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INTERNSHIP DETAILS

PhD Quant Focus 2026

CompanyOptiver

LocationChicago

Work ModeOn Site

PostedJanuary 28, 2026

Internship Information

Core Responsibilities

Participants will engage in hands-on workshops and practical technical discussions mirroring the challenges faced by quantitative researchers, traders, and engineers in global financial markets. This involves applying data analysis, statistical modeling, and machine learning to extract signals and build foundational intuition around market making.

Internship Type

full time

Company Size

2597

Visa Sponsorship

Language

English

Working Hours

40 hours

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About The Company

Create better access and prices for all – that’s our goal for financial markets the world over. As a leading global electronic market maker, we are dedicated to our mission of continuously improving the market. It’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly. It’s the driving force behind our business. Even in times of extreme volatility, we stay the course. Resolute in our belief that the market should always be liquid for economies to thrive. As one of the oldest market-making institutions, we’re a trusted partner of exchanges. Our contribution to them ensures they remain stable, transparent and competitive. We provide liquidity to financial markets using our own capital, at our own risk, trading a wide range of products: listed derivatives, cash equities, ETFs, bonds, and foreign currencies. We strongly believe in the positive power of the world’s markets. That’s why we’re committed to leading the way in market making for environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) products. Optiver is a global company with offices in Amsterdam, Sydney, Chicago, Austin, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, London and Singapore.

About the Role

Optiver PhD Quant Focus    Fast-track your path from PhD to Quantitative Research.   You’ve spent years developing rigorous hypotheses, mastering mathematical and scientific techniques and defending your findings. PhD Quant Focus is a three-day deep dive designed to show how your academic studies apply to the practical challenges of quantitative research and machine learning in global financial markets. For top performers, the program provides a fast-tracked pathway into our PhD Quantitative Research internship for the following summer.   Financial markets offer one of the most complex, dynamic and data-intensive quantitative challenges. To navigate this complexity, we compress the scientific cycle to rapidly transform advanced mathematics, statistical modelling and machine learning techniques into trading algorithms that generate immediate performance outcomes.  PhD Quant Focus places you directly in this research setting through hands-on workshops, practical technical discussions and direct interaction with researchers and traders who have made the transition from academia.     Details  <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Who: PhD students in STEM fields, with a preferred background or experience in machine learning (e.g., Computer Science, Statistics, Machine Learning, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Applied Mathematics) </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">When: April 15–17, 2026 </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1">Where: Optiver’s Chicago office </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="4" data-aria-level="1">Travel: Flights and accommodation fully covered </li> </ul>    What you’ll do  During this three-day program, you’ll work closely alongside Optiver’s quantitative researchers, traders and engineers in a series of hands-on sessions that mirror the types of problems they solve and how they approach them in practice:  <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Participate in hands-on trading workshops  Build foundational intuition around market making and quantitative decision-making and see firsthand how research connects to real-time market dynamics and trading outcomes. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Work through applied quantitative research challenges  Gain practical experience in applying data analysis, statistical modelling and machine learning techniques to extract signals from large-scale, noisy and event-driven data. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1">Engage directly with experienced quantitative researchers  Get insights into their day-to-day work, career paths, and tips on successfully transitioning from PhD to industry. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="4" data-aria-level="1">Receive practical feedback to advance your transition to industry  Get feedback on how you frame problems, reason through assumptions and communicate your thinking in an applied setting. </li> </ul> Who you are  <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">A current PhD student in a STEM or highly quantitative discipline with interest or experience in machine learning, statistics, applied mathematics, physics or related areas. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Available for a Summer 2026 or 2027 internship, with an anticipated PhD graduation between 2026 and 2029. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1">Motivated by complex, data-intensive problems, comfortable operating in conditions of uncertainty, and confident in applying programming, mathematical modelling and data-driven methodologies to solve challenging research questions. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="4" data-aria-level="1">Clear communicator of technical ideas who thrives in collaborative, multidisciplinary environments. </li> </ul> What you'll get  <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="4" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Direct pathway into Optiver’s PhD Quantitative Research internships  High-performing participants will enter an accelerated interview process for our Summer 2027 internship, with select candidates considered for Summer 2026. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="4" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Clarity on how academic research translates into applied trading impact  Understand how core PhD strengths are applied, assessed and developed within Optiver’s quantitative research teams, and what strong research performance looks like in practice. </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="4" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1">Exposure to Optiver’s collaborative, multidisciplinary research culture  Experience firsthand how researchers, traders, and engineers collaborate, openly share knowledge, and rapidly iterate to deliver breakthroughs at scale. </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="4" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"multilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="4" data-aria-level="1">A network of like-minded PhD candidates and experienced researchers  Build connections with peers and team members and compare approaches, problem-solving styles and research backgrounds. </li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description">  Following your participation in this program, you may choose to move forward with the application process for Optiver’s internship program. Below is the expected base salary for an internship position in our Trading or Tech departments. This is a good-faith estimate of the base pay scale and sign on bonus for this position and offers will ultimately be determined based on experience, education, skill set, and performance in the interview process. Internship positions in our Trading and Tech departments are also be eligible for benefits including Optiver-covered flights, living accommodations and commuting stipends (where applicable); and office perks, including daily breakfast and lunch, social events and clubs. </div><div class="title">Internship Base Salary Range</div><div class="pay-range">$90,000—$90,000 USD</div></div></div>

Key Skills

Quantitative ResearchMachine LearningMathematical TechniquesStatistical ModellingTrading AlgorithmsData AnalysisProblem FramingCommunicationProgrammingApplied MathematicsScientific RigorMarket MakingQuantitative Decision-Making