Quantitative Research Intern

About Akuna:

Akuna Capital is an innovative trading firm with a strong focus on collaboration, cutting-edge technology, data driven solutions and automation. We specialize in providing liquidity as an options market-maker – meaning we are committed to providing competitive quotes that we are willing to both buy and sell. To do this successfully we design and implement our own low latency technologies, trading strategies and mathematical models.

Our Founding Partners first conceptualized Akuna in their hometown of Sydney. They opened the firm’s first office in 2011 in the heart of the derivatives industry and the options capital of the world – Chicago. Today, Akuna is proud to operate from additional offices in Sydney, Shanghai and London.

What you’ll do as a Quantitative Research Intern at Akuna:

Akuna’s Quantitative Trading and Research team is looking to add Quantitative Research Interns to a team of mathematicians, statisticians and technologists for our 10 week internship Akunacademy in our Chicago office. This team creates trading strategies scientifically by combining its quantitative expertise with sophisticated understanding of derivatives and financial markets.

We are looking for talented researchers who can apply and develop machine learning algorithms to contribute to Akuna’s strategy portfolio. In this role you will:

• Develop trading strategies using statistical and machine learning algorithms
• Design and implement optimization algorithms for portfolio construction
• Develop quantitative models describing market behavior
• Advance existing initiatives and explore opportunities for new research topics

Qualities that make great candidates:

• Pursuing a Bachelor’s, Masters or PhD in Statistics, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics (or a related subject)
• Expertise in statistics and machine learning
• Experience building mathematical models for complex real-world problems
• Intermediate programming skills in Python
• Financial experience is not a requirement
• Must graduate by August 2026
• GPA of 3.5 or above
• Legal authorization to work in the U.S. is required on the first day of employment including F-1 students using CPT, OPT or STEM

Please note: This year, candidates will only be considered for their top preference role due to the high volume of applications we receive. By submitting this application, you acknowledge that you will not be considered for other Tech and/or Quant roles at Akuna for this recruiting season.

**Resumes must be submitted in PDF format.