Akuna Capital
Quantitative Trading Summer Internship (Nov 2024)
Sydney
Opportunity expired
Opportunity details
- Internship, Clerkship or Placement
- AUD 140000 / Year
- pro-rated for the internship period
- 5-10 vacancies
- Apply by 30 Jun 2024
- Start date 26 Nov 2024
What you’ll do as a Quantitative Trading Intern at Akuna:
Our Quantitative Team are a mixture of mathematicians, statisticians and technologists that find solutions to problems. We create trading models and strategies scientifically by combining our quantitative expertise with an understanding of derivatives and financial markets. We are seeking interns to join the team to apply their quantitative skills to exciting problems. You don't need a background in finance or trading, instead, we look for maths and coding skills.
Our Quantitative Traders are creative thinkers who can capture trading opportunities, convert ideas into solutions and pilot sophisticated strategies with mathematical and programming skills. Our Quant traders trade alongside our options and market-making traders, as well as undertake quantitative projects.
This internship will include a mixture of Akunacademy training sessions, project work, and mentoring opportunities. If this sounds interesting to you, apply now! We are looking for people who have innovative ideas, think analytically, and have an entrepreneurial mindset and want to make an immediate impact in our growing company and contribute to Akuna’s strategy portfolio.
Internship Dates: 10 weeks from November 2023- February 2025
What you’ll do:
- Gain a deep theoretical understanding of derivatives theory, market structure and portfolio construction
- Manage live strategies in production and improve profitability by converting ideas into quantitative models
- Working with a team of quants and developers on our data and research stack to implement and test original systematic strategies
What you’ll bring:
- Australian or NZ citizens or Australian Permanent residents only
- University Degree, graduating between August 2025 and January 2026
- Bachelor, Honours, Master or PhDs in Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, or related degrees
- Distinction Average & proven strong academics
- Awards, prizes, medals, competitions, & scholarships
- Experience in research within an academic or professional environment
- Achievements outside of studies through your hobbies & interests
- An understanding of advanced Mathematics: Calculus, Stochastic Processes, Linear Algebra, Statistics and Optimization
- Working knowledge of statistical analysis, numerical linear algebra, machine learning or convex optimization
- Intermediate programming skills in Python (C++ is a plus)
- Ability to process complex information quickly and accurately under pressure
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Financial experience or studies are NOT a requirement
What you’ll get:
- This is a paid internship with flights & accommodation for those relocating to Sydney
- 9-week structured learning program built upon our flagship Options 101 Course by our dedicated Trader Training Manager
- An opportunity to secure a full-time role with Akuna once you graduate.
- Buddy program to help you transition into Akuna, your role and your team, as well as build connections and support network
- Flights & accommodation if you are relocating to Sydney for the opportunity.
- Catch up with your colleagues over coffee made by our in-house barista & grab a bite to eat in our fully stocked kitchen
- Weekly social events, team competitions & Akuna clubs
- 180-degree views of Darling Harbour in our collaborative, open-plan office space in Barangaroo
Hiring criteria
- No experience required
- Australian Citizen +more
- Engineering & Mathematics +more
- Bachelor or higher
Reviews
It is a mix of keeping old systems alive and trying to build new systems on infrastructure.
Working on the Vals/Quant team, my role involves both bridging the gap between our quant research work and our prop systems as well as building mechanisms to improve our research capability.
As a trader, I'm responsible for overseeing our automated trading systems. This includes making sure it's behaving the way we'd expect, working with Devs on bugs to fix, or testing new features to implement. I also conduct research on potential new opportunities, and build tools to help us capitalize on those opportunities. It's exciting to know that my actions daily have a clear and noticeable impact on the bottom line.
About the employer
Akuna Capital
4.4
100 - 500 employees
Trading
Akuna Capital is an innovative trading firm with a strong focus on collaboration, cutting-edge technology, data driven solutions and automation.
Pros and cons of working at Akuna Capital
Pros
There's a really diverse range of backgrounds, so there's always an opportunity to have interesting conversations. The work itself is challenging and fun.
The people. Everyone is highly motivated and super intelligent.
I've been given the freedom to work on projects I find particularly interesting. As I’ve improved, I’ve been given more responsibility and trust, and it’s rewarding to know that I contribute significantly to the company.
Working with some of the smartest and most driven people. Unique insight into an opaque industry. Very intellectual culture. Decent Work-Life-Balance for "high finance"
Collaborative environment, interesting work, flat work hierarchy, meritocracy, well compensated
Cons
Weird/late hours sometimes.
Steep learning curve, intense work and high expectations can be challenging.
Intense atmosphere sometimes causes stress
A bit of a steep learning curve because you need to learn so much so quickly