Graduate Machine Learning Researcher - Chicago

IMC is recruiting for Graduate Machine Learning Researcher - Chicago in Chicago, United States. This listing was last seen on the firm's own job board on August 22, 2026.

Options market making with a technology-first culture and a lighter maths bar than its Amsterdam neighbour.

What sets IMC apart: Traders and engineers hired into the same programme and trained together. Lower mental maths bar than Optiver, higher weight on logic puzzles. Strong campus presence in the Netherlands, Chicago, and India.

Related preparation: Quantitative Researcher (QR) Career Roadmap, Machine Learning Quant Career Roadmap, Quant Strategist (Desk Quant) Career Roadmap, Quant Data Scientist (Alternative Data) Roadmap, Quant Research Ops (MLOps) Roadmap and Financial Data Scientist Career Roadmap.

The role, as IMC describes it, published on July 1, 2026 and reproduced from their job board:

As a Graduate Machine Learning Researcher at IMC, your work will directly impact our global trading strategies. You will apply advanced machine learning, statistical, and computational techniques to solve complex, real-world trading problems, contributing to trading strategies across global equities, futures, and options markets. Machine Learning Researchers work closely with Traders and Developers in an environment where problem solving, innovation and teamwork are recognized and rewarded.

Your Core Responsibilities:

Design, implement, and evaluate machine learning models for trading applications, with successful research deployed into production

Apply rigorous statistical techniques to measure performance, control overfitting, and understand model risk and interpretability

Investigate novel machine learning approaches through rigorous experimentation and analysis in real trading environments

Communicate research progress and outcomes effectively, ensuring knowledge transfer within the team and across departments

Collaborate closely with traders, researchers, and engineers to translate research into production trading systems

Your Skills and Experience:

PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics or a related quantitative field

Strong foundations in machine learning, probability, and statistics, with experience applying advanced ML techniques to solve challenging research or real-world problems

Demonstrated hands-on research experience in deep learning fundamentals such as neural network architectures, sequence modeling, training dynamics, or optimization