Best Financial Services Companies to Work for in Chicago, IL (237)

Mission & Purpose: Work spans Square, Cash App, and other units with products used at meaningful scale, tied to a stated purpose of economic empowerment. Feedback suggests this multi‑block scope enables high‑impact problem solving across consumer and merchant domains.

Benefits & Perks: Official materials highlight remote‑friendly roles, comprehensive health coverage, flexible time off, retirement matching, and a discounted employee stock purchase plan. Flexibility options and country‑specific policies are emphasized alongside standard tech benefits.

Learning & Development: A fast shipping cadence and exposure to regulated fintech areas—risk, compliance, lending, identity, and ML—create accelerated skill growth for engineers, data scientists, and operators. Job specifications call for first‑principles problem solving in complex credit and risk domains.

Benefits & Perks: Benefits and in‑office amenities are consistently described as strong, including daily catered lunches, generous PTO/market holidays, 401(k) match, parental leave, wellness programs, and a well‑equipped Chicago HQ. Feedback suggests these tangible perks and a hybrid setup enhance day‑to‑day experience for teams on‑site.

Team Support: Colleagues are often seen as approachable and collaborative within a flat structure that emphasizes access, support, and ongoing dialogue. Feedback suggests a friendly, close‑knit vibe with approachable leadership and cross‑functional cooperation in the Chicago hub.

Learning & Development: Opportunities to learn and make visible impact are emphasized through autonomy, small‑team ownership, mentorship programs, and continuing education support. Feedback suggests employees can grow trading/domain knowledge and ship features used by active traders.

Team Support: Colleagues are often seen as collaborative, approachable, and willing to help, creating a supportive day-to-day environment. Feedback suggests many employees value friendly teams that make complex, regulated work more manageable.

Work-Life Balance: Feedback suggests flexible and hybrid arrangements enable reasonable personal time in many roles. Even with periodic peaks, many teams highlight balance as a strength of the work environment.

Market Position & Stability: A long‑established, privately held company with global reach and essential services provides durable client relationships and steady work. Integration of additional businesses and capabilities broadens cross‑border exposure and role variety.

Benefits & Perks: Benefits are described as comprehensive, including hybrid flexibility, generous PTO, wellness supports, parental leave, tuition reimbursement, and a strong 401(k) match. In‑office perks and volunteer time reinforce an employee‑centered package.

Team Support: Colleagues are frequently characterized as supportive and collaborative, with helpful supervisors and a welcoming environment. Feedback suggests inclusion, ERGs, and community involvement strengthen everyday teamwork.

Mission & Purpose: Work is framed around a member‑first, fully digital credit union ethos that provides a sense of purpose. Employer materials emphasize “people helping people” and innovation to serve members nationwide.

Mission & Purpose: Work is viewed as mission‑critical at the core of U.S. listed options, with a clear public‑interest mandate as a systemically important utility. Many professionals find meaning in consequential risk, clearing, and settlement responsibilities.

Market Position & Stability: The organization is described as the sole central counterparty for U.S. listed options, signaling long‑term stability and resilience. This central role in market infrastructure attracts candidates seeking durable careers.

Benefits & Perks: Company materials highlight a comprehensive Total Rewards package and external recognition tied to compensation, benefits, and culture. Development programs, hybrid support, and well‑publicized perks are positioned as part of the employee experience.

Mission & Purpose: The mission to expand fair and accurate credit access—such as enabling rent and utility reporting—gives work tangible social impact and clarity of purpose. Products like Bloom+ and tri‑bureau integrations keep this focus front and center.

Work-Life Balance: A remote‑first setup with flexible schedules, unlimited PTO, home‑office support, and manager check‑ins to rebalance workloads supports healthy balance. Periodic in‑person gatherings complement autonomy without daily office requirements.

Benefits & Perks: Offerings include company equity, 401(k), health/vision/dental and mental health coverage, generous parental leave with return‑to‑work support, and a home‑office stipend. Professional development support (courses, certifications, conferences) and recognition programs add to the package.

Team Support: Colleagues are often described as collaborative within a flat structure that enables easy access to senior staff and mentorship. Small‑team ownership and close trader–engineer collaboration reinforce a supportive, hands‑on environment.

Learning & Development: Training and mentorship are emphasized through structured programs, frequent 1:1s, and hands‑on projects that build options and systems expertise. Internships and early‑career roles include real responsibility and exposure to production trading workflows.

