The best electronic trading firm to work for - in the world

Our 2025 Ideal Employer report is out. The 15,000 people who voted in our report generally chose, like in previous years, big employers like consulting firms as their Ideal Employers. But also like in previous years, there was a small and consistent cohort that chose much more niche employers, such as electronic trading firms.

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Like in previous years, the people that chose electronic traders as their Ideal Employers were devout – on the qualitative statements that were asked, they rated them very, very highly. And the voters in our Ideal Employer survey who voted for electronic trading firms chose one above all: Jane Street. They rated Jane Street particularly highly for the following qualitative statements:

• This company pays very well. (10% above the global average)
• This company has exceptional colleagues. (8% above the global average)

Jane Street is an immensely popular employer. It was also voted the Ideal Employer among trading firms in 2024 and 2023. Optiver finished in second place, after finishing third in 2024 and fifth in 2023. Hudson River came third.

Jane Street's scoring for compensation was particularly notable: it had the second-highest score globally. It's no surprise - it paid an average of $1.4m to its 3,000 people in 2024. It also paid them in a way that has been called "a bit communist" - that is, more tied to company performance than to individual performance. People all up and down the Jane Street ladder can earn big, big bucks, especially when it breaks Wall Street records on its trading performance.

Although Jane Street generally performed well in the qualitative statements, it was not universally admired. It was perceived poorly for both its flexible work policies and its perceived health impact.

In second place was Citadel Securities, sister firm of multistrategy hedge fund Citadel, which topped our hedge fund ranking. Voters who selected Citadel Securities as their Ideal Employer in our survey considered it to have particularly great leadership and to offer relatively meaningful work relative to its peers. However, it was also perceived to have a less exceptional workforce and to be less innovative than some rivals. Citadel Securities has approximately 1,700 global employees.

Optiver, which finished third, followed a similar voting pattern to first-place Jane Street. It was additionally considered a very welcoming place to work, although it was perceived to lack integrity and quality leadership. Optiver has over 2,000 employees across ten global offices in nine countries.

Respondents who liked fourth place Hudson River Trading liked it a lot. The quality of its workforce was especially praised, and it had one of the highest average scores for our qualitative statements in our survey. It was also perceived as being excellent at innovation. Unlike other electronic trading firms, compensation at Hudson River Trading was rated only slightly above average. Hudson River Trading employs over 800 people across eight offices in six countries.

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