Software Developer Internship - 2026-27

As a Software Developer Intern at Optiver, you’ll work alongside experienced engineers to develop innovative solutions that enable us to respond to the financial markets at lightning-fast speeds. In just a few weeks, you could develop latency-critical applications that contribute towards our trading success. 

By the end of the 10-week internship, you’ll have deepened your understanding of how technology is used in the quantitative trading industry. Plus, if you’ve excelled over the summer, you’ll receive an offer to return as a Graduate Software Developer. 

What you’ll do 

Led by our in-house education team that consists of former traders and engineers, you’ll delve into advanced engineering concepts and lead innovative projects. Whether it's developing ultra-low latency exchange protocol encoders and decoders, or fine-tuning our automated trading strategies and pricing models, you’ll work closely with traders and other engineers to build simple, well-architected solutions that meet the needs of our business. 

You’ll experience the excitement of a fast-paced development cycle – owning a tight feedback loop, testing and shipping your code to production. You could be working on a change to a trading system in the morning and see it run live by the afternoon. No two days are the same, and it’s up to you and your team to drive our success in the ever-evolving capital markets. 

Aside from technical skills, our dedicated education team will also work with you on your development, including:   

• Workshops on a variety of tech-based topics, along with soft skills to support your holistic growth as a developer. 

• A dedicated mentor who will guide you through our development process and how our trading systems work. 

• Trader training to get you up to speed on our business. This helps you understand the fundamentals of trading, enabling you to make an impact from the early stages of your Optiver career. 

Find your niche in technology  

We offer a range of opportunities in our technology teams. Discover the exciting projects that you could work on during your internship.  

• Read Nicole's story on working in our Statistical and Index Arbitrage team to develop position-taking strategies that predict price moves. 

• Read Brenda’s story on delivering low-latency, high-throughput systems that improve our connectivity to the financial market. 

• Read Richard’s story on navigating the world of automated trading – systems that make trading decisions. 

• Read Marcus’ story on working in the risk and treasury team, where he monitors systems that manage and mitigate risk (e.g. trading risk). 

• Read Lena’s story on production engineering, where they build tools and systems that enable us to trade smoothly. 

What you’ll get 

You’ll join a culture of collaboration and excellence, where you’ll be surrounded by curious thinkers and creative problem solvers. Driven by a passion for continuous improvement, you’ll thrive in a supportive, high-performing environment alongside talented colleagues, working collectively to tackle the most complex problems in the financial markets.  

In addition, you’ll receive: 

• A highly competitive remuneration package. 

• Optiver-covered flights and accommodation for the duration of the internship. 

• The opportunity to work alongside best-in-class professionals. 

• Training, mentorship and personal development opportunities. 

• Gym membership, plus weekly in-house chair massages. 

• Daily breakfast, lunch and in-house barista. 

• Regular social events. 

Who you are 

• A penultimate university student. If you are a pre-penultimate university student, discover our 2026 FutureFocus program.

• An Australian or New Zealand Citizen, Australian Permanent Resident or able to provide evidence of full working rights. 

• Studying a Computer Science, Software/Electrical/Mechatronic Engineering or similarly technical degree. 

• Problem solver who will enjoy building high-performing, low latency designs that critically impact trading success. 

• Curious to learn and comfortable exploring complex technical ideas. 

• Have a range of out-of-classroom projects or extra-curricular activities that demonstrates your passion in technology, particularly software development. 

• Excited to work alongside the best developers and traders in the industry, with the humility to continually upskill and improve yourself. 

• Knowledgeable about object-orientated design and development concepts (experience with C++, Java or Python is required for our technical assessment).  

Diversity statement  

Optiver is committed to diversity and inclusion. We encourage applications from candidates from all backgrounds, and welcome requests for reasonable adjustments during the process to ensure that you can best demonstrate your abilities. 

Questions? Get in touch with the team at [email protected].  

We accept one application per role per year. If you have previously applied to this position during this season and have been unsuccessful, you can re-apply when the next recruitment season begins in 2027.