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Institutional Trading Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Alpaca

Director of Engineering, Trading

Chicago, IL · On-site

Design and deliver institutional trading capabilities, including but not limited to: * Drive ... architectural decisions across trading APIs, our proprietary order management system, real-time ...

New

Alpaca

Director of Engineering, Trading

Design and deliver institutional trading capabilities, including but not limited to: * Drive ... architectural decisions across trading APIs, our proprietary order management system, real-time ...

New

Optiver

Institutional Trader

Chicago, IL

Optiver is looking for an Institutional Trader to join our Trading Team. As one of the key faces of ... Interpret large flows to inform trading strategies * Identify new market opportunities in order to ...

Hyphen Connect Limited

You will play a critical role in managing the delivery of institutional trading dashboards for the web3 institutional platform. Your expertise will bridge project management and design, ensuring a ...

Optiver

Institutional Trader

Chicago, IL · On-site

$175K/yr

Institutional traders often take on the largest and most impactful trades across the landscape ... Interpret large flows to inform trading strategies * Identify new market opportunities in order to ...

TP ICAP

Buy-Side Sales, Liquidnet

New York, NY · On-site

Powered by technology that helps drive institutional alpha, our trading and liquidity network intelligently and securely connects the world's investors with the world's investments. Established in ...

TP ICAP

Buy-Side Sales, Liquidnet

New York, NY · On-site

Powered by technology that helps drive institutional alpha, our trading and liquidity network intelligently and securely connects the world's investors with the world's investments. Established in ...

Ava Labs

Senior Product Manager, Fortary

$155.90K - $194.88K/yr

We're looking for a Senior Product Manager to help define, develop and execute Fortary's institutional platform across trading, lending, and liquidity. This is a strategic solutions focused role at ...

Talos Trading

Technical Solutions Engineer

New York, NY · On-site

$150K - $190K/yr

Institutional Fabric for Digital Asset Markets Founded in 2018, Talos provides institutional-grade trading technology for the global digital asset market, powering many of the major players in the ...

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How much do institutional trading jobs pay per hour?

As of May 31, 2026, the average hourly pay for institutional trading in the United States is $36.54, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $22.36 and $46.15 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as an Institutional Trader, and why are they important?

To thrive as an Institutional Trader, you need a strong background in finance, analytical skills, and a relevant degree such as finance, economics, or mathematics. Familiarity with trading platforms like Bloomberg Terminal, electronic trading systems, and regulatory certifications (such as FINRA Series 7 or 63) are typically required. Excellent decision-making, attention to detail, and effective communication are standout soft skills for managing high-stakes transactions and client relationships. These capabilities are critical for executing large trades efficiently, mitigating risk, and ensuring profitability in fast-paced financial markets.

How does an institutional trader typically collaborate with portfolio managers and analysts during the trading process?

Institutional traders work closely with portfolio managers and research analysts to execute large trades that align with the firm's investment strategies. Portfolio managers communicate their investment objectives and trade instructions, while analysts provide market insights and recommendations. Traders use this information to determine the optimal timing, size, and method of execution, aiming to minimize market impact and transaction costs. Effective collaboration ensures that trades are executed efficiently and in accordance with compliance and risk guidelines.

What is institutional trading?

Institutional trading refers to the buying and selling of large quantities of securities, such as stocks or bonds, by organizations like mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies, and hedge funds. These trades are typically much larger than those made by individual investors and can significantly impact market prices. Institutional traders often use advanced strategies and sophisticated technology to execute trades efficiently and minimize costs. Their activities play a key role in providing liquidity and stability to the financial markets.

What is the difference between Institutional Trading vs Equity Trading?

AspectInstitutional TradingEquity Trading
CredentialsDegree in finance, economics, or related field; certifications like CFA often preferredSimilar credentials; CFA and finance degrees common
Work EnvironmentLarge financial institutions, hedge funds, asset managersBrokerages, investment banks, trading firms
Industry UsageUsed across institutional investors, asset managers, pension fundsUsed by individual and institutional traders
Search & ComparisonOften compared for scope, scale, and client baseFocuses more on individual or retail trading activities

Institutional Trading involves executing large-scale trades for institutions like pension funds and asset managers, often requiring specialized skills and certifications. Equity Trading generally refers to buying and selling stocks, which can be done by both individual and institutional traders. While both roles involve trading securities, Institutional Trading typically deals with larger volumes and more complex strategies within large organizations.

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Institutional Trading jobs near you
Director of Engineering, Trading

Director of Engineering, Trading

Alpaca

New York, NY

Full-time

Posted yesterday

Job description

Who We Are:

Alpaca is a US-headquartered self-clearing broker-dealer and brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, fixed income, 24/5 trading, and more. Our recent Series D funding round brought our total investment to over $320 million, fueling our ambitious vision.

