Optiver's Interview Process (2026)

Blog / Optiver's Interview Process (2026)

Optiver's software engineer interview process is known for its emphasis on low-level engineering, clean implementation, and quantitative reasoning. Most candidates go through four to five stages, typically completing the full process within two to four weeks.

Online Assessment (OA): Usually the first filter, this is a multi-part assessment that typically runs around three to four hours and covers coding, CS fundamentals, and a cognitive aptitude section.
Recruiter / HR Screen: A short call, usually around twenty to twenty-five minutes, focused on your resume, motivations, and why you want to work at Optiver specifically.
Technical Phone Screen(s): Usually one or two rounds via Zoom or CoderPad, each around forty-five to sixty minutes, covering a deep dive into a past project and live coding exercises.
Onsite / Superday: The final stage, often a half-day of back-to-back interviews covering behavioral questions, CS theory, low-level system design, and engineering judgment. This can be held in-person in Amsterdam, Chicago, or Sydney, or virtually.

To make the most of your prep time, focus on these core areas that Optiver consistently tests across its interview stages:

Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA): Implementation-focused coding tasks, typically at medium difficulty, with a premium on clean, bug-free solutions.
Low-Level Design (LLD): Object-oriented design tasks requiring you to build small, functional systems with careful attention to edge cases and code quality.
System Design: Low-latency, high-reliability system design problems, often involving back-of-the-envelope performance calculations.
CS Fundamentals: Theory questions on memory management, concurrency, OS internals, and networking, often tested without any coding.
Behavioral: Questions on teamwork, handling pressure, and defending technical decisions, with a strong focus on your specific motivations for joining Optiver.

1. Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)Optiver's coding questions tend to sit at medium difficulty and prioritize correct, clean implementation over algorithmic tricks. A working solution with messy or incomplete code is often marked down, so accuracy and edge-case handling matter as much as getting to the right answer.The most common topics include arrays, hash maps, heaps, and queues. Practice problems like Design Circular Queue and Koko Eating Bananas are good representations of the style and difficulty level you should expect.For broader DSA prep, work through our top 100 DSA questions to cover the most frequently tested patterns. Paying particular attention to heaps and queues will serve you well given how often Optiver tests these data structures in both the OA and technical screens.

2. Low-Level Design (LLD)The OA coding section and technical screens both heavily test object-oriented design. You will often be asked to build a small, self-contained system from scratch, such as an Order Management System, a Task Scheduler, or a Register System.Interviewers are evaluating whether your code is well-structured and maintainable, not just functional. Think carefully about class responsibilities, encapsulation, and how your design handles edge cases before you start writing.Good practice problems include Order Book - Matching Engine and Design A Leaderboard. For structured practice across a range of OOD scenarios, explore Low-Level Design practice.

3. System DesignOptiver's system design questions are not the typical "design Twitter" style. Expect prompts tied to financial infrastructure, such as designing a market data feed, an order allocation system, or a leaderboard with strict performance constraints.Back-of-the-envelope math is a real part of these discussions. You should be comfortable estimating latency, throughput, and memory requirements on the fly, then defending those numbers when pushed.Problems like Exchange Feed Optimization (Delta Updates) and Fund Allocation & Daily Rebalancing reflect the kind of domain-specific thinking required. For additional practice, work through our High-Level Design case studies and use the System Design Whiteboard to practice drawing out architectures under time pressure.

4. CS FundamentalsThe onsite typically includes a dedicated no-coding round focused purely on CS theory. Topics regularly cited include concurrency primitives, memory models, cache locality, and the networking stack, particularly the tradeoffs between TCP and UDP in a trading context.The OA also includes a shorter multiple-choice fundamentals section covering OS internals and networking. Brushing up on operating systems concepts and networking fundamentals before your interviews will pay dividends across multiple stages.Candidates also report questions on how data is laid out in memory and how cache behavior affects real-world performance. These are not abstract puzzles but practical questions about how you would design systems that actually run fast.

5. BehavioralBehavioral questions at Optiver are less about general teamwork stories and more about how you handle technical disagreements, tight deadlines, and adversarial feedback on your own design decisions. Expect interviewers to push back on your answers and see how you respond under pressure.The "Why Optiver?" question is treated seriously here. Generic answers about wanting to work in finance or being interested in trading are common reasons for rejection at the recruiter screen. You need to articulate a genuine interest in building the high-performance infrastructure that enables market-making, not in trading itself.Structure your answers using the STAR principle to keep them focused and specific. For broader prep, the Behavioral Interview Course and Behavioral Playbook will help you build a strong bank of stories before your interviews.

ConclusionOptiver rewards candidates who combine clean engineering fundamentals with genuine curiosity about low-latency systems. If you prioritize implementation quality, study CS theory alongside your coding practice, and prepare a specific answer for why you want to build trading infrastructure, you will stand out. For a structured, stage-by-stage preparation plan, follow the Optiver Interview Roadmap to work through every area efficiently.

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