Software Engineer Internship Contract Jobs in Illinois

Gelber Group - Software Engineer Internship (Technical Operations Team) - Summer 2026

Gelber Group -- Passion for Trading. Powered by Technology.

Headquartered in Chicago with offices across the United States and Europe, Gelber has set the bar as one of the industry's innovative and enduring proprietary trading firms for more than 40 years. Our collaborative and entrepreneurial culture empowers each member of our team to have a meaningful impact from the start. We pride ourselves on a flat organizational structure and focus on meritocracy. If you flourish in a fast-paced environment, have a strong work ethic, and enjoy solving real problems with real users, Gelber is right for you.

As a Technical Operations Intern, you will join a team responsible for the internal tools and systems that enable daily trading and operational workflows. Early in the internship, you'll learn how our Ops and Trading teams use internal applications, how production support works in a trading environment, and the standards we use to keep critical tools reliable. You'll then take ownership of a modernization project for a production web portal used daily by operations staff and traders.

This internship will begin in June 2026 and last 10 weeks. We are considering candidates that are graduating between December 2026 up until August 2027 or recent graduates. This position will require in-person presence in our Chicago office located in River West right next to the Merchandise Mart and convenient to public transportation.

Position Overview

We are seeking highly motivated individuals to participate in a summer program in which they will plan and execute a project that modernizes a legacy internal web tool ("OpsWeb"). The project focuses on improving maintainability, usability, and reliability while partnering with daily end users to ensure changes are practical and non-disruptive.

We will teach you the context and tools you need to demonstrate your ability, and we will give you meaningful problems that require thoughtful engineering and stakeholder collaboration.

What You'll Do

• Experience hands-on learning and gain exposure to how a proprietary trading firm operates day-to-day from a systems and tooling perspective
• Work directly with Technical Operations engineers and partner with Operations stakeholders who use these tools daily
• Take ownership of a real modernization effort on a production web portal
• Design and implement a shared templating approach across 15-20 pages to reduce HTML duplication and improve maintainability
• Improve UX and collaboration by enabling shareable, URL-driven views (GET + query params)
• Remove broken or low-value features safely, with careful change management and UAT
• Produce high-quality documentation for both developers and end users, and present results at the end of the internship

Goals

• Deliver a measurable improvement to a production internal application used daily
• Learn to refactor legacy systems without disrupting critical workflows
• Build strong habits around code quality, incremental rollout, stakeholder feedback, and documentation
• Determine if you enjoy Technical Operations / internal platform work in a high-performance trading environment

Qualifications

• Progress toward a bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science or related field (Junior standing or higher preferred)
• Curiosity, self-motivation, and strong communication skills-especially when gathering feedback from non-engineering stakeholders
• Strong problem-solving ability and comfort working in a codebase you didn't build
• Experience with Python required, JavaScript/TypeScript and C# would be nice to have (web development experience is a plus)
• Familiarity with basic web concepts (HTTP methods like GET/POST, HTML/CSS)
• Interest in financial markets is helpful, but not required-interest in building reliable tools for fast-paced teams is a must

The approximate hourly rate for this position in Chicago, IL is $25/hr. This is a temporary role and is not eligible for employee benefits.

Why Intern at Gelber?

• Brand new office in the heart of Chicago's River North neighborhood, attached to the Merchandise Mart and "EL" stop and a short walk from both Ogilvie and Union Train Stations
• Comprehensive 10-week program, running from June to August 2026
• Catered lunch provided Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursdays and stocked pantry daily
• Social events and work/life balance that will allow you time to enjoy the Chicago summer
• Office amenities including a golf simulator, pool table, and company paid on-site gym
• Casual, relaxed dress code
• Comprehensive benefits package available for full-time employees