Cerberus Capital Management Interview Questions
& Process

So it was a 5-step process, all with people, no automated stuff. It got harder as we went along. First few were about my CV, experience, and general interest. Then there was this case study where I had a week to get ready and write up an investment memo, and then they picked it apart and asked tons of questions on it in the final interview.

The whole thing took 5 weeks, with 2 weeks for interviews and 3 weeks for feedback from the CIO, David. The first round was a 1-hour technical deep dive with front-end coding. Round 2 involved building a project to simulate a capital market UI with React and a Java backend, which was an onsite session in their NYC office lasting 3 hours. I had already spent about 12 hours working on a similar project scenario they shared before the onsite. Round 3 was a 1-hour review of the project I did for round 2. These were the rounds initially communicated. Then they added two more rounds with the Director of Development and the CIO, and I was kind of pushed to schedule them that same week. The CIO confirmed his 1-hour round immediately, and the director confirmed a day later. After round 3, they said they were moving forward and, because it's a lead role, they wanted the CIO's and director's opinions. Round 4 was with the CIO for 1 hour, a deep dive into business, culture, and my accomplishments; I talked pretty much non-stop for 59.58 minutes. Round 5 was with the director for about 45 minutes, touching on my DB skills, general experience, and technical assessments. I got positive feedback from the director the next day, and they mentioned they were mostly waiting for the CIO's approval. They then kept me waiting for three weeks, making sure I didn't have other offers, which felt like a test. The CIO, who had immediate availability for his round, couldn't give feedback for three weeks. Honestly, I don't mind if they don't hire or offer me, just be upfront about evaluating other candidates instead of giving false hope. Also, have candidates go through the CIO round first, as it seems he doesn't always accept candidates the team recommends. A candidate's time is valuable. My advice to other candidates: don't get fooled, they aren't always honest. Total interview time was about 7 hours, including remote and onsite, plus no less than 12 hours for the home project.

Started with a 1st round interview with the MD for a general vibe check. Then, there was a second round technical interview with another associate on our team. They seemed really knowledgeable and asked role-specific questions. It was a pretty standard technical interview, but they threw in some curveball questions that might be unique to Cerberus.

It was a standard technical interview. They asked questions on maths, statistics, and probability, as well as programming questions covering C, C++, Python, SQL, and Excel. Some questions were quite hard if you weren't familiar with them beforehand. They also asked straightforward questions related to my resume, specifically my internships and coursework. It seemed like they were looking for someone with strong programming abilities alongside some finance and math knowledge. The people were friendly and the work environment felt good. The entire interview process went on for over two hours.