The short answer: SIG (Susquehanna International Group) lists four stages for its graduate Quantitative Trader programme: an online assessment of quantitative and problem-solving skills, behavioural and technical phone interviews, and an office interview with a trader interview, a trade floor visit and an office tour, followed by an offer. SIG says it uses puzzles to simulate the trading environment, and game theory and decision science are central to how it trains traders. Candidate reports describe a 60-minute online test, a recruiter call and 1 to 2 technical calls with a senior trader, and a final day of expected value and market-making games, usually in Bala Cynwyd for US candidates. Last reviewed October 2026.
SIG Quantitative Trader at a Glance
Base Salary (US postings)
$300k/yr
Interview Rounds
4 to 5 rounds
Levels
Intern - Systematic (separate track)
SIG quantitative trader interview: quick answers
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| How many interview rounds? | SIG lists an online assessment, phone interviews (behavioural and technical) and an office interview. Candidate reports describe a recruiter call, 1 to 2 technical calls with a senior trader, and a final day of roughly one-hour rounds. |
| What do the rounds test? | SIG says the assessment tests quantitative and problem-solving skills, and that it uses puzzles to simulate the trading environment. Candidate reports describe probability, expected value, dice games, Markov chains and live market making. |
| Can I use AI tools? | SIG does not publish a rule on AI use in interviews; ask your recruiter. |
| How much does a SIG Quantitative Trader make? | SIG posts no US pay for the market-making Quantitative Trader track. Its New York Quantitative Systematic Trader postings (Master's and PhD, 2027) state $300,000 annual base. |
| How long does it take? | SIG does not publish a timeline. One candidate guide says 2 to 8 weeks, most often 2 to 4, with about a week between rounds. |
| Do I need a finance background? | No. SIG's London graduate posting says no finance background is needed. It asks for a problem solver who enjoys puzzles and communicates clearly. |
The SIG quantitative trader role
What SIG quantitative traders work on, the skills its job postings ask for, and what a week can look like. SIG posts the role as Quantitative Trader - Graduate: 2027 (London), Graduate Quantitative Trader: 2027 (Sydney) and Quantitative Trader Internship (US), with no US pay posted; Quantitative Systematic Trader is a separate track and the source of the US pay shown.
Primary Focus
What You Need
- Problem solving and an enjoyment of puzzles
- Clear communication
- Ambition
- Probability, statistics, optimization or modelling (systematic track)
- Python research code on large datasets (systematic track)
- Competitive drive shown through competitions or strategic games
Nice to Have
- C++ (a plus on the systematic track)
- Interest in strategic games or competitive activities
- Advanced quantitative degree (experienced systematic role)
- Python data work (experienced systematic role)
Languages
Tools & Technologies
Want to ace the interview?
Practice with real questions.
A Week in the Life of a Susquehanna International Group Quantitative Trader
Illustrative week · Susquehanna International Group
An illustrative week for a quantitative trader, built from what SIG says about the role in its own job postings and publications. Real weeks vary by team.
Culture notes
- Games are how SIG teaches. Traders play strategic games with senior traders, and poker teaches decision making under uncertainty.
- Biases are part of the curriculum: SIG covers confirmation bias, anchoring, availability bias and framing as they apply to pricing.
- The graduate programme aims to develop an autonomous decision maker who can build strategies, assess risk and allocate firm capital.
Key takeaway: Expect to make markets in options, stocks and ETFs on a specialized desk while classes, games and poker train your decision making.
SIG quantitative trader levels and pay
Your level sets the bar you are interviewed against and the pay band of the offer.
Susquehanna International Group Quantitative Trader Levels
Each level has different expectations, compensation, and interview focus.
What This Level Looks Like
About ten weeks in the US split between desks and education: options theory first, then mock trading in a real-time market.
Interview Focus at This Level
SIG's Discovery Programs give students an early introduction to the internship interview process.
Find your level
Practice with questions tailored to your target level.
