Susquehanna 2027 Quantitative Research Online Test/Video Interview

The SIG (Susquehanna) interview process: the online assessment and HackerRank test, the quant research data exercise, Superday, poker round and real questions with answers.

Susquehanna International Group, almost universally called SIG, is one of the most distinctive interview processes in trading. The firm built its reputation on probabilistic thinking - their internal training programme famously uses poker as a teaching tool for game theory and decision-making under uncertainty - and the interview reflects that culture exactly. You will be asked questions where the correct answer matters less than how you reason about expected value, edge, and information.

Stage 1: The Online Assessment

Once your CV passes the initial screen you will be sent a timed online assessment. For trader and research roles this is the SIG quant test, which runs 60 to 75 minutes and contains roughly 30 to 50 questions across:

Mental arithmetic under time pressure (multiplication, division, percentage and compound calculations without a calculator)

Probability and expected value problems

Pattern recognition and sequences

Short estimation questions

Pass rates at this stage are not published but are widely understood to be in the 20 to 30% range. Speed is the deciding factor for most candidates - if you can do the maths but not within the time limit, you fail.

For software developer and quant developer roles the OA is closer to a HackerRank-style coding challenge, typically two algorithmic problems in 90 minutes.

The SIG HackerRank Test

Candidates report that SIG hosts both its coding test and some trader assessments on HackerRank. For developers, expect medium-difficulty problems on arrays, hash maps, heaps and simulation, graded on hidden test cases - so edge cases and complexity matter as much as a working answer. For trader roles hosted on the same platform, the questions are timed arithmetic, probability and sequence problems rather than code.

The SIG Data Exercise (Quant Research)

Some quantitative research candidates receive a take-home data exercise instead of, or after, the timed test. Candidates describe a dataset of market-style or synthetic features, a prediction target, and a request to explore the data, build a model and write up the findings. What gets marked is judgment: sensible cleaning, honest out-of-sample validation, a clear explanation of what you would try next, and no overfitting. A simple, well-validated model with a clear write-up beats a complex one you cannot defend.

Stage 2: First-Round Interviews

A 30 to 45 minute interview, usually conducted virtually, with one or two SIG team members. Trader and research candidates can expect a mix of probability brain teasers, expected-value problems and a short market-intuition discussion. Software candidates will face live coding in a shared editor along with one or two short systems questions.

You will hear back within a week. Strong candidates are sometimes advanced directly to the Super Day after a single first round.

Stage 3: The Super Day

This is where SIG genuinely diverges from other firms. The Super Day is a full day of interviews held at one of SIG's offices (London, Bala Cynwyd, Dublin, Hong Kong, Sydney). It typically includes:

4 to 6 back-to-back interviews of 30 to 45 minutes each

A group game session - usually a card game, dice game or trading exercise - where you are observed for how you reason about probability and information in real time

Lunch with traders, which is part of the assessment even though it does not feel like it

Each interview slot focuses on a different dimension: probability, mental maths, market intuition, behavioural fit, and (for some roles) coding.

Stage 4: The Poker Round (Trading Roles)

Almost all SIG trader candidates do at least one round that involves poker. This sometimes happens on the Super Day, sometimes as a separate evening event. You are not expected to be a card-counter - SIG is testing whether you can reason about expected value, position sizing and information asymmetry under social pressure.

If you have never played poker, you do not need to learn at a tournament level. You do need to understand pot odds, expected value, Bayesian updating, and how to think about variance versus edge.

Offers usually arrive 1 to 2 weeks after the Super Day. SIG is competitive on compensation - graduate quantitative traders typically receive a first-year package between $200,000 and $300,000 in the US, with comparable euro-denominated packages in Dublin and London.