Does there seem to be diversity at Optiver?

Good compensation for trading staff (only). Young informal vibe (you can literally walk around barefoot at work). Free food. Brand new office. Lots of in office romance between managers and subordinates/direct reports.

Firm is run from Amsterdam by Dutch leadership who remote controls every move and doesn't empower local American staff to make decisions. Very few industry veterans work here, limited learning upside or opportunity to network for the future. Limited diversity and inclusion efforts.

- Smart colleagues who are very hardworking

- Despite claims of valuing diversity, there is little meaningful progress. There are few, if any, women in leadership roles, and under represented groups face barriers to advancement. The environment feels homogenous and unwelcoming for those outside the dominant demographic. - Long hours are normalised. - The company is slow to adapt to modern workplace standards, including genuine diversity initiatives (not just token ones). - Short term profits are the focus over long-term cultural transformation. Both can be achieved together but you have to want it. - Those that are well established within the organisation, rely on tight-knit networks within the organisation, which can perpetuate exclusion when these networks are predominantly male. - Women and minorities face barriers like unconscious bias, lack of mentorship, and insufficient support, no matter how smart or hard working they are. - There is a genuine lack of visible diverse leaders within the organisation which perpetuates the belief that success at Optiver requires fitting into a narrow mold. - Despite all of the above points, management are resistant to real change.

The environment is fast-paced and competitive, which keeps you on your toes and constantly striving for excellence. At the same time, the company fosters a fun and inclusive culture where team-building activities, creative projects, and camaraderie are always encouraged.

I cannot think of any at the moment.

Money was the main reason i was there.

Poor culture; they can try to put on as much of a show with Diversity, but the fact is it's not at all. They have an arctic view on women in Trading.

- Good total comp, especially for new grads, if you can get a decent perf review - Not a lot of meetings - 5 weeks of vacation and people do take it - Catered food is pretty good

- Almost everyone is either a new grad or someone who has been at the company since graduating. The management thinks they have the greatest software ever but nobody has the perspective to realize how things could be improved. There's a CTO but I have absolutely no idea what he does since the company has no over-arching goals or architecture. Each office pretty much does their own thing and the redundancy is insane to me. - The comp structure (low base pay with a large but discretionary bonus) favors yes-men who go along with the bidding of their managers, no matter how inefficient or poorly considered their ideas are. Optiver does not ask employees to review their manager's performance. Optiver does everything they can to protect the toxic behavior of people who have been there for years. - The default stance of the company is to throw man-hours at a problem before solving it in any way that will make the employee's life better. Research jobs taking too long and constantly failing? No problem, just check the job status at 2am every night. You want to invest in a more robust system that works without babysitting it? Sounds like you aren't committed. - Although the company officially allowed 2 days per week working from home, the company and Austin office in particular is very hostile to people who actually use it. You are judged for every second you spend outside of your desk seat. They tell hires that they are results-focused and don't care as long as the work gets done, but this is a lie. Optiver is all about presenteeism. - God forbid if you should ever get seriously ill while working at Optiver. The management routinely assumes the worst of its employees and ridicules people for focusing on their health. - The dev infrastructure is a hot mess that's held together with duct tape, even more so than any startup I've worked at. They constantly reinvent the wheel due to a not-built-here mentality. They have an entire team maintaining research infrastructure, including a custom batch processing system, that is entirely redundant with what's available commercially or through open source software. It's pretty crazy. - The people who get promoted are generally smart but the least-balanced individuals you'll ever meet. They also tend to be spineless yes-men who have no idea how to lead a team effectively. If the team misses goals it's never the manager's fault, they always blame the employee who put in 70+ hour weeks trying to work within a system that's geared against them. - The culture is like a frat house and the managers in particular are completely immature. There is no diversity at all.

- Smart colleagues who are very hardworking

- Despite claims of valuing diversity, there is little meaningful progress. There are few, if any, women in leadership roles, and under represented groups face barriers to advancement. The environment feels homogenous and unwelcoming for those outside the dominant demographic. - Long hours are normalised. - The company is slow to adapt to modern workplace standards, including genuine diversity initiatives (not just token ones). - Short term profits are the focus over long-term cultural transformation. Both can be achieved together but you have to want it. - Those that are well established within the organisation, rely on tight-knit networks within the organisation, which can perpetuate exclusion when these networks are predominantly male. - Women and minorities face barriers like unconscious bias, lack of mentorship, and insufficient support, no matter how smart or hard working they are. - There is a genuine lack of visible diverse leaders within the organisation which perpetuates the belief that success at Optiver requires fitting into a narrow mold. - Despite all of the above points, management are resistant to real change.

Benefits, pay, bonus structure, and the food.

For roles that don't operateur the cored business of trading or support trading, there is not a lot of room or opportunity for growth. Not as flat an organizational as management thinks in a lot of departements. Lacks diversity.

Really inclusive people. Algorithmic thinking.

No cons as such, Great place.