Quantitative Risk Management Interview Questions
& Process

I sent my resume and cover letter in, and heard back from HR about a week later about having a casual lunch with someone in the role I applied for. We met up for lunch and they asked about my background, skills, and interest in the company. They invited me back a couple of weeks later for an in-person interview, where I had 4 1-on-1s. A few weeks after that, I met two more people who were out of town during the first interview. It's been a few weeks since then and I haven't heard back, so I'm not expecting an offer. They seem to be looking for someone entrepreneurial, a self-starter, and someone they can get along with.

It was a really organized in-person interview. First, they reviewed the code I wrote for a given problem. The reviewer really dug into parts of the code where they thought I didn't fully grasp the technical details, focusing on very minor things. This was to gauge how I react to criticism and how quickly I can learn. Next, I met with the company owners who were just there to give their final approval on new hires, and they didn't know much about me or the role. I had a question ready for them about the topic, which got them talking and sharing ideas. Then, I had an interview with two developers who would be my colleagues, to see if we'd get along. After that, two project managers asked me to present my design at a high level, to check if I could step back from the details and discuss it from a business perspective. Finally, I interviewed with the architect. This was the opposite of the code review. Instead of focusing on what I didn't know, they asked about my strongest language and we went deep on that, even though it wasn't the primary language for the job. I felt good after the interviews, but didn't get the offer because I had expressed interest in roles beyond the one I applied for, which I also communicated during the process. My advice for others is: they aren't looking to help you grow your career. They want to hire you for a specific job and keep you there as long as possible. So, if you're applying for something like a receptionist, emphasize that answering phones is your passion and you can't imagine doing anything more fulfilling.

Someone from the company introduced me to the role, and then I had 3 interviews. The first interview was with VPs and manager-level people, where we had a lot of behavioral questions and casual chats. The second interview was with the team I'd be working with, and they asked a lot about fixed income knowledge, derivative pricing, and my programming experience, mainly about databases and basic programming concepts. The third interview was with the Executive VP and a technology manager.

The interview process took too long. I had to make 3 distinct trips to the company (they didn't pay for any of them). In total I was interview by over 8 different people. Interviewers were very kind and nice people but I think some of my interviews were entirely redundant. Basically repeated the same thing. After the final interview, they asked for my SAT exam result, which I never took.