We're looking for an experienced Senior HR Business Partner to join our high-performing People team. You'll partner closely with leaders in a fast-paced, high-performance environment where ideas are challenged and standards are high. Our leaders are intellectually curious, analytical, and expect to understand the rationale behind decisions — so success depends on credibility, sound judgement, and the ability to influence through reasoning rather than authority.
As a company, we are on an ambitious growth journey, in which people and AI play a key role. In this role, you work on both. Not only will you drive success via people, you will be facilitated (and expected) to leverage AI in everything you do.
You take ownership, build credibility quickly, are self-aware and curious, and contribute from day one. You'll report to the Head of HR for Europe based in Amsterdam.
What you'll do
- Partner with leaders across the full employee lifecycle — organisational design, performance, talent, succession, workforce planning, employee relations and compensation.
- Build and execute the workforce plan for your area, aligned to our global people plan.
- Bring analytical rigour to performance and compensation cycles, calibration and talent decisions.
- Coach and challenge leaders to make better people decisions, balancing business outcomes with long-term organisational health.
- Spot people risks and opportunities early and help leaders navigate them before they escalate.
- Lead complex employee relations and sensitive contractual matters (including non-compete management), ensuring fairness, consistency and legal compliance.
- Drive the local engagement agenda, turning survey, onboarding and exit data into measurable actions that improve retention and experience.
- Explore data, automation, and AI to improve HR effectiveness.
- Act as the connector between your stakeholder groups and the wider People team, and contribute to global initiatives and cross-regional projects.
Who you are
- 5+ years as an HR Business Partner in a complex, fast-paced environment; Trading industry a plus.
- Strong track record of partnering with senior leaders and influencing without formal authority.
- Broad HR remit — organisational change, talent, performance and employee relations.
- You have deep experience with AI, and delivered concrete results by using it.
- Strong analytical skills; able to translate data into practical insight.
- Comfortable navigating complexity, competing priorities and challenging stakeholder dynamics.
- Commercial curiosity and genuine interest in how businesses operate.
- Sound judgement, resilience, and willingness to have difficult conversations.
- Track record of proactively identifying opportunities and solving problems rather than waiting for direction.
- Already based in the Netherlands; fluent in English (Dutch a plus).
What Great Looks Like
- You earn a seat at the table. You position yourself as a clear business partner and peer to your leaders. You understand the commercial context, connect people decisions to business outcomes and spot risks early. Leaders seek out your input to inform their decisions.
- You have sound judgement and the courage to use it. You form independent views and communicate them clearly. You balance principle with pragmatism — knowing when consistency matters and when flexibility is warranted. You know when to push, when to influence, and when to adapt your approach without compromising on what matters, reaching desired outcomes without unnecessary complexity.
- You create clarity in ambiguity. You're comfortable with incomplete information, helping leaders frame problems, weigh options and move forward. You learn fast and become effective without needing every answer upfront.
- You build trust. You invest in relationships before you need them: approachable, reliable, and genuinely curious about how others see things. You're not after comfortable relationships — you build enough trust to challenge assumptions, disagree when needed, and have the difficult conversations that lead to better outcomes.
Who we are
At Optiver, our mission is to constantly improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency and acting as a stabilizing force no matter the market conditions. With a focus on continuous improvement, we participate in the safeguarding of healthy and efficient markets for everyone who participates. As one of the largest market making institutions, we are a trusted partner of 70+ exchanges across the globe.
What you'll get
You’ll join a culture of collaboration and excellence, where you’ll be surrounded by curious thinkers and creative problem solvers. Motivated by a passion for continuous improvement, you’ll thrive in a supportive, high-performing environment alongside talented colleagues, working collectively to tackle the toughest problems in the financial markets.
In addition, you’ll receive:
- A performance-based bonus structure unmatched anywhere in the industry. We combine our profits across desks, teams and offices into a global profit pool.
- The opportunity to work alongside best-in-class professionals from over 50 different countries.
- 25 paid vacation days in your first year, increasing to 30 from your second year onwards.
- Training opportunities, discounts on health insurance, and fully paid first-class commuting expenses.
- Extensive office perks, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, world-class barista coffee, in-house physio and chair massages, organized sports and leisure activities, and Friday afternoon drinks.
- Training and continuous learning opportunities, including access to conferences and tech events.
- Competitive relocation packages and visa sponsorship where necessary for expats.
How to apply
Apply directly via the form below. If you have any questions feel free to contact our Recruitment team via our recruitment inquiry form.
Please note:
- We do not require any assistance from third-parties including agencies in the recruitment of this role
- We cannot accept applications via email
Diversity statement
Optiver is committed to diversity and inclusion.
