Senior Macro Analyst

About the role

IMC’s Macro Analyst team provides traders with market-moving insights and actionable trading ideas across global macro and volatility markets. As a Senior Macro Analyst, you will be based in Amsterdam and take ownership of generating insights and trading ideas across European equity index volatility and related markets.

Working closely with traders and the Lead Macro Analyst, you will develop event-driven scenarios, identify opportunities around global macro themes, and help shape IMC’s response to fast-moving economic, political, and market developments. You will translate complex market information into clear trading implications, contribute to macro-driven strategies across options and volatility products, and play a key role in ensuring IMC remains ahead of market narratives. This is a highly collaborative role for someone who combines strong macro judgment, deep market understanding, and the ability to communicate clearly and decisively under time pressure.

Your Core Responsibilities

• Generate actionable trading ideas and market analysis across European equity index volatility, options, spreads, futures, and related financial instruments;

• Develop and maintain scenario analyses around key market-moving events, including economic data releases, central bank meetings, national budgets, elections, geopolitical developments, and unexpected macro shocks;

• Monitor global and European macro themes, identifying how changes in policy, politics, growth, inflation, rates, FX, and risk sentiment may affect equity index volatility and related markets;

• Provide traders with timely, clear, and actionable updates on what is driving markets during European trading hours and relevant out-of-hours futures sessions;

• React quickly to breaking news and unexpected market events, assessing potential outcomes, market impact, and trading opportunities in real time;

• Work closely with traders to evaluate risk/reward, refine trading hypotheses, and contribute to the development of macro-driven options and volatility strategies;

• Contribute to discussions around macro-driven positions, market themes, PnL drivers, and evolving risks across European and global markets;

• Take ownership of specific research areas, recurring event playbooks, analytical frameworks, or market coverage themes;

• Help ensure strong operational coverage of key events, market sessions, and trader needs through disciplined preparation, responsiveness, and high-quality communication;

• Collaborate with other IMC analyst teams across Amsterdam, Chicago, Sydney, and Mumbai to share insights, compare market views, and strengthen global coverage;

• Support the development of more junior analysts by sharing market knowledge, improving team processes, and helping raise the overall quality of the team’s output;

• Continuously improve the team’s analytical tools, event preparation, communication formats, and trading idea generation process.

Your Skills and Experience

• 4–6+ years of experience in a trading, macro research, volatility, options, or strategy-focused role, ideally at a high-frequency trading firm, investment bank, hedge fund, asset manager, or market-making environment;

• Strong understanding of European financial markets and the macroeconomic, political, and geopolitical factors that influence equity indices, volatility, rates, FX, and broader risk sentiment;

• Experience analyzing equity index products, options, volatility, futures, spreads, or related financial instruments;

• Proven ability to translate macro events, political developments, and market headlines into practical trading implications;

• Strong scenario analysis skills, with the ability to assess probabilities, market impact, positioning, and potential second-order effects;

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage traders clearly, succinctly, and confidently in fast-moving market conditions;

• Sound market judgment and the ability to form independent views while incorporating feedback from traders and other analysts;

• Calm, focused, and decisive when markets are moving quickly or information is incomplete;

• Collaborative mindset, with the ability to work effectively with traders, analysts, and global teams;

• High level of ownership, curiosity, and intellectual drive, with a strong interest in markets, policy, politics, and global events;

• Entrepreneurial approach, with a desire to improve processes, develop new analytical frameworks, and contribute ideas that can directly impact trading outcomes.

About Us

IMC is a research-driven trading firm where quantitative modeling, machine learning, and engineering shape how modern markets are traded. A stabilizing force in markets since 1989, we provide liquidity across trading venues, delivering the best outcome in value and risk management to investors. Using our own technology and capital, we build proprietary systems and algorithms that operate across global markets. Our researchers, traders, and engineers work as a collective, combining rapid experimentation, advanced infrastructure, and real-time feedback to turn insight into execution and execution into advantage.