Member of Research Staff, Optimization

Responsibilities

• Develop a rich understanding of Voleon’s challenges and methodologies and propose research innovations and experiments to build, maintain and improve the models that govern our investment strategy
• Design, implement, and improve large-scale constrained optimization methods that determine trading decisions under forecasts, risk, costs, liquidity, and operational constraints
• Develop, validate, and implement new models into production
• Design and conduct experiments to improve simulations and evaluate the success of new models in a live environment
• Communicate and collaborate effectively with other Members of Research Staff and Software Engineers at each stage, driving progress towards tangible outcomes
• Keep up to date on the latest academic research to identify novel approaches to explore for application to our domain

Requirements

• Background in modern optimization techniques and algorithms with a track record as an applied researcher
• Evidence of strong mathematical abilities (e.g., publication record, graduate coursework, or competition placement)
• Interest in software development techniques and willingness to write production level code (Python and/or C++ preferred)
• Familiarity with numerical methods, optimization solvers, mathematical programming, convex or nonconvex optimization
• Eagerness to work in collaborative and diverse teams
• Interest in financial applications is essential, but prior finance industry experience is not a pre-requisite
• Ph.D. level coursework is required, and a Ph.D. degree in a relevant field is preferred

Preferred Qualifications

• Expertise in stochastic control, and reinforcement learning