Software Engineer – Python

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As a Software Engineer, you can join different teams to help us create a robust and reliable foundation for Optiver's infrastructure platform. Within either our Linux or Platform team, you will work closely with other experts depending on each project. We strive for excellence in everything we do because we believe that thoughtfully planned and well-orchestrated infrastructure is just as important as the algorithms running on our trading software. Without best-in-class infrastructure, there would be no foundation upon which to build our global market-making core business. For that reason, we are looking for a Software Engineer who is committed to continuous improvement and thrives on bringing new ideas to the table.

WHO WE ARE:

Optiver is a tech-driven trading firm and leading global market maker. As one of the oldest market-making institutions, we are a trusted partner of 50+ exchanges across the globe. Our mission is to constantly improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency, and acting as a stabilizing force no matter the market conditions. With a focus on continuous improvement, we participate in the safeguarding of healthy and efficient markets for everyone who participates.

Our Amsterdam office is where it all began. Over 35 years ago, Optiver’s business started with a single trader on the floor of Amsterdam’s European Stock Exchange. Since our 1986 founding, Optiver’s Amsterdam office has grown into one of the most dynamic and exciting trading floors in Europe. Our culture reflects the Dutch capital city’s progressive, innovative, and inclusive nature. With its unique spirit, Amsterdam is the ideal hub for our teams to trade a wide range of products from listed derivatives to cash equities, ETFs, bonds, and foreign exchange.

WHAT WE DO:

Optiver is a leading trading firm driven by technology with over one thousand employees globally. We pioneer our own trading strategies and systems using sophisticated technology, running a global network with thousands of high-performance, low-latency applications that solve problems in nanoseconds.

We take full control of each small detail of our infrastructure by building and managing each aspect of our compute systems. We manage more than 2500 servers in more than 18 locations around the world. All of them are connected by a private wide area network back to our Amsterdam datacenter.

We know that Infrastructure as Code is the best way to enable us to scale and keep standards as fresh as possible. We want to solve the challenges of infrastructure operations with software, so we are looking for Software Engineers, but we are also looking for people with a good understanding of networking or the Linux Kernel internals. Our teams are an intersection of these profiles.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

As a Software Engineer, you can join our Linux or Infra-Platform teams. In both cases, you will work closely with other experts depending on each project.

As our next team member, you can expect to:

• Participate in the design and implementation of the systems used to manage our infrastructure, writing mostly Python code.
• Encourage OSS adoption and contribute to upstream repos.
• This will include modeling, provisioning, configuration management, observability, and deployment.
• Split your time between development and operational tasks (80:20). Note: Some members of the team do a bit more operational work, while others are more development-focused. This depends on individual skillsets and preferences.
• Join a rotation schedule for our “Operational week” where you keep an eye on our dashboards in case of incidents while helping other users in our chat or at your desks. On those days, you will also work on small tasks.
• Join our on-call rotation (this is only including some hours during the day, not 24/7).
• Work mostly in our Office.

Some examples of day-to-day tasks:

• Write and review code with your team.
• Provision servers or network devices through our automated deployment pipeline.
• Apply configuration changes to our infrastructure.
• Debug production issues.
• Support Developers and Operations teams.
• Plan and coordinate changes in our infrastructure together with other teams in the department.

Some of the things we are doing right now:

• Designing a command line client and HTTP API (we use FastAPI) to provision Linux bare metal servers and networking devices.
• Maintaining the critical component capable of killing all connections to the exchange in case of unexpected issues in our systems – a crucially important Risk Control given the nature of highly automated, low latency trading.
• Supporting and extending a system that describes our infrastructure (this is the source for all the Infrastructure as Code that we do).
• Improving our image-based server deployment system to achieve minimal provisioning time.
• Automating our network devices provisioning and configuration management using open source software.

Some example projects that you could help us with:

• Build our next generation Observability stack. Help us to take it to the next level by designing bare metal capable monitoring systems that work at large scale.
• Develop our “terraform like” tool to manage our infra in a declarative way, enabling faster growth in a complex bespoke environment.
• Automate operations to empower other teams to perform critical tasks without our direct involvement.

• A strong desire to automate your work with a reluctance to do repetitive tasks but an eagerness to solve problems.
• You think that not all the tools are good for every problem and you can adapt to what the current problem needs.
• You can code in Python or have the propensity to pick it up. If you don't consider yourself a developer, you can do some scripting and work with Linux or networking low levels.
• The ability to manage your time and handle priorities in collaboration with other teams.
• A proactive approach to problem solving.
• Experience with real-life infrastructure.
• Experience building Python tools for infrastructure automation.
• High attention to detail coupled with strong communication skills.
• Experience with configuration management (we use Ansible but experience with similar tools is considered); we are very interested in Declarative systems.
• Knowledge of virtualization technologies, networking, bare metal server management.

WHAT YOU'LL GET:

• The chance to start your career working alongside best-in-class professionals from over 40 different countries.

Alongside this, you will get great secondary benefits such as 25 paid vacation days, fully paid first-class commuting expenses, training opportunities, discounts on health insurance, breakfast and lunch facilities, sports and leisure activities, Friday afternoon drinks, and even weekly in-house chair massages. Being highly international, we are accustomed to guiding expats through their relocation, offering competitive relocation packages and providing visa sponsorship where necessary.

HOW TO APPLY:

Apply directly via the form below for the position of Software Engineer – Python. Please provide us with a CV and letter of motivation in English. Applications without a letter of motivation will not be reviewed. When we think there is a potential match, you will hear from us sooner than you expect. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Recruitment at recruitment@optiver.com. Please note, we cannot accept applications via email for data protection reasons.

Please note, if you are selected from your application to proceed to the next round for this position, you will be required to take an online assessment.

Kindly note that we do not require any assistance from third-parties including agencies in the recruitment of this role.

DIVERSITY STATEMENT:

As an intentionally flat organization, we believe that great ideas and impact can come from everyone. We are passionate about empowering individuals and creating diverse teams that thrive. Every person at Optiver should feel included, valued, and respected because we believe our best work is done together.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is hardwired through every stage of our hiring process. We encourage applications from candidates from any and all backgrounds, and we welcome requests for reasonable adjustments during the process to ensure that you can best demonstrate your abilities.