Business Intelligence Accountant

Simplex Trading is seeking a motivated, analytically-minded Business Intelligence Analyst / Accountant to join our Finance team in our Chicago, Illinois office. This is a full-time, in-office position for a candidate who sits at the intersection of finance and technology — someone equally comfortable querying a trading database as closing the books. You will own day-to-day accounting responsibilities while also serving as a key driver of process automation initiatives and data-driven financial analysis across the firm’s proprietary databases. The ideal candidate has a strong accounting or finance foundation, hands-on SQL proficiency, and a genuine enthusiasm for replacing manual workflows with scalable, technology-driven solutions.

• Execute monthly and quarterly close processes including journal entries, accounts payable, account reconciliations, accruals, and variance analysis; submit completed entries to the Senior Accountant for review and approval.
• Own the accounts payable process end-to-end, including invoice coding, payment processing, vendor reconciliation, and aging report.
• Maintain the general ledger and ensure accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of all financial data.
• Assist in preparing monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements in accordance with GAAP.

• Maintain working knowledge of applicable SEC and FINRA financial responsibility rules.
• Support the annual audit process by preparing audit schedules and supporting documentation.

• Write, optimize, and maintain SQL queries to extract, transform, and analyze financial data from the firm’s trading and operational databases.
• Build and maintain dashboards and recurring reports that provide P&L drivers, position exposures, fee structures, and other key performance indicators for senior leadership.
• Conduct ad-hoc deep-dive analyses on trading financial data.

• Administer the firm's credit card spend and expense reimbursement program, including transaction coding and reconciliation.
• Identify and eliminate manual, repetitive finance workflows – including close processes, reconciliations and management reporting –  through scripting, macros, or low-code/no-code tools, in close collaboration with the Senior Accountant.
• Contributing  to evaluations of new accounting and finance technology, providing requirements, testing, and implementation support.
• Stay current on emerging tools and technologies relevant to finance automation (e.g., Python, Claude, dbt, Airflow, RPA platforms) and proactively propose improvements.

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, or a related quantitative field.
• 3-5 years of experience in accounting, financial analysis, or a related finance role, ideally within a broker-dealer, proprietary trading firm, or regulated financial services environment.
• Willing to sit for FINRA licensing exams to ensure regulatory compliance with the scope of the role
• Hands-on proficiency with SQL; comfortable writing complex queries (joins, subqueries, window functions, CTEs) against large relational databases.
• Strong working knowledge of GAAP and financial reporting standards.
• Demonstrated experience identifying and implementing process automation or efficiency improvements in a finance context.

• Experience with a data visualization or BI tool such as Power BI, Tableau, or Looker.
• Scripting experience in Python or VBA for finance automation use cases.
• Exposure to data engineering concepts (Extract, Transform, Load pipelines, data warehouses, dbt, or similar).
• Familiarity with options, derivatives, or equity securities accounting.
• Public accounting experience (Big 4 or regional firm) is a plus.

Founded in Chicago in 2004, Simplex is a leading, technology-driven, proprietary market-making firm. We work with the most advanced technology and software in the market, and we’ve continued to remain at the forefront of the industry by always focusing on innovation, automation, and data-driven analysis. We also leverage our experience and expertise to make strategic investments and capitalize on opportunities in the venture capital markets with promising, early-stage financial and technology start-ups. 

• Benefits: Excellent a la carte Medical/Dental/Vision (free employee coverage!), 401(k) match, generous parental leave!
• The Office: The kitchen is stocked with snacks, and beverages; you also have daily stipends for breakfast and lunch! 
• Tuition Reimbursement: As an investment in our employees’ careers and the company’s future, we offer educational assistance to provide employees with professional development opportunities that increase their skills and enhance their contributions to the organization!
• Employee Discounts: To gyms, national brands, and more!
• Building: We are located in the Federal Reserve building. As a tenant, you have access to a building gym and a full cafeteria. We are easily accessible to all public transportation.
• Charity Match: We match up to $2,000 a year in donations to the charities of your choice!
• Fun Events: In-person happy hours, celebrations throughout the year, game nights, video game fun, and so much more!

Simplex is an Equal Opportunity Employer