About Akuna:

Akuna Capital is an innovative trading firm with a strong focus on collaboration, cutting-edge technology, data driven solutions and automation. We specialize in providing liquidity as an options market maker – meaning we are committed to providing competitive quotes that we are willing to both buy and sell. To do this successfully we design and implement our own low latency technologies, trading strategies and mathematical models.

Our Founding Partners, including Akuna's CEO Andrew Killion, first conceptualized Akuna in their hometown of Sydney. They opened the firm’s first office in 2011 in the heart of the derivatives industry and the options capital of the world – Chicago. Today, Akuna is proud to operate from additional offices in Shanghai, Sydney, Boston and London.

At Akuna, we believe that the people are the centre of everything we do. Akuna Technologies was our first international office and opened in the Fall of 2014. Our Shanghai office works with the latest hardware and software technologies to develop high performance low latency solutions that are robust and scalable, ensuring our strategies are as fast as possible for Akuna’s global trading operations. We run happy hours, have a fully stacked snack room with free drinks and fresh fruits, host team events, social club events, and offer great training with our Akuna University. We are looking for the best talent to join us on the journey. If you enjoy being part of smart, driven teams with real challenges to solve- this could be the place for you!

What you’ll do as a Quantitative Research Intern at Akuna:

Akuna’s Quantitative Trading and Research team is looking to add Quantitative Research Interns to a team of mathematicians, statisticians and technologists for our 10 week internship Akunacademy in our Shanghai office. This team creates trading strategies scientifically by combining its quantitative expertise with sophisticated understanding of derivatives and financial markets.

We are looking for talented researchers who can apply and develop machine learning algorithms to contribute to Akuna’s strategy portfolio. In this role you will:

• Develop trading strategies using statistical and machine learning algorithms
• Design and implement optimization algorithms for portfolio construction
• Develop quantitative models describing market behavior
• Advance existing initiatives and explore opportunities for new research topics

Qualities that make great candidates:

• Pursuing a Bachelor’s, Masters or PhD in Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, Bioinformatics, Mechanics, Financial Engineering (or a related subject), graduate during Sep 2025 - Jul 2026
• Expertise in statistics and machine learning
• Experience building mathematical models for complex real-world problems
• Intermediate programming skills in Python (C++ is a plus)
• Financial experience is not a requirement
• Willing to prepare and take English technical interviews

Please note: If you apply to multiple roles, you may be asked to complete multiple coding challenges and interviews.