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Software Engineer Intern - Full Stack Web, Summer 2027

Akuna Capital · Chicago, IL · Engineering

Posted Jul 14, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Sep 20, 2026

Apply at Akuna Capital

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 built a full stack feature end to end. What did the frontend and backend each need to handle, and where did you get stuck?

whether the candidate has real hands-on experience connecting a UI to a backend, not just coursework theory

Tell me about a time you wrote a unit test that actually caught a real bug, not just one written to hit a coverage number.

whether the candidate understands testing as a design and correctness tool rather than a checkbox

Tell me about a time you had to learn a new tool or framework quickly to finish something. How did you approach it?

self-starter capacity, since the internship expects interns to pick up unfamiliar tools without much hand-holding

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

how the candidate handles technical disagreement inside a team, since this role works directly with traders, quants, and engineers

Tell me about a project you owned from start to finish, even a small one. What did 'done' look like to you, and how did you know you'd gotten there?

readiness for the internship's emphasis on full ownership of a project presented at the end of the program

Technical

Say you have a React component that needs to display live, fast-changing data, like a price ticker. How would you make sure the UI stays responsive and doesn't fall behind as updates come in?

understanding of rendering performance and state management under high-frequency updates, which matters for real-time trading UIs

What's the difference between TypeScript and JavaScript, and can you give an example of a bug TypeScript would have caught before runtime?

genuine familiarity with typed JavaScript versus just having listed it on a resume

How would you design a test suite for a component that fetches data from a Python backend and renders it, using something like Jest or pytest?

ability to reason about integration versus unit test boundaries across a full stack

You're working with a Python backend serving a React frontend. What are the tradeoffs of putting a piece of logic in the frontend versus the backend?

basic architectural judgment about separation of concerns across a full stack

If you had to explain what Git rebase does, and when you'd use it instead of merge, what would you say?

real comfort with version control workflows, not just knowing the words

How comfortable are you working in a Linux environment with the command line, and can you give an example of something you've used it for?

actual command-line fluency versus a checkbox on the resume

Situational

Imagine a trader tells you the application is lagging during a volatile market moment. Walk me through how you'd figure out whether the problem is in the frontend, the network, or the backend.

structured debugging instinct and awareness that in this business, latency and correctness under stress are not abstract concerns

Say your team is running Agile with two-week sprints, and midway through a sprint a trader asks for an urgent UI change. How would you handle that request against your existing commitments?

ability to prioritize and communicate under competing pressures in a Scrum-style environment

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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 Full Stack Web Software Engineer Intern on the User Interface team at Akuna:  We are seeking Web Software Engineer Interns 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 web applications using React, TypeScript, and Python </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 Bachelors, Masters, or Ph.D. in 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 web programming languages (JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, HTML/CSS) </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 Linux and a command-line shell </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">Understanding of unit testing concepts and frameworks (e.g., pytest, Jest, Storybook) </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">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="6" data-aria-level="1">Excellent communication skills and the ability to work in a team environment </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">Self-starter attitude with the ability to work independently </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 - Full Stack Web, 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