Jobs › Akuna Capital

Software Engineer Intern - C# .NET Desktop, Summer 2027

Akuna Capital · Chicago, IL · Engineering

Posted Jul 14, 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

Tell me about a time you had to write unit tests for code that was hard to test. How did you handle it?

whether testing discipline is a habit or an afterthought, given the posting's emphasis on robust test coverage

Tell me about a time you disagreed with a teammate about how to build something. What happened?

how they handle technical disagreement and whether they can collaborate rather than just defer or dig in

Describe a time a project you were working on changed direction partway through. How did you adjust?

adaptability, since interns own a single project for only ten weeks and priorities can shift fast

Tell me about a time you had to learn a new tool or language quickly to finish something. What did you do first?

self-directed learning ability, since the role explicitly requires evaluating and adopting new technologies

Technical

Walk me through a project where you built a desktop or GUI application. What was the architecture, and why did you structure it that way?

whether the candidate has real hands-on experience designing a UI application rather than just following a tutorial

Say you have a WPF application that needs to display rapidly updating market data without freezing the UI thread. How would you approach that?

understanding of threading, the UI dispatcher, and responsiveness concerns specific to real-time desktop apps

What is the difference between value types and reference types in C#, and where has it actually mattered in something you wrote?

depth of C# fundamentals versus surface-level familiarity

Explain the difference between WinForms and WPF. If you had to pick one for a new trading tool, which would you choose and why?

whether they understand the tradeoffs of the specific tech stack named in the posting, not just buzzwords

What's an example of a design pattern you've used in a project, and what problem did it solve for you?

real understanding of object-oriented design versus memorized vocabulary

How comfortable are you with Git, and can you describe a time a merge conflict or bad commit caused a real problem?

practical version control experience rather than textbook knowledge

Situational

Imagine a trader tells you the application is lagging right when the market gets volatile. How would you figure out what's going on?

debugging instincts under pressure and awareness that performance failures have real consequences here

You're given a vague feature request from a trader who isn't technical. How do you turn that into something you can actually build?

ability to work with non-engineer stakeholders, since interns work directly with traders and quants

If your ten-week project isn't going to be finished by the demo date, what do you do?

prioritization and honest communication under a hard deadline, mirroring the internship's fixed structure

Practice this interview out loud.

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The full job description

As published by Akuna Capital.

About Akuna:   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.  Our Founding Partners 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, Singapore, and London.  What you’ll do as a C# .NET Desktop Software Engineer Intern on the User Interface team at Akuna:  Akuna is seeking a Software Engineer Intern to join the UI team for our 10-week Akunacademy summer internship program. You will work directly with Traders, Quants, and other Software Engineers to design, build, test, and maintain real-time trading applications. Each intern takes full ownership of their project, and at the end of the program, has the opportunity to present their work and accomplishments.   Our applications are the primary way Akuna’s market-makers interact with the financial markets, and their performance allows us to confidently provide liquidity in times of volatility. In this role you will:  <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">Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design and develop Windows desktop applications written in C# .NET and WinForms/WPF </li> </ul> <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="2" data-aria-level="1">Implement sound and robust unit and integration tests to ensure the quality of our software </li> </ul> <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="3" data-aria-level="1">Continuously discover, evaluate, and implement technologies to maximize both user experience and development efficiency </li> </ul> <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="4" data-aria-level="1">Participate in Agile/Scrum development and shadow application support process </li> </ul>  Requirements for this role:  <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">Pursuing a Bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D. in a technical field – Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent </li> </ul> <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="2" data-aria-level="1">Graduating by August 2028 </li> </ul> <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="3" data-aria-level="1">Major GPA of 3.5 or above </li> </ul> <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="4" data-aria-level="1">Legal authorization to work in the U.S. is required on the first day of employment including F-1 students using OPT or STEM </li> </ul>  Previous experience in finance or trading is not required. Many of our engineers joined Akuna with little-to-no prior knowledge of the markets, and we pride ourselves on our ability to onboard those new to the industry. Training and continuous education are provided for all engineers to ensure they can build the requisite technical and non-technical skillset for success.   Qualities that make great candidates:  <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" 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">Understanding of .NET Framework and C# programming language </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Familiarity with WinForm or WPF applications is a plus </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="3" data-aria-level="1">Familiarity in object-oriented programming and design patterns </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="4" data-aria-level="1">Familiarity with version control systems (e.g., Git) </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="5" data-aria-level="1">Understanding of unit testing concepts and frameworks (e.g. NUnit) </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="6" data-aria-level="1">Solid problem-solving and analytical skills </li> </ul> <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="7" data-aria-level="1">Excellent communication skills and the ability to work in a team environment </li> </ul>  In addition to the above technical skills, Akuna values diversity of experience and perspective. We believe that engineers with varied backgrounds and interests allow us to approach problems from unique angles and to uncover innovative, optimal solutions. We want everyone to feel empowered to apply; we welcome your application, and we strongly encourage you to take the first steps in joining us in the future!  **Resumes must be submitted in PDF format.   By applying to this role, you are indicating this is your top preference and acknowledge you will not be considered for other Quant and/or Tech roles at Akuna this recruiting season. This acknowledgement does not limit applications to Trading roles - in addition to this role, you may apply to any Trader roles of interest.   We are an AI-friendly company and encourage employees to leverage AI in their daily work. However, AI assistance is not permitted during interviews or assessments. Our interview process is designed to evaluate your individual skills and judgment, and the use of AI tools will result in disqualification from the hiring process. In accordance with the Illinois Equal Pay Act, the minimum annualized base salary starts at $145,000. Exact compensation offered may vary based on many factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and skill set. The minimum base salary herein was determined in good faith by Akuna Capital LLC.

Apply at Akuna Capital

Software Engineer Intern - C# .NET Desktop, Summer 2027

Likely interview questions for this role

Practice this interview out loud.

The full job description

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Expression of Interest: 2027 Trading Sneak Peek Weeks