape for current and potential opportunities.
• Providing insight to DRW leadership regarding cost models, scenario outcomes and technology, operations, and personnel requirements.

Candidate Qualifications

• Are pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s in Business, Finance, Economics, Mathematics, or any related science discipline and have an expected graduation date between December 2027 and June 2028.
• Proven ability to work on cross‑functional teams and collaborate with stakeholders.
• Hands‑on experience with AI‑assisted development tools to automate tasks, build analyses, or improve productivity.
• Ability to effectively leverage data to analyze and quantify new business opportunities.
• Understanding of derivative markets.
• Work authorization in the United States without the need for sponsorship.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills.

Internship Experience

• Meaningful projects: You’ll receive a challenging project to complete during your time here. Each project, advised by our strategy team, promotes a comprehensive learning experience and provides you with meaningful work experience.
• Community: Throughout the summer, we host a variety of educational, social and team‑building activities to foster friendship and camaraderie.
• Housing: DRW provides fully furnished apartments located close to the office – making your morning commute as easy as possible.
• Mentorship: You’ll build a professional relationship with an experienced mentor in your field. Mentors and mentees meet to discuss goals, challenges and professional development and explore the city together at our mentor outings.
• Education: As technology continues to drive the trading industry forward, both in terms of new products and transaction methods, the future will present us with unique opportunities and challenges. To prepare you for how technology will continue to impact trading’s future landscape, you will complete an options course framed from a developer’s standpoint to help you visualize how your technology solutions will be used in real time. As the trading industry continually evolves, both in terms of new products and transaction methods, the future will present us with unique opportunities and challenges.

DRW is a diversified trading firm with over 3 decades of experience bringing sophisticated technology and exceptional people together to operate in markets around the world. We value autonomy and the ability to quickly pivot to capture opportunities, so we operate using our own capital and trading at our own risk.

Headquartered in Chicago with offices throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia, we trade a variety of asset classes including Fixed Income, ETFs, Equities, FX, Commodities and Energy across all major global markets. We have also leveraged our expertise and technology to expand into three non-traditional strategies: real estate, venture capital and cryptoassets.

We operate with respect, curiosity and open minds. The people who thrive here share our belief that it’s not just what we do that matters–it's how we do it. DRW is a place of high expectations, integrity, innovation and a willingness to challenge consensus.

The annual base salary for this position is $110,000.

For more information about DRW’s processing activities and our use of job applicants’ data, please view our Privacy Notice at https://drw.com/privacy-notice.

As set forth in DRW ’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.