Quantitative Trader & Systems Engineer (Derivatives)

Boise, Idaho

Total Compensation: $250,000 - $400,000

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Avenue A is a proprietary trading firm that deploys its own capital across multiple asset classes and strategy types. We move fast and operate with a small team where every person has direct impact on the P&L. There are no layers, no committees, and no passengers.

We are looking for a quantitative trader and systems engineer to join our derivatives desk — someone who can research, build, and deploy systematic derivatives strategies from idea to execution and own the results.

What You'll Do

  • Design, develop, and optimize low-latency trading systems for the firm's systematic derivatives strategies

  • Research and implement new strategies grounded in quantitative analysis, market microstructure, and game-theoretic reasoning

  • Own the full lifecycle: signal research, backtesting, execution infrastructure, risk management, and live monitoring

  • Collaborate with firm leadership on strategy allocation, portfolio construction, and technology direction for the derivatives book

  • Continuously improve execution quality, fill rates, and infrastructure reliability

What We're Looking For

  • Minimum 6 years of professional experience in quantitative trading, systematic strategy development, or trading systems engineering

  • A verified, attributable P&L track record — we care about what you've built and what it made

  • Deep fluency in the languages that power modern trading infrastructure: C++, Python, Rust, and Java at minimum — with strong opinions on when to use each

  • Expertise in market microstructure, order book dynamics, and derivatives pricing

  • Strong game-theoretic intuition — you naturally think in terms of adversarial dynamics, incentive structures, and second-order effects

  • High agency: you identify problems, make decisions, and ship solutions without waiting for permission or direction

  • Experience with FIX protocol, direct market access, and co-location environments

  • Familiarity with futures markets (CME/CBOT), margin mechanics, and contract specifications

Nice to Have

  • Experience building or scaling a proprietary trading operation from the ground up

  • Background in FPGA or hardware-accelerated trading systems

  • Contributions to open-source trading or infrastructure projects

  • Advanced degree in computer science, mathematics, physics, or a related quantitative field

What We Offer

  • Total compensation of $250,000 – $400,000, structured around base salary and performance-based incentives tied directly to P&L contribution

  • A small, flat team where your work is the product — not a slide deck about the product

  • Autonomy to pursue high-conviction ideas with real capital behind them

  • Direct exposure to firm-level strategy and decision-making from day one