Gezellig man! Every once and a while mails arrive asking for advice for getting a job in the trading industry. Well, I’ve found the perfect job for getting a foot between the door at one of the major trading firms from Amsterdam, IMC Financial Markets.

Bizarre job

Hat tip to the comments, would have missed this golden opportunity. If it wasn’t for my lack of Linux knowledge, I would’ve applied myself.

The advertisement raised some eyebrows and the firm has pulled the advertisement from the internet. Fine, but google cache is our friend.

This is one of the most bizarre jobs I have seen from the trading industry in a long time. Working in an “isolated environment” in a graveyard shift from 01:00 am to 8:30 am doesn’t make sense, in normal circumstances. IMC has offices in other time zones (Chicago, Sydney, Hong Kong) so all employees can sleep at night.

Good tax rate, bad time zone

The main benefit of Zug in the financial world is the low tax rate in this dull part of Switzerland. Hence many trading firms have an office in Zug. All Options once tried opening a branch in the Caribbean, in the Netherlands Antilles. Sounds a lot better. Routing profits to the lowest tax entities is a common hobby.

But seriously. Hiring someone with social issues as a “night shift trader” – this can’t be true. There is no economic rationale for that apart from tax issues, it’s not like a hospital or a police department. But the advertisement was really there.

Night Shift Trader

IMC financial markets is one of Europe’s leading proprietary trading firms. IMC Zug specializes in automated trading of futures, stocks and FX spot rates on a high frequency scale. We are constantly pushing what is technologically possible and innovating to stay ahead of the competition.

For our Office in Zug we are currently looking for a Trader to work night shift from 1.00 am to 8.30 am.

In this position, you will learn how to operate our trading systems and monitor P&L. You will face both trading and technical challenges in a distributed and complex trading environment. Your primary responsibilities will be:

Duties include but are not limited to:

  • Starting and monitoring trading strategies as well as the reporting system
  • Handling alerts and performing checks on the trading infrastructure as well as fixing basic technical issues
  • Reacting according to predefined procedures in case of special events that are not handled automatically by the system
  • Contacting responsible person in case risk or P&L triggers are breached
  • Ensuring that automated daily reports have been generated by the start of the day shift and debugging in case of technical problems
  • Communicating events experienced during the shift to the rest of the trading team

Required knowledge and skills:

  • Technical degree is a must
  • Strong IT skills, experience with Linux is a must
  • Fluency in English
  • Strong troubleshooting skills
  • Highly reliable, trustworthy
  • Interest in financial markets, but no prior knowledge or experience required
  • Advantageous but not required: Familiarity with MATLAB and experience with Linux command line tools

Success factors:

  • Must be able to work productively under no supervision and in an isolated environment (be very lonely)
  • Having a sense of urgency as well as understanding priorities at various levels is paramount to the success
  • Flexible, proactive, hands-on mentality, able to work independently (be very lonely)
  • Strong written communication skills are vital to the success at this position (written skills, as you’ll be having nobody to talk to)

What we offer:

  • Work within a dynamic, international as well as continuously improving environment
  • Contact with a team of highly experienced, skilled and well-rounded traders who are always looking for the more efficient solutions (you can sometimes have a meet and greet session with this team of traders, but you are a one-man-team)
  • A fun environment – it is not only business (I have better alternatives for fun during the night shift. I sleep.)
  • Work with the latest and the greatest technologies (I prefer my oldskool bed)
  • Competitive salary, excellent working conditions and numerous perks (excellent working conditions, the whole office for you. Free coffee)

Are you looking for a position that is intellectually challenging? Would you want to work in an international and multicultural (whut?) environment? Then please apply directly to this position on our website www.imc.nl

Alas, the job offering is gone. But you can always give it a try. And when you’re bored at night, copy all trading algo’s on your USB and sell it to, well, Tibra?

Jack