Benefits & Perks: Perks and benefits are prominent, with free daily meals, onsite or subsidized gym access, frequent social events, and community activities. Comprehensive offerings include 401(k) with matching, profit sharing, generous PTO, parental and family benefits, mental‑health support, and wellness programs.

Manager Effectiveness: Managers are approachable and involve people in decisions that affect their work environment. Regular 1:1s and open communication channels are used to discuss advancement and day‑to‑day needs.

Career Growth: Career paths are actively developed through internal promotion, training, and ongoing learning. Structured check‑ins and development conversations create visibility into advancement opportunities.

Work-Life Balance: Work routines include a hybrid model with remote Fridays and additional flexible work‑from‑home days. This setup is intended to support balance alongside in‑office collaboration.

Belonging & Inclusion: The Be Yourself At Work ethos foregrounds psychological safety and authenticity, and feedback suggests many feel comfortable showing up as themselves. Friendly colleagues and a visible community vibe reinforce a sense of belonging.

Team Support: Colleagues are often described as supportive and collaborative, helping people meet personal goals and share ideas. Feedback suggests room to implement ideas on certain engagements within a collegial environment.

Learning & Development: Financial‑services work with data/AI and digital transformation provides visible client impact and accelerates practical skill growth. Structured entry routes and hands‑on delivery create opportunities to learn quickly and take ownership.

Mission & Purpose: Work centers on building the infrastructure behind many investing apps, tying day-to-day efforts to real investor experiences and a goal of “frictionless investing for everyone.” The company articulates clear behaviors (Grit, Results, Empathy, Accountability, Teamwork) and recognition practices that reinforce purpose in execution.

Innovation & Products: Recent launches such as the Apex AI Suite and “Ask Ascend” signal active investment in platform capabilities and AI-enabled workflows. This environment suits shipping in a platform context with modern developer/ops tooling.

Learning & Development: Roles provide exposure to real-time trading systems, ACATS, compliance-driven workflows, and complex tax/cost-basis domains, creating accelerated domain growth. Mentorship, OKRs, and recognition programs are highlighted as supports for development.

Team Support: Colleagues are often described as smart, friendly, and approachable across functions, creating a collaborative, team-centered environment. Cross-functional partners and managers are depicted as accessible, enabling day-to-day problem solving.

Benefits & Perks: Offerings commonly include medical/dental/vision coverage, 401(k) matching, flexible or “unlimited” PTO, parental leave, commuter benefits, and office amenities like stocked kitchens and social events. A renovated Chicago HQ with hybrid collaboration and wellness initiatives adds to the experience.

Mission & Purpose: Work centers on “moving financial lives forward” for everyday consumers, giving roles visible impact through shipped features and customer outcomes. Product and engineering scopes are portrayed as offering direct ownership tied to tangible customer benefit.

Market Position & Stability: MarketAxess operates a leading electronic trading platform for institutional fixed‑income, with profitability and a global footprint. This positioning provides exposure to core market infrastructure and a client‑driven, market‑hours rhythm.

Benefits & Perks: The total rewards package features competitive pay plus comprehensive benefits such as strong 401(k) matching, health coverage with HRA support, wellness stipends, generous PTO and parental leave, and in‑office meals and amenities.

Team Support: Colleagues are often seen as helpful, friendly, and collaborative, with open‑door norms and team‑based planning. Social activities and modern, open offices reinforce day‑to‑day connectivity.

Mission & Purpose: Work is framed around "democratizing investment research" and tying day‑to‑day efforts to advisor and client outcomes. Company materials repeatedly connect roles to clear product impact in wealth‑management workflows.

Work-Life Balance: Policies emphasize a remote‑first setup with optional office hubs, flexible PTO, parental leave, and summer hours that support sustainable schedules. The ability to choose hybrid or office time in Chicago/NYC adds flexibility for in‑person collaboration when desired.

Belonging & Inclusion: Culture is described as supportive, inclusive, and transparent, with a DEI committee and a "no‑jerk" policy reinforcing values. Regular all‑hands, open feedback forums, and social rituals help people feel connected across locations.

Benefits & Perks: Benefits include a 401(k) with company match, an employee stock purchase plan, financial‑wellness resources, long‑term care insurance, and career coaching highlighted by the company. These offerings are presented alongside active associate groups and well‑being programs that enhance the overall package.

