A place to trade the way you believe.
We look for discretionary traders and quantitative portfolio managers who have managed real capital and want to work across markets, and for the people who make that possible. We don't judge by résumés and interviews alone: discretionary traders join through The Ladder, with published criteria and real capital; portfolio managers prove themselves through strategy admission and live P&L. Those who pass grow their allocation as their results are verified.
Ability isn't claimed.
It's proven with capital.
The Ladder is how every discretionary trader joins Par Trading — and how they grow. It's not a hiring process. It's our answer to the question: what is a good trader?
Résumés don't tell the whole story. Tasks do.
The most reliable way to know a trader is to watch what they do with real data, real systems and real capital.
Behavior over returns.
Short-window returns carry little information. How someone handles a drawdown, and whether they report it honestly, carries a lot. That is what we're actually testing.
Allocation grows with proof, not with title.
Everyone starts small. Everyone is measured by the same published standards. Everyone climbs the same ladder.
- 01A four-week structured test: a replay task on public historical data, scenario questions and hands-on with our systems, and a short period of live trading on real capital.
- 02An allocation ladder: after the test, you start at an entry allocation and move up by published criteria.
- 03Independent reviewers — the head of desk and risk — score separately before they compare notes.
- 04Every candidate sees the full criteria on day one.
Our systematic desk works differently: portfolio managers prove themselves through strategy admission and live P&L, and their capital and risk budget grow with verified results.
You don't need to know someone. You don't need to come from a particular firm. You don't need to perform in an interview. You need to make honest judgments and trade within the rules.
- Quantitative Researcher
- Trader / Execution
- Trading Systems Engineer
- Data Engineer
- AI Agent Engineer
Hong Kong. Shenzhen is available as a transitional office initially; after formal onboarding, the Hong Kong office is the primary place of trading and work.
Please send your CV to careers@par.ai. A traditional cover letter is not required. If convenient, attach material that shows how you work — a reviewed trade log, a trading plan, a strategy write-up, a backtest-vs-live comparison. Please do not share any confidential material belonging to a current or former employer.