SIG publishes no level ladder. Graduates join a trading desk and manage risk within the first few months while taking classes run by senior traders. SIG's US postings show pay only for the Quantitative Systematic Trader track.
Pay in SIG's US job postings
Both New York postings state "The annual base pay for this role is $300,000." They do not mention a bonus or equity.
| Posting | Location | US base salary range |
|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Systematic Trader – Master's: 2027 | New York, NY | $300K |
| Quantitative Systematic Trader – PhD: 2027 | New York, NY | $300K |
Both rows are for SIG's Quantitative Systematic Trader track, which builds automated strategies, and not the market-making Quantitative Trader track; no US posting for that track showed pay. The systematic trading internship pays weekly, so it is left out; the FAQ quotes it. Ranges seen October 29, 2026.
SIG quantitative trader interview process
The stage names follow SIG's own Sydney graduate trader posting. What happens inside each stage comes mostly from candidate reports, since SIG publishes only the stage names, its use of puzzles and the parts of the office interview.
4 to 5 rounds·~2 to 8 weeks end to end
Screen
2 roundsOnline assessment
SIG says it tests quantitative and problem-solving skills. Candidate reports call it a 17-question Problem Solving Assessment (some candidates get a shorter Quantitative Evaluation), with calculator, pen and paper allowed and answers entered as integers or fractions. They describe probability (including continuous), expected value, combinatorics, Bayesian reasoning, logic and some calculus, and say switching browser tabs can end the test.
Tips for this round
- Keep answers as exact integers or fractions, which candidate reports say the test expects.
- Review continuous probability, combinatorics and Bayes, the topics candidate reports list.
- Close other tabs first; candidate reports say switching tabs can end the test.
Phone interviews
SIG lists behavioural and technical phone interviews. Candidate reports say the recruiter call covers your resume and motivation (why trading, why SIG) with at least one probability or expected value question, and the trader calls cover probability, expected value, dice games, Markov chains and a resume deep dive.
Onsite
1 roundOffice interview
SIG lists a trader interview, a trade floor visit and an office tour. Candidate reports describe expected value games, market making where you quote a bid and ask on an uncertain value while the interviewer trades against you, a group auction or bidding game, a 30-minute HR conversation and sometimes a dinner.
Tips for this round
- Practice making a market while someone trades against you, and adjust after every trade.
- In auction or bidding games, think about what winning tells you about the other bids.
- Use the trade floor visit to ask traders about their desk.
Tips to Stand Out
- SIG says it uses puzzles to simulate the trading environment, so practice puzzles out loud as if you were pricing a trade.
- Study probability, odds and expectancy, which SIG says its traders learn through strategic games with senior traders.
- Watch for anchoring and framing when you make a market; SIG's decision-science material covers both.
- Candidate reports say the online test takes answers as integers or fractions, so keep answers exact.
- Candidate reports say switching browser tabs can end the online test, so close everything else first.
- Apply early. SIG says it hires for trading roles on a rolling basis.
Common Reasons Candidates Don't Pass
- ✗Candidate guides list no clear rejection reasons for SIG.
- ✗One candidate guide says decimal answers on the online test may be marked wrong when an exact answer is expected.
- ✗The same guide says switching browser tabs during the online test can end it.
Based on SIG's own pages and candidate reports.
SIG does not publish a timeline. One candidate guide says the process takes 2 to 8 weeks, most often 2 to 4, with about a week between rounds, and that strong candidates may skip straight to the final stage. Last reviewed October 2026.
What is different at SIG
- Current SIG postings use the title Quantitative Trader: Quantitative Trader - Graduate: 2027 in London, Graduate Quantitative Trader: 2027 in Sydney and Quantitative Trader Internship in the US. Older third-party profiles call the entry programme Assistant Trader, a name not found on current SIG pages. Quantitative Systematic Trader is a hybrid of trader and researcher focused on automated strategies, and Derivatives Sales Trader is a client-facing role.
- Games run through the job. SIG says traders learn probability, odds and expectancy by regularly playing strategic games with senior traders, and it uses poker to teach decision making under uncertainty. Graduate traders get weekly poker classes, strategy board games and proprietary trading games.
