Software Engineer - AI Lab

About the AI Lab

The AI Lab is a research-focused team that applies frontier machine learning techniques to trading. The AI Lab develops and runs its own ML-driven trading strategies, owning the full lifecycle from research and experimentation through production and validation. Our developers work across disciplines - developing trading strategies and sophisticated machine learning systems, building infrastructure for reliable and efficient execution, and validating strategy correctness.

What You'll Do

Members of AI Lab interact with a variety of domains on a daily basis. One day you may have an idea for a new trading strategy while the next you might be cutting trading latencies. A successful member of the team isn't expected to be an expert in all areas initially but should have the willingness to jump in and grow in varied directions. Those areas might include, but are no means limited to:

• Designing, building, and deploying large-scale software systems that support the stable and efficient execution of ML-driven trading strategies.
• Developing and optimizing inference pipelines and computationally intensive workloads, with a focus on latency, throughput, and reliability.
• Working across Python, C++, and GPU-based computing environments to integrate research models into production infrastructure.
• Investigating and resolving complex issues across research and production, including discrepancies in model outputs, data processing, system performance, and execution.
• Building tools and infrastructure that enable yourself and others to test, deploy, monitor, and iterate on models and strategies efficiently.
• Taking end-to-end ownership of engineering solutions, from system design and implementation through deployment, optimization, and production support.

What You'll Get

You'll join a culture of collaboration and excellence, surrounded by curious thinkers and creative problem-solvers. Motivated by a passion for continuous improvement, you'll thrive in a supportive, high-performing environment alongside talented colleagues, collectively tackling some of the toughest challenges in the financial markets.

In addition, you'll receive:

• The opportunity to work alongside best-in-class professionals from over 40 different countries

• A highly competitive compensation package

• Global profit-sharing pool and performance-based bonus structure

• 401(k) match up to 50%

• Comprehensive health, mental, dental, vision, disability, and life coverage

• 25 paid vacation days alongside market holidays

• Extensive office perks, including breakfast, lunch and snacks, regular social events, clubs, sporting leagues and more

Who You Are

• 3-7 Years of software engineering experience with demonstrated success designing, building, and shipping complex, large-scale production systems.
• Familiarity with CPU/GPU performance optimization, memory management, profiling, and parallel computing.
• Strong understanding of machine learning fundamentals.
• Demonstrated ability to investigate, debug, and resolve complex technical problems across multiple layers of a software system.
• Strong programming skills in C++ and/or Python, with an emphasis on efficient, reliable, and maintainable software.
• Experience profiling and optimizing software performance, identifying bottlenecks, and improving computational efficiency.
• Ability to collaborate closely with researchers and other technical stakeholders to translate experimental ideas into production-ready solutions.
• An eagerness to learn and be the best at what you do. A strong growth mindset is valued highly at Optiver, and we strongly believe in continuous improvement in both systems and people.

Particularly Relevant Experience

Experience in one or more of the following would be especially valuable:

• Building, deploying, or optimizing machine learning systems in production.
• High-performance ML inference systems or production model-serving infrastructure.
• Machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch or JAX.
• GPU computing, CUDA, Triton, or custom kernel development.
• High-performance computing (HPC), distributed systems, or large-scale compute infrastructure.
• Low-latency systems, real-time data processing, or other performance-critical applications.
• Working directly with ML or quantitative researchers to productionize models and algorithms.
• Quantitative trading, financial markets, or other computationally intensive, data-driven environments, though this is by no means required.

Who We Are

At Optiver, our mission is to improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency and stabilizing the market no matter the conditions. With a focus on continuous improvement, we prioritize safeguarding the health and efficiency of the markets for all participants. As one of the largest market making institutions, we are a respected partner on 100+ exchanges across the globe.

Our differences are our edge. Optiver does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, or other legally protected characteristics.

Below is the expected base salary for this position. This position will also be eligible for a discretionary bonus and Optiver's benefits package with the benefits listed above.

Base Salary Range

$200,000-$200,000 USD