Want to accelerate your path from student to full-time trader?

Career Kickstarter: Trading is an immersive five-day program at Optiver’s Amsterdam office, offering final-year students at European Universities a direct pathway to a career in trading.

Over the course of one week, you’ll experience a real-world trading environment, moving from options theory to developing highly relevant practical industry skills. Through a blend of interactive lectures, trading games, and expert mentorship, you’ll learn how to think—and act—like a trader.

If you prove to be a good match for our Graduate Trader role, you may receive a full-time job offer once the program is complete.

Apply below and take the first step towards accelerating your career in trading.

When: 1 – 5 June 2026 Where: Optiver Amsterdam Headquarters Application deadline: Applications close at 17:00 CET on 15 March 2026, and the first step of the recruitment process (online assessments) must be completed by 23:59 CET on the same day.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Learning and skill development:

Explore options theory: Delve deeper into our operations through interactive lectures on the fundamentals of options theory. Learn about trading strategies: Discover how data, reports, and proposals drive the development of impactful new trading strategies. Design a trading algorithm: Gain hands-on experience designing and testing your own trading algorithm. Engage in trading games: Participate in fast-paced games that mimic real-world trading scenarios, helping sharpen your instincts and decision-making skills under pressure.

Networking and culture:

Get to know Optiver’s culture: Get a taste of Optiver’s incredible culture and enjoy our perks and benefits, including daily breakfast, lunch, coffee, and more. Build your network: Enjoy networking events with Traders, Quantitative Researchers, and Recruiters. Receive expert mentorship: Benefit from the guidance and support of our renowned Trading Education Team. Hotel & travel: You’ll benefit from fully expensed travel and hotel accommodation in Amsterdam on your chosen program dates.

ELIGIBILITY

BSc or MSc student graduating from a university in Europe between May 2024 – August 2027 Currently situated in the Netherlands, UK or Europe All Econometrics and STEM degree backgrounds are considered You are able to demonstrate at the time of application that you have the requisite visa or other travel authorisations in place in order to allow you to attend the program in person.

WHO YOU ARE

Excellent numerical and analytical skills  Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, developed through STEM degrees such as Econometrics Fast decision-making skills under pressure Competitive attitude and an eagerness to constantly improve yourself Fluent communication skills in English Excellent attention to detail Programming skills are not required, but definitely desirable

APPLY NOW

Does this sound like the future you’re looking for? Apply now by submitting your CV and take the first step towards your trading career.

Please note that this application process consists of two stages: an online assessment, and a technical interview. You will receive the online assessment soon after submitting your application, and the interviews will follow in April.  

Find more information and apply on: Career Kickstarter: Trading 2026 - Optiver

Ready to accelerate your engineering career in just five days?

At Optiver, engineers build the systems powering millions of trades a day across the globe: from core low-latency platforms, machine learning research pipelines, to real-time execution workflows. The challenges are complex, the impact is immediate, and the learning never stops.

Career Kickstarter: Tech is a five-day, all-expenses-paid program designed for students eager to explore the engineering challenges of building mission-critical trading systems that keep global markets moving. Hosted at our Amsterdam headquarters, you’ll work through hands-on coding sessions, system design workshops and a collaborative engineering project that mirrors the work of our engineers.

Top performers will be considered for a direct offer to join Optiver as a Graduate Software Engineer.

When: May 11-15, 2026 Where: Optiver’s Amsterdam Headquarters Application deadline: February 23, 2026, at 17:00 CET

What you’ll do

A week of building, learning and engineering at scale. Throughout the program, our full-time Education Team will be there to mentor you, offering guidance and feedback designed to accelerate your development.

Learning and skill development:

Hands-on engineering: Work on a real engineering project that challenges you to design, build and iterate as part of a real engineering team. Technical exploration: Join lectures and panel sessions with senior engineers to explore potential career paths and understand how real systems are designed, built and improved. Systems thinking: Take part in system design workshops to learn how high-performance systems are architected, optimised and scaled. Pathway to a career: Demonstrate your potential during the program, and you may be considered for a direct offer to join Optiver as a Graduate Software Engineer.

Culture and perks:

Industry insights: Gain a deeper understanding of the industry and build the confidence needed to excel in a high-performance environment. Cultural immersion: Get a taste of Optiver’s incredible company culture and take advantage of our perks and benefits firsthand, including daily breakfast, lunch, coffee and more. Amsterdam up close: Picture your future career based in our vibrant city, sampling a taste of life in the historic Dutch capital. Hotel & travel: Enjoy a comfortable stay with fully covered accommodation and travel expenses, allowing you to focus on making the most of the program.

Who You Are

You’re curious, collaborative and excited to apply your problem-solving and engineering skills to real-world systems.

To join, you must:

Be a current student or graduate (BSc, MSc or PhD) in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a related technical field, with a graduation date between May 2024 and August 2027. Be proficient in industry-standard coding languages such as C++, Python, or Java, with a strong understanding of underlying computer architecture and system operations Have a solid grasp of algorithms, memory and concurrency models, CPU-architecture, operating systems and relational databases Be studying, or have graduated from, a university in the EU, EEA or UK. Be able to demonstrate at the time of application that you have the requisite visa or other travel arrangements or authorisations in place to allow you to attend the program in person. Be able to start full-time as a Software Engineer directly after the program, or at the latest by September 2027.

No finance or trading experience required. Curiosity, problem-solving ability and a willingness to learn matter most. 

Who We Are

Optiver is a tech-driven trading firm and leading global market maker. For over 35 years, Optiver has been improving financial markets around the world, making them more transparent and efficient for all participants. With more than 2,000 employees in offices around the world, we’re united in our commitment to improve the market through competitive pricing, execution and thorough risk management. By providing liquidity on multiple exchanges across the world, we actively trade on 70+ exchanges, where we’re trusted to always provide accurate buy and sell pricing – no matter the market conditions.

Apply Now

Does this sound like the future you’re looking for? Take up the opportunity and apply today!

Please note that the application process consists of two stages: an online assessment and a technical interview.

The online assessment will be held between end of February and beginning of March 2026. The technical interview will take place in March 2026.

Further details and invitations to the next stages will be shared after applications close on 23rd February 2026.

Find more information and how to apply on: Career Kickstarter: Tech - Optiver