Amongst our subsidiaries, Alpaca is a licensed financial services company, serving hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries with our institutional-grade APIs. This includes broker-dealers, investment advisors, wealth managers, hedge funds, and crypto exchanges, totalling over 9 million brokerage accounts.

Our global team is a diverse group of experienced engineers, traders, and brokerage professionals who are working to achieve our mission of opening financial services to everyone on the planet. We're deeply committed to open-source contributions and fostering a vibrant community, continuously enhancing our award-winning, developer-friendly API and the robust infrastructure behind it.

Alpaca is proudly backed by top-tier global investors, including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Unbound, SBI Group, Derayah Financial, Elefund, and Y Combinator.

Our Team Members:

We're a dynamic team of 380+ globally distributed members who thrive working from our favorite places around the world, with teammates spanning the USA, Canada, Japan, Hungary, Nigeria, Brazil, the UK, and beyond!
We're searching for passionate individuals eager to contribute to Alpaca's rapid growth. If you align with our core values—Stay Curious, Have Empathy, and Be Accountable—and are ready to make a significant impact, we encourage you to apply.

Your Role:

Alpaca is building the next-generation market infrastructure that powers the most sophisticated institutional use cases and expands its API-driven platform to support complex, high-performance "agentic" trading strategies. This strategic expansion ensures a robust and reliable foundation for all active traders, while tailoring our industry-leading brokerage platform to meet the demanding needs of institutional investors.

Reporting to the CPO/CTO/OCTO [TBD], you will build and scale a focused engineering organization responsible for institutional trading capabilities across multiple asset classes. You will work closely with the Global Head of Brokerage and other senior leaders to evolve Alpaca's platform toward a multi-asset, cross-margining offering spanning FX, futures, and other derivatives alongside existing equities and options.

This role is designed for a Director-level engineering leader who can extend a proven brokerage platform into a new institutional tier through strong architectural judgment, execution discipline, and team leadership.

Things You Get To Do:

  • Define and own and execute the engineering roadmap for Alpaca's institutional trading platform
  • Build, lead, and scale a high-performing team of engineers with a strong culture of ownership and execution
  • Partner with the Office of the CTO and Global Head of Brokerage to align engineering priorities with institutional and prime brokerage strategy
  • Lead the evolution toward a multi-asset trading architecture supporting cross-margining across equities, options, FX, futures, and other derivatives
  • Design and deliver institutional trading capabilities, including but not limited to:
  • Drive architectural decisions across trading APIs, our proprietary order management system, real-time risk, and margin engines
  • Set and enforce technical standards for performance, availability, scalability, and operational resilience in latency-sensitive systems
  • Coordinate multiple concurrent initiatives across trading, risk, margin, asset classes, and customer-facing tooling
  • Work cross-functionally with Product, Risk, Compliance, Operations, and Finance to deliver production-ready systems
  • Represent institutional trading engineering in executive-level planning and decision-making
  • Provide technical and architectural thought leadership in trading and brokerage technology, influencing direction internally and through industry engagement
  • Hands-on engineering, such as writing PoC code, conducting code reviews, deploying to production, and providing an L3 escalation contact point.

Who You Are (Must-Haves):

  • A Director-level (or above) engineering leader with experience owning critical, market-facing platforms
  • Proven experience building and scaling engineering teams focused on complex, high-impact systems
  • Deep understanding of institutional trading and brokerage technology, including execution systems, risk and margin platforms, and trading analytics
  • Experience designing or operating systems that support cross-asset risk and margining across multiple asset classes
  • Strong architectural judgment and the ability to balance speed, reliability, and control in regulated environments
  • Deep knowledge of OS fundamentals and distributed systems, sufficient to set architectural direction and evaluate designs for performance-critical trading systems.
  • Effective partner to senior business, brokerage, and product leaders
  • Clear communicator with technical and non-technical stakeholders

Who You Might Be (Nice-to-Haves):

  • Experience with algorithmic trading systems across multiple asset classes
  • Exposure to portfolio margin or cross-margining methodologies
  • Background supporting hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, or other institutional clients
  • Experience contributing to architecture standards or externally visible technical initiatives
  • Prior experience scaling trading platforms during periods of rapid growth
How We Take Care of You:
  • Competitive Salary & Stock Options
  • Health Benefits
  • New Hire Home-Office Setup: One-time USD $500
  • Monthly Stipend: USD $150 per month via a Brex Card

Alpaca is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace dedicated to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce.

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