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Jane Street trader interview guide

How Jane Street interviews traders: phone interviews, then an in-person final round that may cover probability, problem solving, coding and data analysis.

Updated 9 October 202613 sources8 min read
FormatPhone, then in personPhone interviews first, in-person final stage
InterviewersQuantitative tradersThey run all of your interviews
Finance knowledgeNot testedNo complicated maths required either
CodingAny languageOne possible final-round topic
Practise the Jane Street interview with TobyRehearse probability and market-making questions out loud, explaining your reasoning as you go, and get a scored debrief. Your first 5 minutes are free.
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About Jane Street

Jane Street describes itself as "a global liquidity provider and trading firm that uses sophisticated quantitative analysis". It was founded in 2000. It says its global presence allows it "to trade continuously on more than 200 electronic exchanges and other venues", and it names trading floors in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Amsterdam.1

The firm calls its London office, in Devonshire Square, "The centre of our European business". It says the office "provides a handy time-zone bridge between our American and Asian operations".2

Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the results who asked not to be named discussing confidential figures, that Jane Street Group made a Wall Street record $39.6 billion of trading revenue in 2025, including $15.5 billion in the final quarter. Bloomberg said that beat JPMorgan Chase by 11% "With only 3,500 employees".3

The interview process

As Jane Street's Trading Interviews page describes it. This is the firm-wide trading process, not a London-specific one, and the page gives no number of rounds or durations.4

  1. Application

    Jane Street says that when you apply for any role, your application is "reviewed by an actual human". It says "We respond to every application we receive, ideally within a week or so."4 Its Interviewing page, which covers all roles, says "After applying to Jane Street, you can expect to hear from a recruiter in just a few days." It also says "We don't have a GPA or degree requirement".5

  2. Phone interviewsAt the start

    Jane Street says its process "consists of phone interviews at the start". It also says "All of your interviews will be conducted by quantitative traders asking questions that test a variety of foundational skills that are important for being a successful trader at Jane Street."4

  3. In-person final roundFinal stage

    The final stage is in-person interviews. Jane Street says the final round "will consist of a variety of types of questions", which may include problem solving, probability and statistics, coding (in any language of your choice), data analysis and general interests.4

On its Interviewing page, Jane Street says "It's not uncommon for candidates to be considered for more than one team over the course of their interview process." It says "We can often work with you to expedite your interview process". On visas, it says "Check with your recruiter if you're not sure whether we'll sponsor for the position you're considering."5

What Jane Street looks for

On its Trading Interviews page, Jane Street says the interview "will feel a lot more like a conversation than a quiz" and won't require previous knowledge of finance or involve any complicated maths.4

  • Curious, organised and open-minded. Jane Street says successful candidates have these traits.4
  • Thoughtful and collaborative. "They approach interview questions thoughtfully and collaboratively."4
  • Numbers and logic. "Most are comfortable working with numbers and logic."4
  • Humble and open to feedback. "Maybe most importantly, the candidates we ultimately hire are humble, pleasant to work with, and open to feedback."4

The Interviewing page says, for Quantitative Trading: "We're looking for strong quantitative minds and collaborative team players to work in Quantitative Trading." It adds: "We won't test you on knowledge of finance or economics." It also says "We believe that asking great questions is more important than knowing all the answers."5

Two London listings add detail for those roles. The London Quantitative Trader listing, in the Trading, Research, and Machine Learning department, says "quantitative traders identify market signals, analyse and execute strategies". It asks for "A critical thinker with a strong quantitative mind", someone "Eager to ask questions, admit mistakes, and learn new things", and fluency in English.6 The London Quantitative Trader Internship listing asks for "A strong quantitative thinker (no specific degree or major is required)", "A clear and effective verbal and written communicator" and "Someone who enjoys working collaboratively on a team". It says "General programming experience is a plus, but knowing a particular programming language is not required."7

Jane Street's Probability & Markets guide says "The interview is meant to be a collaboration between you and your interviewer". It also says "We care about how you think about and approach tough problems, which includes how you take hints and respond to being wrong."8

Questions to expect

Based on what Jane Street says each stage tests. The cited questions are Jane Street's own practice examples; the rest are written from the final-round topics it lists.

Probability (Jane Street's practice questions)

What's the probability that when we roll 2 d6s and add up the results, we get 7?8

Suppose you flip a coin until you see heads. How many flips do you expect to need?8

Making markets (Jane Street's practice contracts)

Make a market on this contract: "The outcome of a 20-sided die roll (d20)."8

Make a market on this contract: "The maximum of 3 d6 rolls."8

Make a market on this contract: "In what year was Mark Twain born?"9

Final round: problem solving, coding and data analysis

How did you reach that answer, and what changes if we alter one of the rules?

Write a short program, in a language you choose, to simulate a dice game and estimate its average payout.

