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SIG Trader Interview Guide

Understand the qualifications and background you need to become a quantitative trader at SIG.

Introduction

Susquehanna International Group (SIG) offers an exciting, lucrative, and exhillerating path for quantitative traders. As a trader at SIG, you'll work closely with technologists and researchers to monitor complex algorithms and identify trading opportunities.

Within this guide, we will take you through SIG's values, work culture, and the career prospects of a quantitative trader. We'll also provide an overview of the key skills required, an in-depth look at SIG's interview process, and resources to help enhance your application.

Whether you're new to the industry or an experienced quant, we'll ensure you understand SIG's interview process, and that you are well-prepared to land your dream role as a quantitative trader at SIG. Enjoy!

Trading at SIG

Susquehanna International Group is a global quantitative trading firm which trades many listed financial products and asset classes, with a focus on derivatives. SIG was founded in 1987, by a group of college students with a mission to find profit in the intersections of trading, technology, and research.

Fast forward to 2025 - SIG boasts an impressive 3000 employees in over 17 locations, including Philadelphia Area, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Stamford, West Palm Beach, Dublin, London, Ra'anana, Sydney, Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo.

SIG values people who value reflection, growth, teamwork, and integrity. The firm places a heavy emphasis on good decision making, which is achieved through rigorous, analytical, and reflective approaches to problems. SIG also values perpetual curiousity and the challenging of ones own assumptions.

As a quantitative trader at SIG, you will certainly not be short of problems. In fact, as a trader, you will have to solve high-pressure problems on a daily basis. SIG understands this, and has resources and systems in place to ensure that you can make the most of your skills, while practicing a sustainable lifestyle.

Your Background

To become a quantitative trader at SIG, you must meet a select number of prerequisites. However, please note that this is a competitive position, and you will need to go above and beyond with your qualifications and experience to stand out in interviews.

SIG lists the following as mandatory to be considered for a trading role:

Are working toward a Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a similar technical major, with a distinction average WAM
Are in the penultimate or final year of your degree
General computer skills, with programming skills being a plus
Able to handle fast-paced environments, and thrive in a high-pressure setting

To learn and reinforce your programming & probability skills, learn by doing with our courses in Python Programming for Traders, and probability for quantitative finance.

To be more competitive within the interview process, consider these attributes and qualifications:

Experience in competitive and strategic environments to a high/professional standard (e.g. sports, chess, poker)
Success in quantitative and algorithmic trading competitions
Advanced quantitative, logical, and problem solving skills
Has effective communication skills, and thrives working in a group setting
A strong passion for technology

Please note that these are a few attributes that would be beneficial to improve your chances of landing a quantitative trading position. There are multiple other experiences/qualifications that will also be beneficial, but the qualities from these attributes are highly valued at quantitative trading firms.

If you are a poker player (even for fun), make sure to write this! SIG makes their interns and graduates learn poker theory. SIG also has many internationally successful poker players on their team!

Your Application

The trading application process at SWE can be quite tricky and convoluted for first-timers. Therefore, it is imperative to study the application process to get a competitive advantage (like you are doing now, go you!).

You will be asked to fill out a range of questions, including your degree, your GPA, your graduation date, your resume, and so on.

The main focus is on your resume, which will contain your:

Career objectives and overview
Area of study and academic performance
Experience and projects
Extracurricular/competitive achievements
Characteristics and interests

It is important you structure your resume correctly. We recommend a platform such as resume.io to assist you with building your resume.

Round 1: Online Assessment

Your application will be screened, and if your meet the prerequisites, you will be sent an online assessment link. You will have a week to submit this online assessment.

SIG's quantitative evaluation consists of 16 technical questions to answer in 20 minutes. These questions require knowledge in mathematics, probability, and statistics.

Question types that will appear on SIG's quantitative evaluation include:

Probability - simple probability, conditional probability (bayes theorem)
Arithmetic - rates of change, quick maths, large multiplications
Logic and Reasoning - logic prepositions
Optimisation - finding the largest area / optimal solutions for equations

To prepare for SIG's quantitative evaluation, you can use our accurate SIG online assessment tool. To stay competitive, we recommend you score at least 13/16 on this test.

Round 2: HR Interview

If you are invited to this round, then SIG has deemed your trading skills sufficient. Congrats!

In the first section of the HR Interview, you and a recruiter (who has technical experience) will scrutinize your resume, and understand why you would like to work at SIG.

In the second section, you will be asked to solve some relatively simple brainteasers.

Be prepared to come across the following types of questions:

1. General Questions

General questions regarding your motivations, values, personality, and work style allow the interviewer to further understand how you will integrate into the work environment.

You can see examples of general questions and how to answer them effectively in our common general questions list.

2. Background Questions

These questions dive into your previous work experience, projects, and education to get a better understanding of how you qualify for the role.

