Optiver Software Engineer interviews typically run 4–5 rounds: a 3–4 hour online assessment, recruiter behavioral screen, technical coding interviews, and a system design round. The process spans 2–4 weeks and is distinguished by OA mixing OOP coding, CS fundamentals, and logic-based reasoning games.
$120K
Avg. Base Comp
$350K
Avg. Total Comp
4-6
Typical Rounds
2-4 weeks
Process Length
We've seen a consistent pattern across Optiver software engineering candidates: the online assessment is the real gate, and most people underestimate it. It's not a two-problem LeetCode screen — multiple candidates describe a three-part structure combining OOP-heavy coding, a timed CS fundamentals multiple-choice section covering networking, concurrency, memory, and data structures, and game-based reasoning tasks that test reaction speed and pattern recognition. The whole thing routinely runs three to four hours. Candidates who treat it like a standard coding filter tend to get caught off guard by the breadth, and several who felt confident in their coding ability still didn't clear it.
What's non-obvious here is how much design thinking and systems reasoning matter relative to pure algorithmic difficulty. We've seen candidates report problems like building a register system, implementing a scheduler in Java or C++, designing a queue with a circular buffer, and writing methods around a priority heap — none of which are typical LeetCode fare. The live coding rounds also tend to feature long, descriptive prompts that can be reduced to a few lines once you understand the ask, but candidates who don't clarify early lose time fast. A recurring theme is that interviewers actively probe performance tradeoffs and scalability constraints — questions like "what happens if the data is 100x larger?" or challenges around race conditions and concurrency correctness come up repeatedly across different rounds and levels. Optiver's own guidance emphasizes thinking process and OOP language fluency, and that tracks exactly with what candidates report experiencing.
The behavioral component is more substantive than candidates expect. Multiple candidates note being grilled on specific projects, asked to explain work in nontechnical terms, and pressed on why Optiver specifically — one candidate didn't advance past the behavioral round despite feeling the conversation went well. Optiver is clearly filtering for people who understand what the role actually involves, not just people who can code cleanly under pressure.
Synthesized from 14 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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Featured question at Optiver
Given a list of integers, and an integer N, write a function to find all combinations that sum to the value N.
| Question | |
|---|---|
| Session Difference | |
| Priority Queue Using Linked List | |
| Slow SQL Query | |
| Optimistic vs Pessimistic Locking | |
| Ticket Reservation Locking | |
| Minimum Days for Scheduling All Meetings | |
| Index Fund Return | |
| Client Solution Pushback | |
| Processing Large CSV | |
| LRU Cache 1 | |
| Reddit-like Notifications | |
| 2nd Highest Salary | |
| Employee Salaries | |
| Merge Sorted Lists | |
| Subscription Overlap | |
| Closest SAT Scores | |
| Empty Neighborhoods | |
| Top Three Salaries | |
| Monthly Customer Report | |
| Rolling Bank Transactions | |
| Find the Missing Number | |
| Bagging vs Boosting | |
| String Shift | |
| Comments Histogram | |
| Prime to N | |
| Find the First Non-Repeating Character in a String | |
| Maximum Profit | |
| Like Tracker | |
| P-value to a Layman |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
A multi-part HackerRank assessment including two OOP/algorithm coding challenges, approximately 20 multiple-choice CS fundamentals questions (covering networking, data structures, parallel programming, concurrency, and memory), and a series of logic/brainteaser-style games testing reasoning and reaction speed. Python is typically not allowed; Java or C++ is expected. Candidates usually have several days to complete it.
An HR-style phone or video screen covering motivation, fit, and background. Expect questions about why Optiver, why software engineering, your understanding of the role, how you have handled feedback, and your ability to explain past projects in both technical and non-technical terms. The interviewer is also assessing cultural fit and communication clarity.
A live coding or CS fundamentals interview that may involve LeetCode-style problems, debugging unfamiliar code, or data structure design questions such as implementing a queue with a circular buffer. Interviewers probe deeply into language-specific knowledge (C++, Java, or Python internals including the GIL, threading, and memory management) and expect discussion of performance tradeoffs and complexity.
Two to three live coding interviews covering algorithm problems, object-oriented design scenarios (e.g., an order management system, auction system, or shopping register), and lower-level topics like bit manipulation, networking, and concurrency. Interviews are often conducted by two interviewers simultaneously, are conversational in style, and emphasize thinking process, design choices, and scalability reasoning over perfect syntax.
An open-ended architecture round, often exchange- or trading-themed (e.g., designing a trading system or real-time auction), that tests scalability thinking, high-level design reasoning, and computer architecture knowledge. Prompts are intentionally vague and require the candidate to clarify requirements, drive the discussion proactively, and justify design tradeoffs under pressure.
An in-person or extended virtual loop that combines system design with whiteboarding, additional technical coding, and a behavioral interview. Candidates report this stage lasting around four hours and covering the full breadth of the loop including OOD, low-level systems judgment, and culture fit questions.