Career options

As a technical mathematician, you fulfil a bridging role between mathematics and problems in the working environment. You can see underlying connections and are analytically strong. You are also a good communicator, because you work a lot with specialists from other fields. These characteristics, as well as the fact that you learn to think critically and independently and to share insights with others, means that you are in great demand on the job market.

Completing a PhD

You can start an academic career with a doctoral programme at the EEMCS Graduate School. Leading research is conducted at our faculty in the sectors of Applied Mathematics under supervised by renowned professors and lecturers. You will work in a heterogeneous, international environment and will continue to deepen and broaden your knowledge in the four years in the Graduate School Doctoral Education Programme. Ultimately, you will write a dissertation, incorporating your contribution to science. After you have successfully defended your doctoral dissertation, you may call yourself Dr. Ir. or PhD.

Starting work

Many graduates opt for a job with the government, in education or in business. This includes research and management departments of multinationals, such as KPN and Shell. Or perhaps engineering and consultancy agencies, such as McKinsey. If you are more attracted to the financial sector, you could start work at a bank or insurance company like ING and Aegon. The Netherlands Forensic Institute, the Tax and Customs Administration and Statistics Netherlands are also among the possibilities. For an academic career, there are opportunities at universities and TNO.

Salary indication

The average gross entry level salary of a mathematics graduate is €2,850 a month. Recent graduates generally find paid employment within one-and-a-half months (source: Higher Education Monitor, 2013).

Alumni share their experiences

Employer: ORTEC
Position: Solution Consultant
Graduated: 2012

Frank Tabak

'As a Solution Consultant at ORTEC, I am working for Air France-KLM on their revenue management system. I am working out new functionalities and improvements to the system to ensure it remains state-of-the-art. In my job, I am mainly involved in big data analyses, testing and research.'

Employer: Ernst & Young en Universiteit van Amsterdam
Position: Advisor en promovendus
Graduated: 2013

Jarno Hartog

'At Ernst & Young, I advise organisations in the design, implementation and validation of models for market and credit risk and am involved in valuing complex financial instruments.
My doctoral research at the University of Amsterdam is about the design of optimal statistical procedures for classification problems in networks.'

Employer: ABN AMRO Position: Market Risk Officer Graduated: 2014

Merel Stout

'I started at ABN AMRO as a risk trainee in 2014. I now work at Market Risk Management in the dealing room, where I analyse the risks of the Foreign Exchange Trading Desk.'

Read more about: Students' experiences