Jane Street Capital is a trading firm that operates around the globe trading financial products like Equities, Futures, Commodities, Options, Bonds, and Currencies. They operate with offices in New York, London, and Hong Kong.

How is mathematics used at Jane Street Capital?

Mathematics is used in a number of ways--software plays an essential role in everything we do, and we describe the work at Jane Street as “technologically intense.” Designing software, building statistical models, and writing code are some of the essential mathematical processes that drive our company every day.

What skills do you look for in a new hire?

Jane Street is always looking for new employees that are prepared to attack a new set of problems every day. People who can look at a problem and break it down into smaller parts and try out multiple solutions, especially in a time crunch. Our traders divide their time between multiple tasks: monitoring our trading systems in real time, manually entering trades into the market, developing new strategies, and improving infrastructure we use to analyze the markets and our trading data.

Are there any specific tools you use at Jane Street?

One tool of choice is OCaml, a programming language that Jane Street uses for coding. Every new trading hire that comes to Jane Street goes through a month-long boot camp to learn the basics of OCaml. We have also built our own software over the years that are continuously honed, growing more and more sophisticated.

What is the work environment like?

The culture is very open and collaborative. If someone needs help with a problem, five people are there to help you come up with a solution. It isn’t about who discovered the result, but how everyone works through a problem.

The environment can also be seen as academic, but with a faster pace. Everyone is doing research and working to develop new tools and strategies. Then once you have an idea it can be tested and implemented in a matter of days.

What is a fun insider tip about working at Jane Street? 

The food at Jane Street is really, really good. Sometimes it is referred to as “buffet a la Jane.”

Want to learn more about what it is like at Jane Street? Check out Jane Street Inside a Day.

 

 

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