Chicago Board Options Exchange

Trade Desk Associate

Chicago Board Options Exchange$74K — $110K *
Finance & Insurance
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent; 1-2+ years' experience in trading desk or financial services.
  • Expertise in electronic trading platforms and market infrastructure, specifically FX markets.
  • Proficiency in Linux for diagnostics, log analysis, and basic scripting.
  • Solid SQL skills for querying and analyzing trading data.
  • Strong understanding of networking fundamentals and experience with connectivity troubleshooting.
  • Excellent communication skills, capable of managing client interactions under pressure.

Responsibilities

  • Provide real-time client support and system monitoring during US trading hours.
  • Troubleshoot and resolve client issues related to APIs, trading behavior, and connectivity.
  • Document issue resolutions and contribute to internal tracking for transparency and improvement.
  • Lead daily system health checks and ensure operational readiness before trading sessions.
  • Monitor trading activity and address any operational or technical anomalies promptly.
  • Develop and maintain operational runbooks and escalation procedures for team efficiency.
  • Collaborate with technology teams to drive systemic improvements and resolve platform issues.

Benefits

  • Generous paid time off including vacation, personal, and community service days.
  • Health, dental, and vision benefits, including mental health services.
  • 2:1 401(k) match, up to 8% match upon hire.
  • Paid tuition assistance and educational opportunities.
  • Employee referral bonus program and volunteer opportunities.
  • Free lunch, snacks, and coffee in the office.
Full Job Description
Job Description:

Role Overview

The Cboe FX team is hiring for a Trade Desk Specialist.

Cboe FX is seeking a highly motivated Trade Desk Specialist to join its global FX operations team, based in Chicago / New York. As a core member of our follow-the-sun service desk, you will play a critical role in supporting a 24x5 low-latency FX trading platform used by leading global banks, buy-side firms, corporates, and liquidity providers - with direct ownership of the Asia trading session, integrating closely with the London and US teams.

Day-to-day, you will be responsible for real-time client support and system monitoring in a fast-paced, time-critical environment. Beyond platform operations, this role serves as a key liaison between a broad range of external stakeholders - including global and regional banks, buy-side firms, corporates, and prime brokers - as well as internal business and technology teams, making strong communication and relationship management skills essential.

This is more than a support role. You will have meaningful opportunities to contribute across the full lifecycle of projects, directly shaping the success of the team and the wider business. For someone who values operational excellence and wants to build deep expertise in electronic FX markets, this is an outstanding platform to do so.

Trading Desk & Client Support
• Serve as a primary escalation point for complex inbound client enquiries via phone and email during the US trading session, delivering expert-level, real-time support across trading, connectivity, and market data.
• Independently troubleshoot and resolve sophisticated client issues related to APIs (e.g., FIX, ITCH), trading behavior, platform functionality, and connectivity, with speed and precision.
• Own issue documentation end-to-end - capturing root cause analysis, actions taken, and resolution outcomes to support internal tracking, client transparency, and continuous improvement.
• Mentor and guide junior Trade Desk Associates, providing technical guidance and acting as an on-floor resource during critical incidents.

Operational Readiness & Monitoring
• Lead daily and weekly pre-market system health checks, including Sunday market start procedures, ensuring full platform readiness ahead of the US session.
• Proactively monitor trading activity, market data feeds, and system dashboards throughout the session - identifying, triaging, and escalating operational or technical anomalies with precision.
• Own handover discipline for the US session, ensuring clean, consistent, and complete transitions to and from global regional teams.
• Develop and maintain operational runbooks, escalation procedures, and monitoring frameworks to improve platform resilience and team readiness.

Technical Operations & Platform Stability
• Perform in-depth technical diagnostics using Linux command-line tools, log analysis, and network debugging utilities to identify and resolve platform and connectivity issues.
• Utilize SQL to query operational and trading data for issue investigation, performance analysis, and reporting.
• Apply knowledge of FIX protocol, low-latency trading systems, and network fundamentals to support client onboarding, certification testing, and production readiness validation.
• Collaborate with the Technology team to investigate and reproduce issues, contribute to post-incident reviews, and drive systemic fixes.

Trading & Liquidity Support
• Monitor market integrity throughout the session, including crossed/off-market conditions, value-date issues, and liquidity anomalies, escalating promptly and decisively where required.
• Liaise with liquidity providers, sales, and internal stakeholders to investigate and resolve trading or flow-related issues.
• Support new client onboarding activities, including FIX connectivity certification, API testing, and production readiness checks.