Here is a small dataset. What patterns do you see, and how sure are you that they're real?

Final round: general interests

What have you been learning about outside your studies or work, and what drew you to it?

Which puzzle, game or book have you enjoyed recently, and why?

How to prepare

  1. Work through Probability & Markets. The London Quantitative Trader listing says "Many of the core concepts you may encounter in our interviews are covered in this pdf", linking to the guide.6 It covers randomness, counting, probabilities, independence, random variables, expected value, confidence intervals, conditional probability, making markets, adverse selection, problem-solving tools and interview thoughts.8
  2. Learn the language of market making. Jane Street's "Language of Market Making" audio introduces the key terms. It says "Trading happens quickly; it's important to be comfortable with the established vocabulary."9
  3. Watch the mock interview. The Trading Interviews page includes a video in which Jane Street traders work through a sample question asked in 3 parts, followed by a recap.4
  4. Follow Jane Street's own tips. They are: "Approach the problem methodically." "Communicate clearly." "Correct your mistakes." "Ask why."4 Practise saying each step of your reasoning out loud.
  5. Explain how you got there. The guide says "simply getting the right answer isn't enough". It adds: "Your interviewer will likely want you to explain how you got to your answer and possibly ask follow-up questions."8
  6. Look for the simple route. The guide says Jane Street tries "to ask creative problems that you can reason through with minimal outside knowledge" and that "we often prefer the simple, intuitive answer to the one that involves a bunch of esoteric theorems".8
  7. Take your time. The guide says it's "totally fine" to say you're not sure about your answer. It would much rather you take your time and reach a better answer than say the first thing that comes to mind, unless specifically asked.8
  8. Keep your arithmetic tidy. The guide says "Numeracy certainly helps in our interviews", but that Jane Street is "not going to judge you harshly for not being able to mentally multiply double-digit numbers in 5 seconds".8
  9. Pick a coding language you're fluent in. Coding in the final round can be "in any language of your choice".4

Worth mentioning in the interview

  • Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Jane Street had a record first quarter of 2026: $16.1 billion of trading revenue, more than double its first-quarter 2025 figure, and net income of $10.3 billion.10
  • Bloomberg reported on 28 April 2026 that Jane Street had made an offer to lease about 450,000 square feet at 10 Bishops Square in London, nearly doubling its London footprint. At the time, Bloomberg reported one of the people as saying "The lease is not yet signed and there is no certainty a deal will be concluded."11
  • eFinancialCareers reported that Jane Street had "eight data-centre related vacancies, spread across London, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong and Mumbai". It also reported that the firm "invested $1bn in CoreWeave and spent another $6bn to access" CoreWeave's AI cloud platform.12
  • Bloomberg reported, citing one person familiar with the matter, that Jane Street lost roughly $15 billion in July 2026, "its first monthly slump in about a decade". It said this was partly because of the firm's investment in AI-focused hedge fund Situational Awareness and losing bets in Asian equity markets.13

Quick answers

How many interview stages does Jane Street have for traders?

Jane Street's Trading Interviews page gives no number of rounds. It says the process consists of phone interviews at the start, then in-person interviews for the final stage.4

Do you need to know finance for a Jane Street trading interview?

No. Jane Street says the trading interview won't require previous knowledge of finance or involve any complicated maths.4 Its Interviewing page says "We won't test you on knowledge of finance or economics."5

What is in the Jane Street trading final round?

Jane Street says the final round may include problem solving, probability and statistics, coding in any language of your choice, data analysis and general interests.4

Does Jane Street need a degree for trading roles?

Jane Street's Interviewing page says "We don't have a GPA or degree requirement".5

Can you reapply to Jane Street after a rejection?

Jane Street says it thinks it takes about a year to build up new information you'll want to share, and that it has several success stories of people hired their second or even third time around.5

Sources

  1. Overview :: Jane StreetJane Street
  2. Our Offices :: Jane StreetJane Street
  3. Jane Street Snatches Wall Street Crown With Record $39.6 Billion Trading HaulBloomberg · 24 Apr 2026
  4. Trading Interviews :: Jane StreetJane Street
  5. Interviewing :: Jane StreetJane Street
  6. Quantitative Trader, London :: Jane StreetJane Street Careers
  7. Quantitative Trader Internship, London :: Jane StreetJane Street Careers
  8. Probability & MarketsJane Street
  9. Language of Market Making :: Jane StreetJane Street
  10. Jane Street Pulls In Record $16.1 Billion Quarterly Trading HaulBloomberg · 8 May 2026
  11. Jane Street Set to Double Footprint in London Office MoveBloomberg · 28 Apr 2026
  12. Jane Street also wants people with strong arms who can climb ladderseFinancialCareers · 30 Apr 2026
  13. Jane Street Lost $15 Billion in Its First Down Month in a DecadeBloomberg · 14 Aug 2026

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