Entry Level Software Engineer - Infrastructure

About Optiver

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 over 50 exchanges across the globe. Our mission is to constantly improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency, and acting as a stabilizing 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.

Our Amsterdam office is where it all began. Over 35 years ago, Optiver’s business started with a single trader on the floor of Amsterdam’s European Stock Exchange. Since our 1986 founding, Optiver’s Amsterdam office has grown into one of the most dynamic and exciting trading floors in Europe. Our culture reflects the Dutch capital city’s progressive, innovative, and inclusive nature. With its unique spirit, Amsterdam is the ideal hub for our teams to trade a wide range of products from listed derivatives to cash equities, ETFs, bonds, and foreign exchange.

What We Do

Optiver is a leading trading firm driven by technology with over one thousand employees globally. We pioneer our own trading strategies and systems using sophisticated technology, running a global network with thousands of high-performance, low-latency applications that solve problems in nanoseconds.

We take full control of each small detail of our infrastructure by building and managing each aspect of our compute systems. We manage more than 2500 servers in more than 18 locations around the world. All of them are connected by a private wide area network back to our Amsterdam datacenter.

Your Role

As an Infrastructure Software Engineer, you will join our Linux or Infra-Platform teams. You will work closely with other experts depending on each project. Your responsibilities will include:

• Participating in the design and implementation of the systems used to manage our infrastructure, writing mostly Python code.
• Encouraging OSS adoption and contributing to upstream repos.
• Handling tasks related to modeling, provisioning, configuration management, observability, and deployment.
• Splitting your time between development and operational tasks (80:20).
• Joining a rotation schedule for our “Operational week” where you monitor dashboards for incidents and assist other users.
• Participating in our on-call rotation (only during some hours of the day, not 24/7).
• Working mostly in our office.

Day-to-Day Tasks

• Writing and reviewing code with your team.
• Provisioning servers or network devices through our automated deployment pipeline.
• Applying configuration changes to our infrastructure.
• Debugging production issues.
• Supporting Developers and Operations teams.
• Planning and coordinating changes in our infrastructure together with other teams in the department.

Projects You Could Work On

• Building our next-generation observability stack.
• Developing our “terraform-like” tool to manage our infrastructure in a declarative way.
• Automating operations to empower other teams to perform critical tasks without direct involvement.

What You'll Need

Required

• A strong desire to automate your work with a reluctance to do repetitive tasks but an eagerness to solve problems.
• Adaptability to use the right tools for the current problem.
• Ability to code in Python or willingness to learn it.
• Experience with real-life infrastructure.

Extra Points

• Experience building Python tools for infrastructure automation.
• High attention to detail coupled with strong communication skills.
• Experience with configuration management (e.g., Ansible).
• Knowledge of virtualization technologies, networking, and bare metal server management.

What You'll Get

• The chance to start your career working alongside best-in-class professionals from over 40 different countries.
• Great secondary benefits such as 25 paid vacation days, fully paid first-class commuting expenses, training opportunities, discounts on health insurance, breakfast and lunch facilities, sports and leisure activities, Friday afternoon drinks, and even weekly in-house chair massages.
• Competitive relocation packages and visa sponsorship where necessary.

How to Apply

Apply directly via the form below for the position of Software Engineer Infrastructure. Please provide us with a CV and letter of motivation in English. Applications without a letter of motivation will not be reviewed. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Recruitment. Please note, we cannot accept applications via email for data protection reasons.

Diversity Statement

As an intentionally flat organization, we believe that great ideas and impact can come from everyone. We are passionate about empowering individuals and creating diverse teams that thrive. Every person at Optiver should feel included, valued, and respected, because we believe our best work is done together.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is hardwired through every stage of our hiring process. We encourage applications from candidates from any and all backgrounds, and we welcome requests for reasonable adjustments during the process to ensure that you can best demonstrate your abilities.