Project Manager

Akuna Capital • Chicago, IL

2d • $120,000

About The Position

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 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 Sydney, Shanghai, London, and Singapore.
The Project Manager will be responsible for overseeing multiple projects at once, driving timelines, motivating our teams, and achieving project execution. This person will have no problem diving in headfirst and holding employees accountable to their commitments, responsibilities, and deadlines. A technical background, or the ability to communicate effectively with technical team members, will be imperative in understanding the mechanics of putting projects together. In this role, you will:
Ask insightful and targeted questions to determine project scope, goals, timelines, resourcing needs, and deliverables
Proactively identify potential risks and challenges ahead of time to keep projects on track and prevent unforeseen obstacles
Make teams more efficient by streamlining workflows and enabling engineers to focus on execution
Coordinate and schedule necessary project-level meetings and other activities to promote active and productive communication amongst project teams, stakeholders, and management
Work with technology managers to automate and streamline existing processes and future initiatives
Communicate and present project and program status to multiple departments, including senior executives and shareholders
Develop and enforce Akuna’s project procedures and rules on multiple projects
Establish and maintain relationships with the Trading, Operations, and Engineering teams

Requirements

• 4+ years of professional project or program management experience
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or similar
• Familiarity with Jira is required; experience with other Atlassian tools like Confluence is a plus
• Background in software development, IT, and/or finance is a plus
• Familiarity with Agile development
• Outstanding organizational skills, close attention to detail and the ability to multitask are must haves
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to set clear and realistic goals
• Ability to quickly adapt to changing business requirements, manage conflicting priorities, and respond well to a fast-paced work environment
• Experience creating and refining processes rather than just following them

Responsibilities

• Ask insightful and targeted questions to determine project scope, goals, timelines, resourcing needs, and deliverables
• Proactively identify potential risks and challenges ahead of time to keep projects on track and prevent unforeseen obstacles
• Make teams more efficient by streamlining workflows and enabling engineers to focus on execution
• Coordinate and schedule necessary project-level meetings and other activities to promote active and productive communication amongst project teams, stakeholders, and management
• Work with technology managers to automate and streamline existing processes and future initiatives
• Communicate and present project and program status to multiple departments, including senior executives and shareholders
• Develop and enforce Akuna’s project procedures and rules on multiple projects
• Establish and maintain relationships with the Trading, Operations, and Engineering teams

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level