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Graduate Quantitative Researcher (PhD)

IMC Trading · Chicago, IL · Quantitative Research

Posted Sep 30, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about a research or class project where your first idea failed. What did you do next?

What they are checking: Persistence and how they adjust a hypothesis, which is most of real research.

Tell me about a time you worked with someone whose approach was very different from yours.

What they are checking: Teamwork with traders and developers who think differently than researchers do.

What's an area of math or data you'd like to own, and why?

What they are checking: Whether they have the drive to find their own niche, which the posting says it encourages.

What would you do

A trader tells you a model is giving strange prices on one product. How do you start investigating?

What they are checking: Whether they can work with traders and debug a model in production in a structured way.

Your model looks great in testing, but you need to put it into production. What could go wrong?

What they are checking: Whether they think about data differences, latency and monitoring when moving a model to live trading.

About the work

You roll two fair dice. What's the expected value of the larger one?

What they are checking: Quick, clean probability reasoning, which is the foundation of quant research work.

You have a dataset and a feature that seems to predict next-minute returns. How would you check that the signal is real?

What they are checking: Whether they think about overfitting, lookahead bias and out-of-sample testing before trusting a result.

Explain what linear regression assumes and what happens when those assumptions break.

What they are checking: Solid statistics grounding beyond knowing how to call a library function.

What is an option, and why would its price go up when expected volatility goes up?

What they are checking: Basic intuition about options, which matter to IMC's market making business.

How would you build a tool to quickly explore a new research idea on large market data?

What they are checking: Whether they can code practical tools, since the role builds custom tools for research.

I flip a coin until I get two heads in a row. What's the expected number of flips?

What they are checking: Comfort with expected value and recursion under time pressure.

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The full job description

As published by IMC Trading.

As a Quantitative Researcher at IMC, your work will directly impact our global trading strategies. You will leverage your superior analytical, mathematical, and computing skills to improve existing models and develop new ones.  We will empower you to discover your unique niche and excel, taking on responsibility and ownership from the start. Quantitative Researchers work closely Traders and Developers in an environment where problem solving, innovation and teamwork are recognized and rewarded. Your Core Responsibilities: • Apply rigorous analytical and quantitative techniques to solve complex problems • Build custom tools to explore new research ideas • Design mathematical models based upon trading ideas • Implement and deploy new models into production • Maintain best practices to keep our systems logical and consistent Your Skills and Experience: • Current university student graduating between September 2026 – July 2027 that is pursuing a PhD degree in Mathematics, Engineering, Statistics, Physics, Computer Science, or another highly quantitative field • Has a passion for research and problem solving • Approaches data analysis with rigorous thought processes and strong intuition • Is a creative thinker who is driven and eager to solve challenging problems collaboratively • Proficiency in a programming language (Python, C, C++, etc) is highly desired • Must be available for full-time employment starting in February or August 2027 You may submit one application per role each year.  We strongly encourage you to focus on applying to a single role that best matches your skills and interests.  Though you may apply to multiple roles, please note that each application will be evaluated based on the specific criteria established for that particular role. If you have already applied for this position during the current recruitment season and were not selected, you may reapply when the next recruitment season begins in 2027. The Base Salary range for the role is included below. Base salary is only one component of total compensation; all full-time, permanent positions are eligible for a discretionary bonus and benefits, including paid leave and insurance. Please visit Benefits - US | IMC Trading for more comprehensive information. Base Salary: $250,000 About Us IMC is a research-driven trading firm where quantitative modeling, machine learning, and engineering shape how modern markets are traded. A stabilizing force in markets since 1989, we provide liquidity across trading venues, delivering the best outcome in value and risk management to investors. Using our own technology and capital, we build proprietary systems and algorithms that operate across global markets. Our researchers, traders, and engineers work as a collective, combining rapid experimentation, advanced infrastructure, and real-time feedback to turn insight into execution and execution into advantage.  

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