Collaboration & Continuous Improvement
• Act as a senior liaison between clients, sales, technology, and operations teams, driving clear and effective communication across internal and external stakeholders.
• Lead and contribute to process improvement initiatives, documentation upgrades, and the development of operational best practices.
• Drive ad-hoc projects supporting platform stability, resilience, client experience, and operational efficiency.

Coverage Model
• US trading session coverage aligned to standard market hours (subject to change).
• Flexibility to support extended hours during incidents or heightened client activity.
• Participation in holiday and weekend coverage rotation as required.
• Full US trading session coverage (9:00 AM - 7:30 PM ET) via staggered 8-hour shifts
• Sunday start: 4:30 PM ET
• Hybrid (4 days in-office per week)

The ideal candidate has:
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent; 1-2+ years' experience in a trading desk, financial services, or technical operations environment.
• Demonstrated expertise in electronic trading platforms and market infrastructure, with strong working knowledge of FX markets and low-latency trading environments.
• Proficiency in Linux, including command-line diagnostics, log analysis, and basic shell scripting.
• Solid SQL skills with the ability to independently query and analyze trading and operational data.
• Working knowledge of FIX protocol and experience supporting FIX-connected clients or counterparties.
• Strong understanding of networking fundamentals - TCP/IP, latency, connectivity troubleshooting - and experience using network debugging tools.
• Proven problem-solving ability with a track record of independently resolving complex technical and operational issues under time pressure.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated ability to manage client-facing situations professionally and under pressure.
• Experience with JIRA or an equivalent ticketing system for issue tracking and escalation management.

You'll really stand out with:
• Experience in a follow-the-sun or 24x5 trading support model.
• Familiarity with ITCH or other market data protocols.
• Exposure to Linux performance analysis and system health tooling.
• Experience writing or maintaining operational runbooks and escalation documentation.
• Prior experience supporting bank, buy-side, or prime broker clients in an electronic trading context.
• Python or additional scripting experience for operational automation.

#LI-CP2

Benefits and Perks of working for Cboe Global Markets

We value the total wellbeing of our people - including health, financial, personal and social wellness. We believe standard benefits like health insurance and fair pay are a given at any organization. Still, you should know we offer:

  • Fair and competitive salary and incentive compensation packages with an upside for overachievement


  • Generous paid time off, including vacation, personal days, sick days and annual community service days


  • Health, dental and vision benefits, including access to telemedicine and mental health services


  • 2:1 401(k) match, up to 8% match immediately upon hire


  • Discounted Employee Stock Purchase Plan


  • Tax Savings Accounts for health, dependent and transportation


  • Employee referral bonus program


  • Volunteer opportunities to help you give back to your communities


Some of our associates' favorite benefits and perks include:

  • Complimentary lunch, snacks and coffee in any Cboe office


  • Paid Tuition assistance and education opportunities


  • Generous charitable giving company match


  • Paid parental leave and fertility benefits


  • On-site gyms and discounts to other fitness centers


  • Paid Time Off


Salary Ranges (applicable for US locations only)
At Cboe, we are committed to providing a competitive, transparent, and market-informed total rewards program. The anticipated base salary range for this role is $74,800-$110,000, with actual compensation determined by job-related factors such as skills, relevant experience, education, internal alignment, and location.

This role may also be eligible for annual incentive compensation and, where applicable, participation in Cboe's long-term equity programs.

Additional information about Cboe's total rewards program, including benefits and other compensation components, can be found here: Total Rewards at CBOE.

Any communication from Cboe regarding this position will only come from a Cboe recruiter who has a @cboe.com email or via LinkedIn Recruiter. Cboe does not use any other third party communication tools for recruiting purposes.

About Chicago Board Options Exchange

The Chicago Board Options Exchange, located at 433 West Van Buren Street in Chicago, is the largest U.S. options exchange with an annual trading volume of around 1.27 billion at the end of 2014. CBOE offers options on over 2,200 companies, 22 stock indices, and 140 exchange-traded funds. The Chicago Board of Trade established the Chicago Board Options Exchange in 1973. The first exchange to list standardized, exchange-traded stock options began its first day of trading on April 26, 1973, in celebration of the 125th birthday of the Chicago Board of Trade. The CBOE is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and owned by Cboe Global Markets.
Learn more about Chicago Board Options Exchange
Industry
Founded
1973

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