Culture at Optimax

We expect our colleagues to manage themselves as effectively as possible. This includes taking ownership of assigned projects, as well as finding and pursuing one’s own projects. We use the given autonomy and trust to act on behalf of the entire company. Here, we prioritize long-term value over short-term results. We never say, “That’s not my job”. Hence, we don’t wait for instructions but actively involve everyone and everything that is needed to get the work done. To sum up: We don’t hire people to tell them what to do. We hire them so that they tell us what to do.

We are convinced that taking calculated risks helps us 
progress in our daily business for example when developing and trying out new trading strategies. When ideas don’t work out as expected, we don’t penalize the person who implemented them. We rather take mistakes as opportunities to grow. This way, we encourage wild ideas and go in unconventional directions.

Our thoughts are as diverse as our team. Regardless of position or status, we value everyone’s contributions across all departments. We practice this by actively taking and delivering constructive criticism and don’t compromise for the sake of social cohesion. A student giving meaningful criticism to the CEO is just as natural for us as the other way around. For us, it is crucial to exchange thoughts and ideas between team members. We keep doors open and distances short. 

To grow sustainably as a team, we invest in extraordinary potentials so that our talents can grow to become true experts in their fields and feel comfortable with us for a long time. To reach this goal, we start early by offering programming workshops, internships and working student positions to youngsters from high school and university. Furthermore, we appreciate diverse professional backgrounds as a catalyst of progress. For us, no place on earth is too far away to relocate talents from. 

We pursue excellence with a pragmatic approach. In combining excellence and pragmatism we don’t see a contradiction but rather a balancing act since we always head for the best of both worlds to make a difference every day. We insist on the highest quality yet make decisions quickly and professionally. Therefore, we are constantly questioning conventions and the status quo. When we target new tasks like developing new bot algorithms, we start simple and aim to be creative, innovative and results-oriented. It’s about what we achieve. We don’t give up before we arrive.

In our field of business, change is part of the game and 
always holds growth potential for the curious like us. 
Therefore, 10% of our working time can be dedicated to 
acquiring new knowledge and skills. This is team effort. 
We focus on making this new input accessible, both within the individual team and across departments. What can this look like? HR learns from IT how to ask better technical questions in interviews, and IT learns from HR what counts when mentoring youngsters. Continuous learning is the key to personal and corporate growth. 

Although we consist of various personalities with different cultural backgrounds, we have something in common: our beliefs and values that we always uphold. We speak our minds and make room for personal wishes and needs. The basis for this approach is our trust in each other from day one. That is, for example, reflected in our totally flexible working time. Each of us knows best what their own work-life balance should look like - if you are a night owl, then feel free to work when your colleagues sleep. We take care of each other to benefit from this flexibility as a team.