About the role#
As an HPC Intern, you will work alongside mentors and teammates to build and optimize the infrastructure that powers a global trading firm. Your projects will address real business needs, focusing on designing scalable, high-performance systems. You will contribute to work that supports large-scale research, machine learning, and data analysis pipelines while seeing how your code impacts trading teams.
What you'll do#
- Deep dive into trading fundamentals, ranging from theoretical concepts to financial markets, strategies, and the infrastructure that powers them.
- Collaborate with engineers, traders, and business teams to design, test, and deploy solutions.
- Work with the Delta One team to build and improve the compute infrastructure that powers their research and trading workflows.
- Improve large-scale compute environments, including highly parallelized on-premise clusters and cloud infrastructure.
- Support and optimize Linux-based systems, storage, and networking components.
- Contribute to automation for job scheduling, monitoring, and system configuration.
- Evaluate hardware, software, and cloud solutions to improve performance and scalability.
- Tackle complex, real-world problems to enhance your critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
What you'll need#
- Currently pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s, or PhD in Computer Engineering or a related field.
- On track to graduate between December 2027 and June 2028, with junior standing or higher.
- Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, C++, or similar.
- Familiarity with Linux systems and an interest in distributed systems, networking, or infrastructure.
- Strong engineering instincts and a solid understanding of computer engineering fundamentals.
- Interest in how AI and ML workloads shape modern compute infrastructure, from GPUs to large-scale distributed systems.
- An entrepreneurial mindset and curiosity about how technology powers the financial industry.
- Ability to work collaboratively with developers, traders, and business teams.
Location & details#
- Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States.
- Term: Summer 2027.
- Modality: On-site.
- This is a full-time, paid internship.
- Base salary: $56,000 USD.
About Optiver
Optiver is a global electronic market maker founded in 1986. The firm provides liquidity for listed derivatives, cash equities, ETFs, bonds, and foreign currencies. It operates from offices in cities including Amsterdam, Chicago, Sydney, and Singapore. The company employs between 1,001 and 5,000 people.
How to get in at Optiver
Applying early to Optiver gives you a distinct advantage before the candidate pool becomes crowded. Intern Insider sends an instant alert the moment a role matching your target is published, helping you submit your application among the first. This timing ensures your profile is reviewed while recruiters have more capacity to consider new applicants. You can improve your response rate by reaching out to the recruiters behind these roles directly. Intern Insider surfaces the specific contacts for Optiver positions, allowing you to ask relevant questions or request a referral. Connecting with the right person often provides more clarity on the role than a standard application submission.