- SIG's decision-science material covers confirmation bias, anchoring, availability bias and framing as they apply to pricing. Expect an interviewer to test whether your market moves for a good reason.
- The focus is derivatives. SIG trades essentially all listed products through market making and market taking, with highly specialized desks, and its traders post buy and sell prices on options, stocks and ETFs.
- Reports disagree on poker in the interview. Some candidate guides say trader candidates play poker during or after the final day; others say live poker belongs to SIG training, not the interview. An old report from 2007 describes a poker event for business and technology candidates, not traders.
- SIG does not publish a rule on AI use in interviews; ask your recruiter. Candidate reports say switching browser tabs during the online test can end it.
SIG quantitative trader interview questions
Questions from our bank, then practice prompts we wrote for this guide around SIG's work.
Questions from our bank
From the DataInterview question bank: questions tagged to SIG first, then questions that fit quantitative trader interviews. Open one to answer it.
Dice Sum Expectation
Uniform Value Bidding in First-Price Auction
House Selling With Expiring Offers
Two-Card Poker Bluffing with Binary Signals
One King Queen Jack
Average Party Group Size
Perfect Correlation Two
Beer Barrel Puzzle
Causes of Volatility Smile
Trinomial Call Pricing
Probability practice
Prompts we wrote for this guide around SIG's work. They are not reported interview questions. Each answer is an outline or a worked solution.
Draw two independent numbers uniformly from 0 to 1. What is the expected value of the larger one?
Sample Answer
The chance the maximum is below x is x^2, so its density is 2x. The expected value is the integral of x times 2x from 0 to 1, which is 2/3. A check: the minimum has expected value 1/3 by symmetry, and the two must add up to 1, the expected sum of two uniforms.
Roll a die and take the face value in dollars, or reroll once and take the second roll. What is the game worth with the best strategy?
Flip a fair coin until you see heads then tails (HT). How many flips do you expect? What about two heads (HH)?
1 percent of trades are booking errors. A check flags 90 percent of errors and 5 percent of good trades. A trade is flagged. What is the chance it is an error?
Mental math and estimation practice
Prompts we wrote for this guide around SIG's work. They are not reported interview questions. Each answer is an outline or a worked solution.
Add 3/8 and 5/12 and simplify. Roughly what is it as a decimal?
Sample Answer
The common denominator is 24: 9/24 + 10/24 = 19/24. That is a little under 0.8, since 19/24 = 1 - 5/24 and 5/24 is about 0.21, so about 0.79. Candidate reports say SIG's online test takes answers as fractions, so keep 19/24 as the answer.
What is 1/7 as a decimal, and what is 5/7?
You sell 20 put contracts at $1.35 and buy them back at $0.95. Each contract covers 100 shares. What is your P&L?
In Texas hold'em you get two cards. What is the chance they are a pocket pair?
Market making practice
Prompts we wrote for this guide around SIG's work. They are not reported interview questions. Each answer is an outline or a worked solution.
Make a two-sided market on the number of US states whose names begin with M.
Sample Answer
If you are unsure, quote wide around your best guess, for example 5 at 9, and say why. Start listing them: Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri and Montana make 8. As you recall more, tighten the market around your updated estimate. The interviewer watches how your quote moves as your information changes.
Before asking for your market, the interviewer says "most people guess about 50." How do you keep that from moving your price?
Make a market on a call option on the sum of two dice with a strike of 8: it pays the sum minus 8 if positive, otherwise 0.
Four players each see one die. The prize is worth the sum of all four dice, and the highest sealed bid wins and pays its bid. You see a 3. How do you think about your bid?
Behavioral practice
Prompts we wrote for this guide around SIG's work. They are not reported interview questions. Each answer is an outline or a worked solution.
Tell me about a good decision that had a bad outcome.
Sample Answer
SIG uses poker to teach decision making under uncertainty. Separate the decision from the result: what you knew, the odds as you saw them, why the choice was right then, and what, if anything, you would change.
