Options Quant Support Analyst

Job description

Options Quant Support Analyst Department: Quantitative Strategies Reporting to: Options Quants Team Lead Location: Sydney Since launching in 1989, CMC Markets has become one of the world's leading online CFD and financial spread betting providers, with nearly 66.8 million trades executed annually across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. CMC Markets’ success is founded on its ability to deliver a wide range of trading products to customers, from single equities to indices, currencies and commodities. This means our clients don’t need to go to a forex broker, futures broker or a commodities broker to trade these different instruments, they can trade them all through one trading platform. CMC Markets has pioneered the development of online trading in markets around the world to become a world leading spread betting and CFD provider. ROLE PURPOSE CMC Markets are looking for an Options Quant Support Analyst to join our Quants team. This is a hands-on, desk-facing technical support role sitting between the Options traders, Quants, Business Operations and Technology. Based in Sydney, the role provides functional support for the Options trading system and related front-office workflows, investigates day-to-day issues, and builds or enhances tactical Python scripts and operational tools used by the desk. It is not a trading role or a pure core-development role; the successful candidate will support business-as-usual processes, automate repetitive tasks and escalate larger development work where appropriate. This is an excellent opportunity for a candidate with 2 to 3 years' experience to build practical exposure to derivatives and market-making technology. ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES Provide desk-facing functional and technical support for the Options trading system and related Derivatives workflows. Work closely with Options traders, Quants, Business Operations and Technology, including London-based stakeholders, with clear communication and escalation. Investigate and help resolve trading system, workflow, configuration, data and user issues, escalating where appropriate. Support business-as-usual processes, including application checks, issue triage, incident follow-up, release validation and post-release support. Develop, maintain and enhance tactical Python scripts, utilities and support tools used by the desk and the Quants team. Make controlled bug fixes and small enhancements to existing Python scripts and operational code under guidance from the Options Quants team. Automate repetitive support tasks and improve operational robustness without taking ownership of core platform development. Assist with testing, documentation, support procedures, user guidance and runbooks. Gather requirements from Front Office users and Business Operations and help shape practical workflow improvements. Partner with Quants, Financial Engineering, Business Operations, Product Development and IT to ensure solutions meet business needs. Understand the trading floor environment and the need to respond quickly to issues that can cause business outage. Create maintenance, support and reporting tools relevant to the product area as appropriate. Maintain personal/professional development to meet changing role demands, including regulatory and legislative training. Ensure a positive approach to challenge and provide open and honest feedback. Occasional weekend work may be required for product releases or maintenance. Provide clear, fair and consistent high-quality service to customers, clients and colleagues, presenting a professional and positive image of CMC Markets. Take all reasonable steps to ensure appropriate confidentiality. Undertake such other duties or training as reasonably required for this level of responsibility. KEY SKILLS & EXPERIENCE Competencies: A degree in quantitative finance, mathematics, computer science or equivalent disciplines. 2 to 3 years of experience in front-office support, trading application support, production support, technical business analysis or a desk-facing technical support role, ideally within financial markets. Practical Python scripting skills, with the ability to read, debug, adapt and enhance existing scripts and operational tools. Good functional understanding of trading systems, workflows and business-as-usual processes; exposure to derivatives or options would be beneficial. Strong analytical, diagnostic and problem-solving skills, especially under time pressure. Ability to bridge Front Office users and technical teams, translating business issues into clear requirements or support actions. Experience supporting business-critical systems, investigating incidents, testing releases and maintaining support runbooks. Exposure to SQL, log analysis, scheduling tools or Linux environments would be useful. Strong communication skills and the ability to operate with urgency and prioritise work accordingly. Comfortable working close to the trading desk and supporting users without taking trading or risk decisions. Strong team player who takes personal responsibility to deliver results. CMC Markets is an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partner status, gender reassignment, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, disability or age.