— GUIDE —
QUANT FIRM INTERVIEW PROCESS DIRECTORY
Firm interview formats are not interchangeable. This directory starts with what each firm publishes and highlights where details depend on the role and office.
UPDATED 2026-10-29 · 13 MIN READ · BY THE VARIANCE EDITORIAL TEAM
There is no standard quant interview process. Jane Street publicly begins trading interviews by phone, IMC uses assessments for some roles, Optiver publishes different regional FAQs, and Five Rings does not publish a stage-by-stage guide. Use the table as a map, then treat your recruiter and invitation as the source of truth.
Last verified 29 October 2026. “Official” means the process or skill appears on the firm's own site or current role listing. A firm source may describe only part of a process; check your own invitation for the remaining details.
Six quant firm interview processes compared
| Firm | Roles | Regions | Published process or best-supported pattern | OA evidence | Evidence | Links | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citadel Securities | Markets & trading; quantitative research; engineering | US and global offices | The firm publishes role-specific candidate qualities, but not one universal stage sequence. | Role-dependent; no global format is published. | Official | Citadel Securities guide Official source | 29 Oct 2026 |
| Five Rings | Quantitative trading; quantitative research; software | New York, London, Amsterdam | The firm publishes role descriptions and openings, not a stage-by-stage guide. Exact sequences circulating online remain candidate reports. | Not confirmed by the linked firm source; check your invitation. | Official | Five Rings OA guide Official source | 29 Oct 2026 |
| IMC | Trading; quantitative research; engineering | US, Europe, APAC, India | US: application, assessment for some roles, then interviews. APAC campus guidance: OA, behavioral phone/Zoom, technical interview, final assessment day. | Officially used for some roles; content varies by stream and region. | Official | IMC OA guide Official source | 29 Oct 2026 |
| Jane Street | Quantitative trading; research; software engineering | US, UK, Europe, Asia | For trading, phone interviews come first, followed by in-person final interviews with varied question types. Other disciplines have separate guidance. | No universal trading OA described on the official process page. | Official | Jane Street trading guide Official source | 29 Oct 2026 |
| Optiver | Quantitative trading; research; software and FPGA | US, Europe, Australia | Regional FAQs describe application, online assessments, and role-specific interviews. Europe, Chicago, and Sydney publish separate guidance. | Official portal and regional guidance; sections vary by role and office. | Official | Optiver OA guide Official source | 29 Oct 2026 |
| SIG (Susquehanna) | Trading; quantitative strategy; research; engineering | US, UK, Ireland, Australia | Current quantitative strategy listings state a series covering coding, mathematics, system design, and behavioral interviews. Other roles publish different sequences. | Role-specific; listings name quantitative, finance, coding, or technical assessments. | Official | SIG OA guide Official source | 29 Oct 2026 |
How to read the evidence label
- Official
- The firm confirms the stage, topic, or sequence on a careers page, interview guide, FAQ, or current job listing.
What changes from firm to firm
Jane Street: the clearest trading guidance
Jane Street publishes phone interviews first, an in-person final stage, possible question types, and a recorded mock. It also says finance knowledge is not required. Read the full Jane Street guide.
IMC and Optiver: region matters
Both firms recruit globally, but their public pages are regional. IMC's APAC article gives a more detailed sequence than its US page. Optiver publishes separate Chicago, Europe, and Sydney FAQs. Never move a format from one office to another without labeling the region.
SIG: the job listing can be the best source
SIG's current listings show how sharply processes differ by job. A quantitative strategy listing names coding, mathematics, system design, and behavioral interviews; equity research and technical operations listings publish different sequences. Check the live role first.
Citadel Securities and Five Rings: do not fill silence with certainty
Citadel Securities publishes detailed candidate qualities, while Five Rings publishes useful role descriptions. Neither supports one universal campus sequence. Round counts and OA formats stay labeled as candidate reports unless a current invitation confirms them.
How to use this directory
- Match the row to your role and office. Trading, research, and engineering loops test different evidence.
- Open the official source. Check the current listing and regional FAQ before candidate reports.
- Read your invitation literally. Its timing, calculator, language, and proctoring rules outrank every guide.
- Train the common core. Probability, clear reasoning, and error recovery travel well when formats change.
- Record the date. When sharing an experience, include role, office, and cycle.
Common mistakes
- Treating a firm as one process. A London developer and a Chicago trader can have different assessments.
- Calling absence evidence. A firm not publishing an OA does not prove that no role uses one.
- Repeating a passing score. Firms do not publish stable universal cutoffs.
- Preparing for leaked questions. Formats rotate; the underlying skills do not.
Frequently asked questions
Do all quant firms use an online assessment?
No. IMC says some roles use an assessment, while Jane Street's public trading process begins with phone interviews and does not describe a universal OA. Firms also change assessments by role, office, and recruiting cycle. Your invitation is the source of truth.
Which quant firms publish their interview process?
Jane Street publishes detailed trading-interview guidance. IMC and Optiver publish regional recruiting pages. SIG sometimes publishes exact sequences on individual job listings. Citadel Securities publishes candidate qualities and role guidance. Five Rings publishes role descriptions but little stage-by-stage process information.
Are candidate interview reports reliable?
They are useful as dated observations, not policy. Give more weight to several independent reports that name the same role, office, and cycle. Discard claims that omit those details, and never treat a reported passing score or exact question list as official.
How often should a quant interview directory be updated?
At least once per recruiting cycle, and whenever a firm publishes a new FAQ, assessment portal, or role-specific process. Every row here carries a last-verified date so an old description is visible rather than silently presented as current.
Primary sources
- Jane Street, Trading Interviews — official, checked 29 October 2026.
- Citadel Securities, Candidate FAQs — official, checked 29 October 2026.
- IMC US, Recruitment Process and IMC APAC interview guide — official, checked 29 October 2026.
- Optiver Europe, Recruitment FAQ — official, checked 29 October 2026.
- SIG, Quantitative Strategy Developer Graduate: 2027 — official role listing, checked 29 October 2026.
- Five Rings, Positions — official, checked 29 October 2026.
Revision history: Directory launched 29 October 2026. Every row was checked against a firm-owned source. Entries will be revised when firms publish new regional FAQs or role-specific sequences.