Any Insights on Akuna Capital?

Amazon prestige🧐
Aug 16 22 Comments

Anyone know TC ranges for SWEs at Akuna Capital? Is it comparable to prominent trading firms / hedge funds like Two Sigma, Jane Street, HRT, etc?

I’d also appreciate any other insights about working at Akuna, especially from people who work there now.

Akuna Capital
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 TOP 22 Comments
  • Akuna Capital XWwx85
    I interned at Akuna so I don’t know that much. TC is best I’ve seen, but Im assuming it’s slightly lower than the places you mentioned. Interns get paid a lot more than I expected, and more than comparable shops like Optiver. Culture is pretty decent, it doesn’t feel like anyone is forced to work long hours. Most of the people I see who stay long choose to do so bc they like their work, but I could be easily wrong. Depending on your team, 90% of the developers get in at 8 and clear out by around 5:30pm - 6:00pm. They don’t give titles easily as far as I can tell, there are very few “senior devs” in the company.
    Aug 16 2
    • Amazon prestige🧐
      OP
      Ah ok cool, thanks for the input!
      Aug 16
    • Akuna Capital XWwx85
      Yeah sorry for all the uncertainty, I don’t want to make any blanket statements. They’re a pretty cool company and they’re way better than all of the negative reviews I read about online say.
      Aug 16
  • Akuna Capital HFTBro
    8 to 5 for developers, with 1 hour for lunch. You get 15 days PTO first year. Some are allowed to work remote or work from home, but most come into the office.

    No one expects you to work overtime, but people expect you to deliver results. Most manage to meet their deadlines without putting in extra hours, but if needed you should be prepared to. No slackers/dead weight here, and everyone knows their stuff.

    It’s a great place for those willing to do some good work, solving challenging problems that you can’t find answers to on the internet/Stack Overflow (most projects are research and development). Not a good place if you just want to get high TC the most comfortable way possible, doing stuff you already know (like CRUD).

    Basically, there’s never a boring day at Akuna Capital.
    Aug 19 6
    • Amazon prestige🧐
      OP
      HFTBro: Sounds good, thanks!

      cJKu57: They’re located in Chicago.
      Aug 19
    • BYTON cJKu57
      😔 I don't wanna go back to mid west yet
      Aug 19
    • Akuna Capital HFTBro
      There’s also a Boston office in addition to Sydney, Australia and Shanghai, China.
      Aug 20
    • BYTON cJKu57
      Do they allow remote work?
      Aug 20
    • Akuna Capital / Eng HFTBro
      Yes, if you’re exceptional.
      Aug 20
  • Indeed / Eng nGoc70
    I heard 220k to 240k TC first year for junior dev.
    Aug 18 2
    • Amazon prestige🧐
      OP
      Not a bad number!
      Aug 18
    • Akuna Capital / Eng nGVf02
      I guess the upper bound is greater.
      Aug 20
  • Intel qia
    I know that there's one or two Akuna people around here... hopefully they see the tag!
    Aug 16 0
  • Microsoft aaaaaaa
    Also if you seriously believe a recession is going to happen, people at shops like akuna are salivating at the prospect. You can print money at options mm
    Aug 16 0
  • Microsoft aaaaaaa
    It's good, but not top top among the prominent firms you listed. Sorry don't wanna say exact for much identifying purposes, but my base, and target bonus are both I'd say ~80-90% of what top payers like citadel or Jane street would pay. My signing bonuse was great. As an example of base, note that h1b data is public info and check out h1bdata.info for sample points for akuna vs citadel for eg. Also there are some other things to note. For example, optiver is a direct akuna competitor. They pay you base salary for your 3 month non compete after leaving. Akuna goes not.

    My akuna recruiter would roughly say things like akuna can generally match and slightly beat top tech like goog FB pay. Also keep in mind bonuses are heavily dependent on firm and personal performance in that year. And general rule of thumb is bonuses for swe should be on the order of 1x base (not order of .1x like in tec)
    Aug 16 2
  • E*Trade shhhhhhh11
    I hear they have a problem free philosophy.
    Aug 19 0
  • Microsoft aaaaaaa
    Oh also I think base might be capped. So it's much harder for akuna to guarantee money long term in your TC. Bonus structure is heavy. They do have a guaranteed bonus section that's independent of discretionary bonus, but not sure if this holds after first year. But compared to tech pay where stock grants are common, it's difficult to bake long term TC outside base. However, it's up to you to believe the company is doing well, which by all indications it seems they're doing ok. Also this factor is same at all prop shops and hedge funds anyway
    Aug 16 0
  • Hi OP, did you forget to mention something?
    Aug 19 1