JobsAkuna Capital

Project Manager

Akuna Capital · Chicago, IL · Project Management

Posted Jul 13, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Sep 20, 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.

Behavioral

Walk me through a project where you were managing several workstreams at once with engineering teams. How did you keep everything on track without slowing the engineers down?

whether they can juggle multiple projects while staying a facilitator rather than a bottleneck

Tell me about a time you had to get project scope out of a technical team that wasn't sure yet what they needed. What questions did you ask to pin it down?

ability to extract concrete scope, timelines, and resourcing from ambiguous technical requirements

Tell me about a time you set OKRs for a team and had to coach someone on making their goal actually measurable.

real experience translating vague aspirations into trackable outcomes, not just familiarity with the term

Describe a process you inherited that was clearly broken or inefficient. What did you change, and how did you get people to adopt the new way of doing things?

whether they build and improve process rather than just enforce what already exists

Tell me about a time priorities shifted suddenly on a project you were running. What did you have to drop, and how did you decide?

how they handle conflicting priorities and re-scoping under pressure

Describe a relationship you had to build from scratch with a team that didn't see much value in project management. How did you win them over?

skill at establishing trust with skeptical technical or trading stakeholders

Technical

How do you use Jira day to day to actually manage a project, not just log tickets?

real hands-on familiarity with Jira workflows versus surface-level exposure

Have you worked in an Agile environment before? What was your role in sprint planning or standups, and how did that shape how you tracked progress?

genuine experience operating inside Agile ceremonies versus just naming the framework

What's your process for figuring out where automation or tooling could remove manual work from a team's plate?

whether they think about streamlining workflows or just track tasks passively

What's your background with software development or trading operations, and how has that shaped how you talk to engineers versus how you talk to the business side?

depth of technical fluency and credibility with engineering counterparts

Situational

Say you're running a project and two weeks in you notice a dependency between the trading team and engineering that nobody flagged at kickoff. How do you handle it?

proactive risk identification and whether they escalate or quietly absorb the problem

If an engineer keeps missing their committed deadlines and it's putting the whole project at risk, what do you actually say to them?

comfort holding technical staff accountable without damaging the working relationship

How would you explain a project's status to a room that has both senior traders and engineers in it, when the news isn't good?

ability to tailor communication for mixed technical and business audiences under pressure

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The full job description

As published by Akuna Capital.

<p><span data-contrast="none"><strong><span data-contrast="auto">About Akuna:</span></strong><span data-ccp-props="{"134233117":true,"134233118":true,"201341983":0,"335559740":240}">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">Akuna Capital is an innovative trading firm with a strong focus on collaboration, cutting-edge technology, data driven solutions, and automation. We specialize in providing liquidity as an options market maker – meaning we are committed to providing competitive quotes that we are willing to both buy and sell. To do this successfully, we design and implement our own low latency technologies, trading strategies, and mathematical models.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"134233117":true,"134233118":false,"201341983":2,"335559739":300,"335559740":350}">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">Our Founding Partners</span><em> </em><span data-contrast="none">first conceptualized Akuna in their hometown of Sydney. They opened the firm’s first office in 2011 in the heart of the derivatives industry and the options capital of the world – Chicago. Today, Akuna is proud to operate from additional offices in Sydney, Shanghai, London, and Singapore.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"134233117":true,"134233118":false,"201341983":2,"335559739":300,"335559740":350}">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><strong><span data-contrast="none">What you’ll do as a Project Manager at Akuna:</span></strong><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276}">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">The Project Manager will be responsible for overseeing multiple projects at once, driving timelines, motivating our teams, and achieving project execution. This person will have no problem diving in headfirst and holding employees accountable to their commitments, responsibilities, and deadlines. A technical background, or the ability to communicate effectively with technical team members, will be imperative in understanding the mechanics of putting projects together. In this role, you will:</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276,"469777462":[9360],"469777927":[0],"469777928":[4]}">&nbsp;</span></p> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="auto">Ask insightful and targeted questions to determine project scope, goals, timelines, resourcing needs, and deliverables</span></li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Proactively identify potential risks and challenges ahead of time to keep projects on track and prevent unforeseen obstacles</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Make teams more efficient by streamlining workflows and enabling engineers to focus on execution</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Coordinate and schedule necessary project-level meetings and other activities to promote active and productive communication amongst project teams, stakeholders, and management</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Work with technology managers to automate and streamline existing processes and future initiatives</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Communicate and present project and program status to multiple departments, including senior executives and shareholders</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"><span class="TextRun SCXW172130552 BCX0" lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span class="NormalTextRun CommentStart CommentHighlightPipeRest CommentHighlightRest SCXW172130552 BCX0">Facilitate and drive strategic goal-setting initiatives using OKRs</span></span></li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Develop and enforce Akuna’s project procedures and rules on multiple projects</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Establish and maintain relationships with the Trading, Operations, and Engineering teams<span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276,"469777462":[9360],"469777927":[0],"469777928":[4]}">&nbsp;</span></li> </ul> <p><strong><span data-contrast="none">Qualities that make great candidates:</span></strong><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276}">&nbsp;</span></p> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"><span data-contrast="none">4+ years of professional project or program management experience</span></li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or similar</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Familiarity with Jira is required; experience with other Atlassian tools like Confluence is a plus</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Background in software development, IT, and/or finance is a plus</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Familiarity with Agile development</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"><span class="TextRun SCXW105353318 BCX0" lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><span class="NormalTextRun CommentStart CommentHighlightPipeRest CommentHighlightRest SCXW105353318 BCX0">Experience&nbsp;</span><span class="NormalTextRun CommentHighlightRest SCXW105353318 BCX0">establishing</span><span class="NormalTextRun CommentHighlightRest SCXW105353318 BCX0"> and tracking OKRs that drive performance, with the ability to coach teams on defining measurable outcomes</span></span></li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Outstanding organizational skills, close attention to detail and the ability to multitask are must haves</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to set clear and realistic goals</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Ability to quickly adapt to changing business requirements, manage conflicting priorities, and respond well to a fast-paced work environment</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Experience creating and refining processes rather than just following them<span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276}">&nbsp;</span></li> </ul> <p><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276}"><strong><em>In addition to technical skillsets, Akuna values the unique perspectives people can bring to the table to collaboratively solve complex problems and drive Akuna forward. We want everyone to feel empowered to apply. We welcome your application and encourage you to take the first steps toward your future with us!</em></strong></span></p> <p><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":200,"335559740":276}"><span data-contrast="none"><em>In accordance with Illinois Equal Pay Act, the minimum base salary starts at $120,000. Exact compensation offered may vary based on many factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and skill set. This role is also eligible for a discretionary performance bonus as part of the total compensation package and includes a comprehensive benefits package that may encompass employer-paid medical, dental, vision, retirement contributions, paid time off, and other benefits. The minimum base salary herein was determined in good faith by Akuna Capital LLC.</em></span></span></p>

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