What game do you play seriously, and what has it taught you about odds?
Explain a puzzle you enjoyed to someone with no math background.
Why SIG, and why options market making?
Practice problem: value a dice stopping game exactly
pythonYou roll a fair die with faces 1 to sides. After each roll you either stop and take the face value, or pay cost to roll again, up to rolls rolls in total; you must keep the last roll. Return the value of the game under the best strategy as an exact Fraction, and the list of thresholds for each roll except the last: the smallest face at which stopping is at least as good as rolling on (never below 1). Raise ValueError if sides or rolls is below 1. Example: stop_game(6, 2) returns (Fraction(17, 4), [4]), because a reroll is worth 3.5, so you keep 4, 5 or 6.
1from fractions import Fraction
2from typing import List, Tuple
3
4def stop_game(sides: int, rolls: int, cost: Fraction = Fraction(0)) -> Tuple[Fraction, List[int]]:
5 """Return (value, thresholds) for the optimal stopping strategy."""
6 pass700+ coding problems with a live code executor.
Practice in the EngineHow to prepare
A plan for the SIG loop, most important first:
- Drill probability and expected value with exact fractions: dice games, combinatorics, Bayes and continuous probability, the topics candidate reports list for the online test.
- Practice Markov chain and stopping questions out loud, since candidate reports describe them in the trader phone calls.
- Practice making markets while a partner trades against you, and practice auction and bidding games with several players.
- Read SIG's game theory and decision science pages, and learn to spot anchoring and framing in your own quotes.
- Learn options basics and payoffs, since SIG focuses on derivatives and its training starts with options theory.
- Prepare clear answers on why trading and why SIG, and a story about a decision you made under uncertainty.
Practice path
Courses that cover the rounds above:
Are you ready for the SIG quantitative trader interview?
1 / 6Can you solve expected value and conditional probability questions out loud, without paper, in a few minutes?
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a SIG Quantitative Trader make?
SIG posted no US pay for the market-making Quantitative Trader track when we checked: its US internship postings had closed and its Bala Cynwyd postings carry no pay. Its New York Quantitative Systematic Trader postings for Master's and PhD graduates (2027) state "The annual base pay for this role is $300,000." That track builds automated strategies and is a hybrid of trader and researcher.
What does a SIG trading internship pay?
No pay was found for the Quantitative Trader Internship. SIG's Quantitative Systematic Trading Internship – Master's: Summer 2027 posting (New York, also the Philadelphia area) states "$8600 weekly base salary during the ten-week program," plus a signing bonus, housing and meals. It is a weekly figure for the systematic trading internship, so it is not in the pay table.
Can I use AI tools in a SIG interview?
SIG does not publish a rule on AI use in interviews; ask your recruiter. Candidate reports say switching browser tabs during the online test can end it.
Do SIG interviews include poker?
Reports disagree. Some candidate guides say trader candidates play poker during or after the final day, and others say live poker is part of SIG training rather than the interview. SIG itself says it uses poker to teach decision making under uncertainty and gives graduate traders weekly poker classes.
Where do SIG traders work, and is the job on-site?
SIG postings are tagged on-site, and the graduate programme combines desk time and classroom education in the office. SIG lists Bala Cynwyd (Philadelphia area), New York, Dublin, London and Sydney.
What are the entry paths into trading at SIG?
The US Quantitative Trader Internship runs about ten weeks, split between desks and education. The invitation-only Discovery Program in New York, for students graduating winter 2028 or spring 2029, closes applications on November 16, 2026 and leads to Summer 2028 internships. SIG also runs a full-time graduate trading programme, with a June 2027 start in London.
How is a SIG quant trader different from a Quantitative Systematic Trader?
Quantitative Traders make markets by posting buy and sell prices on options, stocks and ETFs and work with research analysts, quants and technologists on algorithms. Quantitative Systematic Traders build and refine fully automated strategies and monitor live performance, spend more time near live markets than quant researchers, and are automatically considered for Quantitative Researcher.
