AI Researcher – AI Lab
A leadership research role setting direction for a new AI lab that explores advanced models such as foundation models and reinforcement learning. The lab sits at a market maker but operates independently of core trading.
What you’d work on
Our reading of the posting: what a new hire in this role would most likely spend their first months on.
- Draft the lab's technical vision and research roadmap
- Hire and mentor researchers, engineers and applied scientists
- Oversee experimental model systems from prototype onwards
- Find high-value problems with trading and research teams
What they ask for
Required
- PhD or equivalent in CS, AI or machine learning
- Deep learning, transformers, RL and generative models
- Research or publication track record
- Communication to technical and non-technical audiences
- Comfort with ambiguity
- Education
- PhD or equivalent experience in computer science, AI, machine learning or a related field.
- Experience
- Proven research, publication or system-level innovation record; team-building
How to prepare
- Read recent work on transformers and reinforcement learning
- Reproduce a published deep learning result
- Think about where AI-native approaches fit in market data
- Practise presenting complex ideas to mixed audiences
What to study
- Financial Machine Learning
- Text as Data and NLP for Finance
- Linear Algebra, Optimisation and Numerical Methods
- Probability, Statistics and Financial Data
The NLP and ML Quant Researcher roadmap sets out the stages for this kind of role, with free resources for each.
Open the roadmapApply
Read the full posting on Optiver’s site before applying: requirements, location and pay can change after we check them.
View the posting on Optiver’s site ↗
SelfMadeQuant wrote this summary from the employer’s public posting, last checked 6 November 2026. SelfMadeQuant isn’t affiliated with Optiver and doesn’t handle applications.