Graduate Quantitative Researcher applicants have rated the interview process at Optiver with 3.6 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 36% positive. To compare, the company-average is 49.1% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Graduate Quantitative Researcher roles take an average of 20 days to get hired, when considering 11 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Optiver overall takes an average of 20 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Optiver as a Graduate Quantitative Researcher according to 11 Glassdoor interviews include:
Skills test: 21%
Phone interview: 21%
Personality test: 21%
IQ intelligence test: 14%
One on one interview: 14%
Background check: 7%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
First, an SHL verify test. Then a python programming assessment. Was a simple one, involving parsing some logs. Then I had a behavioral round which I thought went well. But I got rejected.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Name 3 qualities of a quant researcher. Tell me about yourself. Why quant researcher?
Passed Multiple Rounds.
First was a long OA with coding and maths questions.
Then HR
Then technical interview with a quant researcher.
Then a data challenge then i had to present the results of my data challenge.
Failed at this round
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Markov and coin tosses questions.
Probability that a table with 3 legs places randomly on a circle doesn't fall.
Questions about what would happens if features were correleated, why this model not another one, why this hyperparameter. difference ridge vs lasso. difference supervised vs unsupervised
2:30 hr OA contains coding probability game and quick math. Then a market making game round. Need to be quick. Then will be another market making game round. Both asking questions to make market.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Optiver (Amsterdam) in Nov 2025
Interview
OA, HR interveiw, Technical Interview, Take home assignment, Final round interviws (one HR one tech discussing take home). OA can be practised on various websites online. HR screen focussed on team work a lot. Technical was not too difficult, I may have just lucked out with the questions. Final round discussed ML techniques and their assumptions