Software Engineer Intern - Python, Summer 2026

Akuna Capital•Chicago, IL

3h•$130,000

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, Singapore, and London. We are seeking Software Engineer Interns to join our innovative and growing technology team for our 10-week Akunacademy internship program. In this role you will work alongside our trading and software team to design and implement elegant solutions to complex and interesting problems. Software Engineer Interns at Akuna have the opportunity to use cutting-edge technology while working on high performance/low latency systems. We offer a team-based approach to trading and software engineering, believing that productive integration of the two groups is vital for success in this industry. Akuna loves Software Engineering interns who are self-starters and have the ability to problem solve and think outside of the box. We value innovation and hard work, and want you to make an impact in the firm. Whether you are interested in trading infrastructure, algorithms, exchange gateways, performance engineering, hardware, data capture and analysis or front-end user interfaces, there’s work to be done. If you are excited to jump in and make a difference, Akuna could be the place for you.

Requirements

Pursuing a Bachelors, Masters, or Ph.D. in technical field – Computer Science/Engineering, Math, Physics, or equivalent
Must graduate by August 2027
Major GPA of 3.5 or above
Legal authorization to work in the U.S. is required on the first day of employment including F-1 students using OPT or STEM
Strong programming skills in Object Oriented Python Development
Demonstrated experience with distributed systems
Strong analytic and problem-solving skills
Ability to communicate with the trading team, obtain requirements, find solutions, and implement them in a clean and concise way
Create an easily understood and testable codebase that can change as quickly as market conditions require
The ability to react quickly and accurately to rapidly changing market conditions, including the ability to quickly and accurately respond and/or solve math and coding problems are essential functions of the role
Passion for innovation and building systems from the ground up
Ability to adapt to an ever-changing environment
Self-starter attitude with the ability to work independently
Resumes must be submitted in PDF format.