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      Optiver

      Engaged Employer

      Optiver reviews

      3.7

      60% would recommend to a friend

      (571 total reviews)

      57% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      4.2

      Compensation and benefits

      3.7

      Career opportunities

      3.3

      Culture & values

      3.2

      Work/Life balance

      3.1

      Senior management

      3.0

      Diversity & inclusion

      Optiver has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 571 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Optiver employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Financial Services industry (3.7 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      571 reviews
      4.0
      Aug 19, 2019

      Great benefits, smart people

      Systems engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      You get to work with a lot of smart people. There is very little dead weight, and everyone contributes. I.T. isn't viewed as a cost to be reduced, because I.T. is the lifeblood of the company. Pay and benefits are outstanding.

      Cons

      With the pay (especially bonuses) being so high, it means management knows you'll put up with a good deal of crap before leaving. Also, the flip side of being a company with lots of smart people is that if you're not above average in your field, your days will be numbered if you happen to slip through their interview process.

      5.0
      Oct 3, 2015

      A Principled Trading Company

      Software developer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      - Mission: We have a clear directive: Improve the market. I love the focus that mission brings in combination with its moral undertones. We only pursue strategies which actually add value to the world’s financial markets. And I see this play out every week as well. In meetings questions like “why should we be paid to this”, “is this a fair strategy”, and “is this money we should leave on the table” are constantly asked. It is so refreshing to work for a trading company which takes it duty to ensure stable, fair, transparent markets seriously. - Teamwork: The camaraderie, sense of togetherness, and practical outworking of the company structure are incredible. Within our office in Chicago, it feels like everyone is part of a tight-knit team that works together as true partners with no second-class citizens. Between offices there is a wonderful sense of friendly competition (every office wants the best results) balanced by the knowledge that we all share in each other’s success which motivates everyone to constantly sharing technology, strategies, and learnings. - Humility: Why are the most successful people at Optiver successful? Speaking for IT, the key is humility, being self-critical, proactively looking for critiques and advice to help yourself improve, and looking for your own faults before others. Our most senior people are the first ones to take the blame for something going wrong and push those around them to help learn from those mistakes and grow. - Intelligence: You can’t be a great company in this industry without incredibly smart people. And in addition to being some of the most humble, hardworking people I know, my colleagues are also incredibly smart. If we were ever to decide “let’s cut the person with the lowest IQ”, I’d need to start looking for a job… Thankfully I know we’ll never do that. :-)

      Cons

      - Professionalism Training: Because most new hires are fresh out of school, there is a need for and lack of training in “professionalism”: How to make a business case. How to produce meaningful statistics and not gibberish. How do you create, plan, and run a meeting. How do you stay organized and not drop the ball? How should you behave in a meeting? Etc. That many new hires don’t know these things is not a problem. The issue is the lack of internal development and mentoring in these areas. - Focus: Optiver has a lot of intelligent people, high quality traders, and opportunities to grow. But it feels like we’re at a giant buffet where every food option looks incredible. We’re half-way through the line, and we have a full plate and a choice: do we grab a second plate and keep moving or step back and re-evaluate what is best for our long-term health and short-term digestion? It often feels like we go for the second plate when we should ask: is that chocolate pie really going to be that good? We’ve tried it three times before and never been satisfied. Why do we think it will be good this time?

      2.0
      Jun 8, 2015

      be fair, honest and open with your employees

      Trader
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      --pay is good for junior traders as well as senior traders with no skills. --perks are good. --most people are friendly. --expanding nicely.

      Cons

      --management not open to new and possibly better ideas. everything has to be done his exact way. many times, the end result is the initially proposed solution and management is not willing to admit being wrong. --as with many companies, how well you perform matters very little compared to how much management likes you, even though there are very objective metrics for a trading firm: P&L!!! they will find excuses to cut your bonus significantly.

      Viewing 22 - 24 of 571 Reviews
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      Glassdoor has 820 Optiver reviews submitted anonymously by Optiver employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Optiver is right for you.