To see these types of questions, view common background questions.

3. Brainteasers

In your first technical interview, you may be asked a few brainteasers to assess your logic and reasoning skills. In this round, you will be presented with easier questions.

You can practice with our brainteasers, notably rankings, missing value, and game of truth. We categorise this level as somewhere between easy and medium, so make sure you prepare with these levels of questions before starting the interview.

4. Probability Questions

In addition to brainteasers, you may be asked some simple probability questions, so the researcher can get a good grasp of where you are conceptually in terms of probability.

You can practice these types of questions with our range of probability interview questions. Specifically, become familiar with 50 Coin Challenge, Exponential Wins, and Erasing Bias before beginning the interview.

Overall, your ability to switch between behavioural questions and technical questions is important here. Better yet, there shouldn't really be too much of a switch!

This interview section is very overlooked. Make sure you deeply understand the SIG's values and mission (as described above) before going into the interview.

Also, be authentic and confident yet humble, and prepare your experience and projects in a professional way.

Again, if you are a poker player, be sure to speak about this!

Round 3: Technical Interview

You have made it to the penultimate round of SIG's trading program. Good work!

This technical examination lasts 60-90 minutes, where you will be interviewed by an experienced quantitative trader at SIG. This interview relies on the application of logic and probability to solve difficult open-ended questions. This section is similar to the HR interview, except ramped up in difficulty.

You will encounter questions similar to those shown below:

Brainteasers

These questions are similar to the initial screening brainteasers, except ramped up in difficulty. To succeed, you will have to think above and beyond traditional solutions to get these questions right.

We recommend going through our hard brainteaser questions, notably shattering glass, poisoned entrees, and flickering bulbs.

Probability Questions

These are also similar to the second round probability interview questions, except much harder. You will have to use expected value, conditional probability, statistics and logic to provide creative solutions to open-ended probability problems.

We recommend going through our probability questions, notably tennis game, greedy dice, and die optimisation.

Final Round: Office Interview

If you've made it this far, then you should be proud of yourself! You just need to ace one more interview, and you will be a quantitative trader at SIG.

In this final round, you will be located at their specified office. SIG will pay for your flights, and accomodation for your stay. This round usually takes the entire day, and is broken up into four sections:

1. HR and quantitative trader Discussion

This is a conversational, casual interview to get a sense of your passions, qualifications, experience, how you would contribute to SIG's mission, and SIG's work environment. You will be interviewed by a recruiter, as well as an experienced quantitative trader.

In this conversation, demonstrate your passion and curiousity for proprietary trading, financial markets, and technology. Ask insightful questions, regarding quantitative finance in general and exclusive insights into SIG. And don't forget to just be yourself!

2. Project Deep Dive

In this interview, you will go over a technical project that you have worked on in detail. You will have to explain the reason you made it, what problem it solves, what libraries and algorithms you used, and a demonstration of the working product.

Make sure you know your projects inside out! Often when you finish a project, you may forget how you solved specific problems. Make sure you remember your entire codebase/project base.

3. Technical Interview

This is your final technical interview, so make it count!

In this interview, you will encounter difficult probability questions and brainteasers. This interview is similar to that of the previous technical interview.

To prepare, we suggest using our brainteasers and probability questions, and filtering for hard questions only.

Success and Beyond

If you have made it this far, then congratulations! You have been selected to be a quantitative trader at SIG. You should feel super proud of yourself!

However, despite coming so far to reach this point, it's certainly not the end of the struggle within your quantitative journey. If you are accepted into the internship program, you must stand out within your quantitative domain in order to recieve a graduate offer.

Stay humble throughout your first few weeks of SIG, stay dedicated on your journey for continuous learning, and keep an open mind throughout your quantitative career. But for now, celebrate, because you deserve it!

Closing Remarks

If you are feeling quite overwhelmed by the complexity and length of SIG's quantitative trading interview process, that is totally normal! By reading this, and understanding the interview process holistically, you have already gained a competitive advantage over most applicants.

To gain an even further advantage in the interview process, it is imperative that you start preparing early and stay consistent in your preparation. Many applicants fail to delegate adequate time for interview preparation, or overlook interview preparation in general, leading to their absolute demise in the interview process.

For competitive jobs, interviewing is a must-have skill. Please understand, trading at quantitative finance firm is super competitive, with only a select few that will fill in positions. To stand out, and maximise your chances of securing your dream position, you must prepare early.

Further, if you feel that you're not up for a trading position at SIG, the biggest mistake you can do is not apply! You miss all opportunities you do not take. And understand that all successful traders in ALL industries have imposter syndrome at several points within their career.

Overall, becoming a quantitative trader at SIG is a highly exhillerating and fulfilling career path, and with enough preparation and knowledge, you will be well-positioned to crack the interview process, and land the position.