Options University aims to equip employees with supplementary technical training and is available to both existing staff, and those recruited as part of the firm’s recent Belfast office expansion. Options, who provide managed services and infrastructure products to leading hedge funds, global investment banks, private equity firms and exchanges, today announced its official launch of “Options University”, a technical training and development academy that is based out of the firm’s new, state of the art training facilities in their recently expanded Belfast headquarters. The office expansion followed Bregal Sagemount’s growth investment in the firm in late 2017.
With an established presence in Belfast, London and New York, Options commenced its first university semester on February 4th, 2019 with, “An Introduction to Infrastructure Automation”. The semester covers modules in Python scripting, structured data, expression in Python, script writing and programming. Classes are streamed live and available to all staff globally.
Options’ President and Co-CEO, Danny Moore commented: “From cultivating talent through our Graduate and Placement Programme, to covering the costs for those who want to study for professional qualifications, paid study leave, and pay rises on completion of certain accreditations, Options has always encouraged and championed personal development and further learning. The addition of Options University, which is open to both technical and non-technical staff alike, underlines our belief in the power of training and personal development as the key components of an outward looking, innovation-based culture.”
Course co-ordinator, and Options Technical Account Manager, Marie-Louise Quigg added: “Delivering critical support, sophisticated engineering and secure managed services to Options’ global client base goes hand in hand with the skill growth of our team. We are delighted to announce the official launch of Options University and are confident that our tailored modules, together with our state-of-the-art training facilities, will both strengthen our business as a whole and cement our reputation as the industry’s leading provider for innovation, automation and technology.”
The announcement follows a year of success for Options, with the expansion of their Asia-Pacific operations, several new hires and twelve award wins, including “Best Overall Technology Firm” at the HFM European Hedge Fund Technology Awards 2018, and for the third consecutive year, The Sunday Times HSBC International Track Awards for International Growth.