Graduate Quantitative Researcher, PhD

WHO WE ARE

Headquartered in the historic Chicago Board of Trade, PEAK6 Capital Management is a proprietary options trading firm that has been defining the industry for more than 25 years. While many firms have come and gone, PEAK6 Capital Management has consistently delivered liquidity to the options market. We thrive due to our firm’s special blend of financial acumen, ability to manage risk, and cutting-edge technology.

PEAK6 Capital Management was brought to life through insatiable curiosity, entrepreneurial spirit, and the desire to win. We offer incredible opportunities for smart, passionate team players to solve complex problems and take calculated risks. We were among the first firms to develop sophisticated proprietary technology in our trading business. Today, we continue to leverage our technical ingenuity and operational excellence across several investment areas, spanning early-to-mid stage growth capital, operational control, trading, and eSports. Throughout the years, we've built and operated several financial technology firms and we continue to evolve.  

ABOUT THIS ROLE

PEAK6 has taken their passion for the markets and developed a unique trading experience designed to introduce women to the trading industry. Spearheaded by PEAK6 co-founder, Jenny Just, our Trading Internship is designed to encourage smart, ambitious, collaborative women to break the mold. We’ve heard all the myths about trading—too cutthroat, too intense, too risky—but that’s not the case at PEAK6. Investing in women is a winning trade, and there are not enough female traders in the field yet. We are changing that.

Our internship will introduce you to the basics of trading, help you see how empowering trading can be, and help you develop aid in your development of key skills that you’ll leverage in any industry. You will experience a fast paced, risk-seeking environment where you will trade based on instant news. Our immersive internship offers the opportunity to learn about being a trader by allowing you to experience it for yourself.

You can expect the Trading Internship to include:

• Ownership of an impactful project from concept to delivery, and presenting your work to senior leadership, and stakeholders of the organization
• Learning advanced option theory and the basics of volatility trading
• Skill development in learning how to take calculated risks by executing trades and playing various risk-taking games
• Weekly poker sessions hosted by traders to tie in trading concepts
• Comprehensive mentorship and feedback process that includes dedicated 1:1 mentors, scheduled feedback cycles, and weekly 360-degree feedback of the program
• Collaborating with, learning from, and articulating your ideas and strategies to senior trading partners, team members, and supporting departments
• Rotating with and pitching trade ideas to traders
• Exposure to other PEAK6 business lines and ventures to enhance career perspective
• Hear and learn from influential women in the FinTech space
• Defined experience timeline and structured program, from start to finish to ensure a maximum experience
• Company sponsored events including social and team-building activities
• Fully funded travel and housing in the heart of downtown Chicago

You will gain loads of experience in our Trading Internship, but before you do, you should have:

• Junior standing (graduating between December 2025 ‚Äì June 2026) 
• Ability to relocate to Chicago for the internship
• Interest in the trading industry
• Desire to learn and thrive in collaborative environments
• Strong work ethic
• Excellent written and verbal communication abilities
• Probabilistic decision making skills
• Exceptional problem-solving skills

Please note that June-August is our pre-application period. If you apply and complete our online assessment during this time frame, we will keep your application on hold until we will actively start interviewing for this program in August 2024. We will be in touch with next steps in August.