Work-Life Balance: A remote‑friendly, hybrid culture is emphasized, with flexibility shaped locally by role and team. This structure can support balance for many while requiring confirmation of onsite cadence and meeting windows.

Team Support: Colleagues are often characterized as collaborative, passionate, and supportive, contributing to a strong sense of community. Teams are described as warm and welcoming, with a focus on solving problems together.

Compensation: Pay is considered highly competitive across trading, quant, and engineering tracks, with strong upside and top‑of‑market intern pay. Feedback suggests total packages compare favorably to peer employers in tech and quantitative finance.

Learning & Development: Training is portrayed as structured and substantial via a multi‑week global traineeship, mentorship, and ongoing development. Formal programs and rotations are described as accelerating early responsibility and growth.

Innovation & Products: Work is described as tech‑first and latency‑obsessed, leveraging modern C++/FPGA stacks and robust data tooling. Engineers see clear, measurable impact from performance improvements in production trading systems.

Benefits & Perks: Company materials highlight comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, a 401(k) match, company‑paid life and disability insurance, generous PTO/holidays, and hybrid flexibility with extras like snacks, commuter benefits and fitness support. These offerings are emphasized across careers and employer-profile pages as part of a supportive employee experience.

Learning & Development: Programs such as ongoing training, paid industry certifications, Lunch and Learns, mentorship, and an emphasis on internal career development appear frequently. Descriptions point to meaningful professional growth and opportunities to take ownership in a specialized fintech domain.

Market Position & Stability: The organization operates a widely used retail futures platform and FCM, has expanded through acquisitions, and now sits within Kraken’s broader ecosystem. This context indicates access to resources and cross‑product opportunities alongside an established, still‑growing footprint.

Benefits & Perks: Benefits include company‑wide Away Days, flexible time off, generous paid parental leave, mental‑health programs, and flexible spending wallets. Policy guides and fraud‑prevention in recruiting signal a mature people‑operations approach supporting a remote‑first model.

Compensation: Pay is considered competitive for many tech roles, with strong total compensation reported for engineers and managers relative to fintech peers. Feedback suggests ranges scale with level and location, with higher bands at senior, staff, and management levels.

Work-Life Balance: Remote‑first flexibility allows eligible roles to work anywhere in‑country and pairs with company‑wide Away Days and flexible PTO to support balance. Feedback suggests this structure suits self‑directed individuals and helps many teams maintain reasonable cadence.

Team Support: Collaboration between traders and engineers under a “One Firm” culture is emphasized, with colleagues described as smart, friendly, and supportive. Cross‑team problem‑solving and open communication are positioned as core to daily work.

Learning & Development: Formal learning programs, mentorship, and “learn by doing” are highlighted alongside rapid early‑career growth and strong training. Leadership messaging underscores continued investment in people to scale talent with technology.

Benefits & Perks: Health and wellness programs, retirement matching, generous PTO and parental leave, and hybrid flexibility are cited. Additional perks such as free snacks/meals, on‑site gym access, recognition programs, and team events are also noted.

Work-Life Balance: Flexible and remote-friendly arrangements, including hybrid and fully remote roles, are emphasized to accommodate personal and family needs. Balance is easier outside peak periods, with teams often supportive of scheduling boundaries.

Learning & Development: Structured coaching, leadership training, certification reimbursement, and a dedicated learning platform provide clear paths to build skills. CPA exam support and tuition assistance further enable professional growth across service lines.

Team Support: Colleagues are frequently characterized as kind, helpful, and collaborative, fostering strong camaraderie and mentorship. An intentional remote community and people-first culture help maintain connection across locations.

Mission & Purpose: The firm’s fiduciary mission—helping more people experience financial well‑being—is prominently emphasized and gives many roles a clear sense of impact. The scale of clients and assets connects day‑to‑day work to outcomes at global reach.

Learning & Development: Structured programs like BlackRock Academies, leadership training, mentorship, certifications, and returnships provide defined pathways to build skills. Internal mobility across investments, ETFs, client coverage, and technology is actively supported to broaden experience.

Market Position & Stability: A well‑known brand, diversified businesses, and industry scale create perceived stability and broad career optionality. Exposure to large platforms and complex clients expands opportunities to contribute and grow.