DeFi Quant Research Intern (Digital Assets Market Making)

Location: On-site, predominantly Brussels, Belgium; London, United Kingdom is possible, with at least 1–2 months of onboarding in Brussels.

Company

hirify.global is a digital assets company providing liquidity and capital markets services across centralized and decentralized exchanges, including market making, high-frequency trading, options, OTC, DeFi trading, advisory, and asset management.

What you will do

• Research on-chain market structure, liquidity, price formation, participant behaviour, and execution across decentralized markets.
• Study how protocol mechanics, transaction ordering, gas, slippage, latency, and MEV affect execution quality and strategy performance.
• Formulate and evaluate trading hypotheses using blockchain and market data, backtests, and simulations.
• Build reusable Python tools and data pipelines for research, monitoring, and performance analysis.
• Analyse relationships between centralized and decentralized markets and their implications for pricing, hedging, and risk.
• Support live strategies through monitoring, post-trade analysis, performance investigations, and clear presentation of findings, limitations, risks, and next steps.

Requirements

• Pursuing or recently completed a degree in mathematics, computer science, engineering, physics, quantitative finance, or a related field.
• Proficiency in Python for data analysis and comfort with SQL, Git, and command-line workflows.
• Working knowledge of transactions, state changes, gas, blocks, consensus, finality, and smart-contract execution.
• Understanding of AMMs, concentrated liquidity, swaps, liquidity provision, oracles, liquidations, and differences between decentralized execution and centralized order books.
• Understanding of transaction ordering and block construction, including arbitrage, liquidation, backrunning, sandwiching, and related execution risks.
• Hands-on DeFi experience beyond coursework or social media, with the ability to question whether an apparent edge survives fees, gas, latency, slippage, adverse selection, and changing market conditions.
• Ability to structure ambiguous problems, test assumptions, and communicate findings and limitations clearly in English.

Nice to have

• Experience querying blockchain data through RPCs, indexers, subgraphs, or analytics platforms.
• Ability to read Solidity, contract interfaces, and event logs.
• Exposure to Rust or another systems programming language.
• Familiarity with non-EVM ecosystems or Layer 2 execution models.
• A technical project demonstrating sustained interest in DeFi or on-chain markets, such as an on-chain dataset, trading or monitoring script, AMM simulation, protocol integration, or research project.

Culture & Benefits

• Paid six-month internship with accommodation provided for all or part of the internship.
• Predominantly Brussels-based on-site work in an advanced office; London placement is possible after a 1–2 month Brussels onboarding period.
• Hands-on learning, clear goals, dedicated guidance, and regular feedback from experienced digital finance colleagues.
• Global, collaborative, technology-driven environment with autonomy, ownership, and opportunities to contribute from day one.
• Performance, business needs, and available opportunities may lead to a permanent role, but this is not guaranteed.

Hiring process

• Apply by 30 November 2026; the planned start date is 1 March 2027.
• Selection includes an interview with Talent Acquisition, an interview with the Hiring Manager, and a recruitment challenge.
• Passing a background check is a prerequisite for joining.