Senior Project Manager

Optiver is looking for a Senior Project Manager to help enable and advance the business’ technology strategy in an operationally sound and scalable manner. The Project Management function, within the Technical Operations umbrella, drives strategic initiatives – prioritizing and executing numerous projects simultaneously, all while enabling cross-team collaboration and escalating blockers whenever possible. The team focuses on operational excellence and continuous improvement, which equips them with the ability to drive these wide-ranging initiatives forward consistently with efficiency and efficacy.

 As a member of the Technical Operations team, you will individually drive a wide variety of projects, from the first strategy session through project completion – all while working hand-in-hand with trading, development, and IT operations. If you are interested in gaining experience on the business and technical sides of a leading global trading firm while leveraging and continuing to develop technical project management expertise, this role will provide that opportunity.

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 70+ exchanges across the globe. Our mission is to constantly improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency and acting as a stabilising 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.

Optiver Chicago’s culture parallels the energetic city we’re immersed in. Home to the Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago Board Options Exchange, and Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago has established itself as the trading capital of the US. Active on leading US exchanges, Optiver’s Chicago office trades a wide range of products from listed derivatives to cash equities, ETFs, bonds and foreign exchange.

What you’ll do:

• Facilitate, partner, and lead project management for new trading and technical initiatives - working collaboratively with members of trading, development, enterprise technology, and IT operations
• Create and oversee project scopes, timelines, tasks/responsibilities, and deliverables for assigned projects - working with various local and global delivery teams on implementation
• Document and effectively communicate business and technical requirements
• Partner with groups throughout Optiver to proactively manage dependencies
• Design and implement continuous updates to Optiver project management processes in an effort to continually make the end-to-end project execution process more efficient and mature
• Focus on continuous project execution improvement through feedback loops and retrospectives to help stakeholder teams achieve optimal performance
• Actively coach and mentor junior project managers on communication, leadership, and overall project management effectiveness

Who you are:

An ideal candidate has a strong background coordinating the work of both regionally and globally distributed technical teams on complex projects. Additionally, this person also has experience planning and driving these projects to completion - including overseeing multiple project plans and key metrics simultaneously, while working in a fast-paced environment

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree
• 5+ years of experience working in a project manager, senior project manager, or product manager role
• Industry experience working in a technical environment, preferably in financial services, consulting, or tech
• A demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex projects concurrently and autonomously
• A high aptitude for understanding the technical requirements to support our trading and corporate infrastructure, along with high curiosity of how our design/implementation decisions tie back to increasing firm profit
• Ability to influence decision-making processes and foster an environment of healthy team debate
• Strong leadership, communication, time management, problem solving, and analytical skills
• Effective at coaching teams and providing feedback to stakeholders/executives
• Comfort in dealing with ambiguity and can keep a team on track despite unknowns
• Strong risk awareness and the ability to identify imminent risks
• Ability to take abstract problems and turn them into concrete solutions
• Strong communication, organizational, and analytical skills a must

What you’ll get:

• Work alongside best-in-class professionals from over 40 different countries.
• Performance based bonus structure that is unmatched anywhere in the industry. We combine our profits across desks, teams and offices into a global profit pool fostering a truly collaborative environment to work in.
• Ownership over initiatives that directly solve business problems.  

Alongside this you will get great other benefits such as 25 paid vacation days and market holidays, fully paid commuting expenses and health insurance, daily breakfast and lunch, training opportunities, 401(k) match up to 50% and charitable match opportunities, regular social events and clubs, and many more.