DRW

DRW is a diversified trading firm headquartered in Chicago. Don Wilson founded it in 1992 after trading Eurodollar options in the pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and he still leads it as CEO. From the start the firm used quantitative modelling to find opportunities in global markets, and it still trades its own capital, with no outside investors. DRW is active on exchanges on five continents and has more than 2,000 employees, over 800 of them technologists.

Around the core trading business, DRW has built a group of related businesses: Cumberland DRW, its cryptoasset trading arm, launched in 2014; DRW Venture Capital, set up in 2011; the real estate business Convexity Properties; Artemeter, which works in carbon markets and launched in 2024; and DRW NX, which designs, builds and runs the firm’s low-latency networks. Wilson also founded the non-profit Climate Vault.

The firm has offices in Chicago, Amsterdam, Austin, Dubai, Greenwich, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Montréal, New York, Palo Alto, Singapore and Tel Aviv. Austin came with the acquisition of RGM Advisors in 2017, Houston opened the same year when DRW hired an energy trading group there, and a Hong Kong trading desk followed in 2023. DRW describes itself as working at the intersection of trading and technology: Python appeared in most of its job postings in October 2026, and its systems have processed more than 13 million transactions in a single day.

What DRW Trades

• ETFs
  DRW is an independent liquidity provider and authorised participant in more than 2,000 ETFs, trading with institutional counterparties and on exchanges in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific.
• Futures and options
  DRW offers block liquidity in global equity index futures and in options across fixed income, currencies and commodities, and roughly 100 of its teams in five countries trade futures and options.
• Digital assets
  Cumberland DRW has provided liquidity in digital assets since 2014, in spot and derivatives on bitcoin, ether, stablecoins and other coins.
• Energy and carbon
  DRW entered energy markets in 2002 and now trades North American physical natural gas and power, and compliance carbon markets in the EU and the US.
• Prediction and compute markets
  In October 2026, DRW’s job postings included research roles in prediction markets in New York and in compute markets in London.

Culture and Benefits

DRW’s careers site describes a culture of low ego, little hierarchy and continuous learning, and names seven principles: integrity, critical thought, learning, challenging consensus, preparation, respect and a sense of urgency. The benefits it lists include daily catered breakfast and lunch, massages, yoga and meditation classes, a gym subsidy, flexible work arrangements, mentor and mentee outings, DRW-sponsored sports teams, a game room and a poker tournament. The Montréal office was named one of Montréal’s Top Employers for 2024 and for 2026.

Hiring at DRW

DRW hires interns, graduates and experienced people as quantitative traders, quantitative researchers and software developers, and in specialist roles such as FPGA and platform engineering. In October 2026, about two thirds of its 163 open roles were in Chicago or London, followed by New York, Singapore and Montréal.

Students can join 10-week internships that start with an in-depth orientation and pair each intern with a mentor, and the 2027 Quantitative Trading Analyst intern postings for Chicago and London add fully furnished housing near the office. Graduates get a personalised learning programme. DRW’s Chicago posting for Quantitative Trading Analyst interns, published in July 2026, lists an annual base salary of 250,000 US dollars, and its posting for quantitative research interns in Chicago and New York lists 250,000 to 300,000 US dollars.

DRW publishes a four-step selection process for students and graduates, and notes that a candidate’s process can differ slightly:

• Application
  You submit your résumé, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. The 2027 Quantitative Trading Analyst intern forms for Chicago and London also ask for a transcript.
• Technical challenge
  Depending on the role, you take a quantitative challenge on probability and logic or a coding challenge on computer science fundamentals, at home and under timed conditions.
• Zoom interview
  You talk to a developer, quantitative trader or researcher, who asks technical and behavioural questions. Trading intern candidates in the 2027 cycle describe a call of about 45 minutes.
• Final round
  The final round is two days on site: the first afternoon brings introductions and a technical challenge, and the second day is a full day of technical and behavioural interviews, with time to meet potential teammates on both days.