Quantitative Risk Analyst — Derivatives & Clearing
At a glance
Mid-level Risk & Financial Compliance role at Polymarket. New York · full-time · $210,000–$240,000 base.
financeroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Build and maintain production models for market risk, margin and counterparty exposure in the clearing operation
- Model derivatives volatility and correlation, then calibrate, backtest and validate the results
- Run historical, hypothetical and reverse stress tests, and tune liquidation triggers, waterfalls and safeguards
- Use AI tools to speed up development and research, checking their outputs against established risk models
- Track production model performance, investigate breaks, document validation and work with engineering, trading and product on controls
What you bring
- Five to seven years of quantitative risk work at a clearinghouse, exchange, prime broker, trading firm or similar
- A record of building enterprise-scale risk models for production, including volatility, correlation, option pricing and stress testing
- Hands-on knowledge of clearing-context market risk and automated liquidation, plus strong judgment reviewing AI-generated work
- Expert Python skills, including NumPy, pandas and SciPy, with sound software engineering practices
- An advanced quantitative degree or equivalent experience, backed by strength in stochastic calculus and linear algebra
Who this fits
This suits a hands-on, mid-level quantitative risk analyst who builds and validates production systems rather than focusing only on research. The role is onsite in New York.
From the employer
About Polymarket
Polymarket is the world's largest prediction market platform. We enable individuals to express views on real-world events by trading on outcomes across politics, economics, sports, culture, and current affairs. Built as a peer-to-peer marketplace with no centralized "house," Polymarket aggregates diverse opinions into transparent, market-based probabilities that reflect collective expectations about the future.
We're growing fast — both in terms of volume ($21B traded in 2025) and adoption as an alternative news source. Our ambition is to become a ubiquitous beacon of truth in global media and we need your help adding fuel to the fire.
About the Role
Polymarket is hiring a Quantitative Risk Analyst to design and implement enterprise-scale risk models at the heart of our clearing operation. You'll own models for market risk, volatility and correlation of derivatives, stress testing, and automated liquidation — the systems that keep the platform solvent and users protected in fast-moving markets.
This is a hands-on role: you'll be building models in production code, not just specifying them. We expect you to work fluently with AI tools for development and research — and to be the skeptic in the room, pressure-testing AI-generated models and code against well-established risk frameworks before anything ships.
What You'll Do
Design, implement, and maintain enterprise-scale risk models covering market risk, margin, and counterparty exposure for a clearing organization
Build volatility and correlation models for derivatives, including calibration, backtesting, and ongoing model validation
Develop and run stress-testing frameworks: historical scenarios, hypothetical shocks, and reverse stress tests
Design and tune auto-liquidation logic — trigger thresholds, liquidation waterfalls, and safeguards against cascading liquidations
Use AI tools extensively to accelerate model development, coding, and research — and rigorously validate AI outputs against established risk models before deployment
Monitor model performance in production, investigate breaks, and iterate quickly
Partner with engineering, trading, and product teams to embed risk controls into platform architecture
Document model assumptions, limitations, and validation results to an audit-ready standard
What We're Looking For
5–7 years of quantitative risk experience at a clearinghouse, exchange, prime broker, trading firm, or similar
Proven expertise designing and implementing risk models at enterprise scale — production systems, not just research prototypes
Deep experience modeling volatility, correlation, option skews, and option pricing at scale for trad-fi derivatives, perpetuals, and fully collateralized event contracts
Hands-on experience with market risk modeling, stress testing, and auto-liquidation mechanics in a clearing context
Strong fluency with AI-assisted development and coding, paired with the judgment to pressure-test AI outputs against well-established risk models and catch what looks plausible but is wrong
Expert-level Python (NumPy, pandas, SciPy; solid software engineering practices)
Advanced degree in a quantitative field (math, statistics, physics, financial engineering, CS) or equivalent experience
Strong mathematical foundation in stochastic calculus and linear algebra
(Plus) C# and/or C++ for performance-critical or production systems
(Plus) Familiarity with crypto market structure, perpetuals, or prediction markets
(Plus) Experience with CCP risk frameworks (CPMI-IOSCO PFMI, default management, margin methodology)
(Plus) Experience building real-time risk systems
Benefits
Competitive salary & equity
Unlimited PTO
Full Health, Vision, & Dental coverage
401k match
Hardware setup: new MacBook Pro, big display, & accessories
Pay Transparency
Base salary range: $210,000 to $24,000, plus equity and benefits.
This is a good-faith range for the level we're hiring at. Experience varies widely within a title here, so if your expectations fall outside it, reach out anyway. We're always happy to talk it through.