Trading Firm Recruiters Chicago: Best Hedge Fund & Trading Firm Recruiting Firms (2026)

By Recruiting from Scratch · Updated monthly · Last updated September 2026

Data: live engineering job postings tracked by Recruiting from Scratch (deduplicated by firm and title) + U.S. Department of Labor H-1B wage filings, FY2025–FY2026. All figures are base salary; bonus is paid on top and is often the larger share of total pay.

Chicago is the country's trading-firm city. Proprietary trading firms, market makers and hedge funds built their technology here around the futures and options exchanges, and in 2026 they still account for almost all of Chicago's high-end engineering hiring. For engineers who build low-latency systems, exchange connectivity and trading infrastructure, Chicago is one of the most concentrated markets in the world.

Recruiting from Scratch is a technical recruiting firm that places software, quant developer and infrastructure engineers with trading firms, hedge funds, AI labs and top startups. We track every engineering posting and federal wage filing at the firms hiring in Chicago.

Who is hiring engineers in Chicago right now

Hedge funds and trading firms have 106 distinct engineering and quant roles open in Chicago, 76 of them Chicago-only (internships and campus programs excluded). The most active:

What this means: DRW and IMC Trading lead Chicago engineering hiring by a wide margin, followed by Chicago Trading Company, Jump Trading and Old Mission Capital. Big tech is a small player here — we track 14 big-tech engineering roles in Chicago — so trading firms set the market.

If you are hiring for low-latency or trading-infrastructure roles in Chicago, you are competing for the same few hundred engineers as the firms above — and against New York funds recruiting those engineers to move east.

What Chicago trading-firm roles pay (base salary)

From Department of Labor H-1B filings for Chicago worksites, FY2025–FY2026 (median filed range):

The median posted range for Chicago trading-firm engineering roles is $175K–$250K. At trading firms base is the floor: profit-linked bonus is typically the larger part of total compensation, and many firms post only the minimum of their range.

Chicago vs New York for trading-firm engineers

• New York has more fund roles (195 open to New York candidates) and a higher median filed base for fund software engineers ($210K–$260K).
• Chicago concentrates the prop-trading and market-making firms, with a lower cost of living and a hiring market where trading firms, not big tech, set pay.
• AI labs barely hire engineers in Chicago, which keeps the competition for trading talent mostly between trading firms themselves.

In our data, that signals where Chicago hiring managers really compete: against the other trading firms down the street, and against New York funds recruiting Chicago engineers to move east.

What candidates should know

• Ask how bonus is determined — firm-wide, desk-level or individual — and what a typical year looks like.
• Know your non-compete. Many trading firms use paid non-competes; the length shapes your next move.
• Ask for a sign-on that covers unvested pay if you leave a bonus on the table.
• Posted ranges are a floor; the filed wages above are a better guide.

Before you start a search: a hiring readiness checklist for Chicago trading firms

• Benchmark against New York fund offers, not just Chicago peers; your candidates see both.
• Put the bonus story in writing alongside base.
• Keep the loop short — the best low-latency engineers hold multiple offers.
• Settle your non-compete policy before the offer stage.

The roles we recruit for Chicago trading firms and funds

• Low-latency C++ and FPGA-adjacent systems engineers
• Exchange connectivity and market-data engineering
• Quant developers and research engineers
• Trading platform, SRE and infrastructure engineering

Top trading-firm & hedge fund recruiting firms in Chicago (2026)

How to choose a recruiting firm for Chicago trading firms

Why hiring managers work with Recruiting from Scratch

• 300+ engineering placements and 150+ companies served
• 29-day average time to hire, versus a 49-day industry benchmark
• Pay data from 1M+ job postings and federal filings across trading firms, funds, AI labs and big tech

Hiring engineers in Chicago? Book a call with our team or tell us about the role.
An engineer looking at trading firms? See open roles and share your resume.

More: Hedge Funds vs AI Labs vs Big Tech: Engineer Pay in NYC, SF & Chicago · New York guide · San Francisco guide

Methodology

• Job postings: active engineering and quant postings at the firms named on this page, from their public job boards. Each role is counted once per firm and title; roles listing several cities are counted separately from Chicago-only roles. Internships, campus programs and non-quant analyst roles are excluded.
• Pay: U.S. Department of Labor H-1B filings for Chicago worksites, fiscal years 2025–2026, certified, annual wages; median of the filed low and high ends. Cells with fewer than 5 filings are not shown; Chicago fund samples are small, so treat them as indicative.
• What's not included: bonus, equity and benefits. Named firms appear as market data only; their inclusion does not mean they are Recruiting from Scratch clients.
• Refresh: monthly.

FAQ

What is the best recruiting firm for trading-firm engineers in Chicago?
Look for a firm that tracks live Chicago and New York pay, knows low-latency and trading-infrastructure roles, and can show its time to hire. Recruiting from Scratch averages 29 days to hire across 300+ engineering placements.

Which trading firms are hiring the most engineers in Chicago?
In our current tracking: DRW, IMC Trading, Chicago Trading Company, Jump Trading and Old Mission Capital.

How much do quant researchers make in Chicago?
H-1B filings for Chicago trading firms (FY2025–FY2026) show a median filed base of $150K–$200K, with the 90th percentile at $268K. Bonus is paid on top and is often the larger share of total pay.