Optiver interview, decoded.

Optiver does not publish the full process, so the shape below combines what its job ads and recruitment FAQ say with candidate accounts, which are marked as reported. The job ads say you must be able to take the online assessment within 7 days of applying. Prep sites that follow the process put the whole thing at two to four weeks for software engineers.

The online assessment is the first filter and the one people search for most. Optiver runs it on its own portal and has never published what is inside, so everything below is what candidates and prep sites report. The set changes by role and cycle. You must be able to take it within 7 days of applying, and you can only take it once every 8 months.

• Zap-N and the other games: Reported as short reaction, memory and planning games: pumping a balloon for points without bursting it, stacking blocks in the fewest moves, remembering digits, switching between two tasks. They reward calm and consistency more than knowledge. Take them rested, in a quiet room, in one sitting.
• Number sequences and probability: Reported as timed find-the-pattern number sequences and quick probability or expected-value questions. Practise until spotting differences, ratios and alternating patterns is automatic, and get used to estimating fast instead of calculating exactly.
• The coding test: Reported as about 90 minutes on the HackerRank desktop app with camera and microphone on. Recent candidates describe design problems about trading, such as a market-making game or an order book, checked by hidden tests. Read the whole statement first, write the classes and every method end to end, then refine.
• The mental maths test for traders: Trading candidates take an 8-minute numerical test of basic calculations, known as 80 in 8: 80 questions in 8 minutes. Software engineers usually do not take it. Optiver hosts its own practice page for it.

The results count for 8 months: if you do not pass, you cannot retake the assessment or apply for another technology graduate or internship role at any Optiver office until then.

Optiver's own interview tips say what it scores, and most of it is about how you think out loud.

• Breaking a complex problem into parts, and adapting when new information arrives mid-problem
• Explaining your reasoning and design decisions clearly as you go
• Performance awareness: how code behaves on real hardware, with concurrency, memory and networking in mind
• Collaboration and intellectual curiosity, which the behavioural questions look for
• Being yourself: Optiver says it wants "the real you, not a rehearsed script"

The behavioural questions below follow what Optiver says it looks for. The technical themes come from candidate accounts of the coding test and interviews; the test changes each cycle, so practise the pattern rather than a remembered question.

Optiver publishes a base salary only where US law requires it: $200,000 for a 2027 graduate software engineer in Austin. Elsewhere the figures are self-reported on Levels.fyi, which lists 145 Optiver software engineer submissions and a €213K median total pay in Amsterdam, with a large share of it paid as bonus (read 28 September 2026). Treat bonus-heavy figures as a range, since the bonus moves with the firm's year. Calibrd benchmarks an offer against your level and location in the report.

1. Apply only when you can take the online assessment within 7 days. The job ads ask you to confirm that when you apply.
2. Treat the assessment as a one-shot. A miss locks you out of every technology graduate and internship role for 8 months, at every office.
3. Practise low-level design, not only LeetCode. Candidates describe the coding test as building a small trading system that hidden tests check.
4. Finish every required method before polishing any of them. A half-built method can fail the whole test suite.
5. Know one of C++, Java or Python deeply, including how it handles memory and threads.
6. Prepare to explain one project you built in real depth: the decisions, the alternatives and what you would change.

This guide covers Optiver's engineering and research hiring. For management and leadership roles the loop is similar but the bar shifts to people, delivery and strategy, so pair it with the leadership interview prep hub. The bar for your exact role comes from the role-by-role guides, and the prep that actually transfers is spoken, so run a mock interview before the real one.

Also interviewing at Stripe, Coinbase or Binance? Their guides follow the same format, from the first screen to the offer.

• 01Optiver, Interview tips for software engineerswhat the interviews assess (breaking down complexity, adapting, explaining reasoning), no standard LeetCode puzzles or brainteasers, C++, Java or Python, algorithms and complexity, architecture, networking, concurrency and memory, STAR answers, "the real you, not a rehearsed script" (21 March 2025)
• 02Optiver, Graduate Software Engineer (London)CV in English, the online assessment within 7 days of applying, and the 8-month wait after an assessment or interview for any technology graduate or internship role (read 28 September 2026)
• 03Optiver, Graduate Software Engineer (2027 start, Austin)the published $200,000 base salary and C++, Python or Java (read 28 September 2026)
• 04Optiver, Applying to Optiver Europe: recruitment FAQcontact within 7 working days, assessments once every 8 months, an initial behavioural interview, no specific feedback in the early stages (11 June 2026)
• 05Optiver, 2025 financial resultsnet trading income of €4.556 billion (up 30%), net profit of €1.769 billion, 2,233 full-time employees, the new New York office (31 March 2026)
• 06Wikipedia, Optiverfounded in Amsterdam on 9 April 1986, more than 50 exchanges, and the offices in Sydney, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, London and Chicago (read 28 September 2026)
• 07Game Assessment Prep, Optiver assessmentOptiver's own assessment portal, the contents never published, the reported games (balloon pumping, block stacking, number recall, task switching, sequences, probability), a 2023 graduate software write-up with nine games in about an hour, HackerRank for software roles (updated 11 September 2026)
• 08InterviewFox, a 2026 Optiver OA accounta 2026 US software engineering intern candidate: one 90-minute design problem simulating a turn-based market-making game, HackerRank desktop app with webcam and microphone, a half-built method failing the hidden suite (28 July 2026)
• 09Linkjob, an Optiver HackerRank accounta candidate account with number sequences, probability, Zap-N and three coding problems in 90 minutes, one an order book simulation (15 October 2025)
• 10GetCracked, Optiver software engineer interviewthe recruiter screen of about 20 to 25 minutes and technical rounds of 45 to 60 minutes, later rounds back to back (23 March 2026)
• 11TechPrep, Optiver's interview processtwo to four weeks for software engineers and a half-day final round in Amsterdam, Chicago, Sydney or by video (read 28 September 2026)
• 12QuantVault, Optiver 80 in 8the trader mental maths test: 80 questions in 8 minutes (read 28 September 2026)
• 13Optiver, numerical testOptiver's own page for the 8-minute numerical test of basic calculations taken by trading applicants
• 14Levels.fyi, Optiver software engineer salaries in Amsterdam145 submissions, €213K median total pay in Amsterdam, €202K at L3 (read 28 September 2026)

Interview processes change. This reflects widely-reported and sourced conditions as of 2026 — confirm specifics with your recruiter, and treat it as a map rather than a guarantee.