Jane Street runs a 3 stage interview process that is unusual among trading firms in two ways: your application is read by a person rather than screened by software, and almost everything technical is built around games played out loud rather than a timed test. No prior finance knowledge or advanced maths is required, and you work with pen and paper throughout.
This guide covers the trading track, and walks through each stage and how to prepare for it.
- 1Application Review. Read by a person, not an automated screen. Most candidates hear back within a week.
- 2Phone Interviews. 2 to 3 conversational calls built around a linked series of betting and strategy games.
- 3Final Round. A full day, in office or over Zoom: technical interviews with traders, plus an HR conversation.
Stage 1: Application Review
Your application is reviewed by a person rather than an automated screen, which is not the case at many other trading firms. Most candidates hear back within a week.
Before you apply, watch Jane Street's own video on their interview process and read their culture overview.
What to put in front of them
- Resume. Highlight the experiences and skills that line up with a trading role.
- Cover letter. Say why Jane Street specifically, and what sparked your interest in trading.
Stage 2: Phone Interviews
2 to 3 phone interviews, conversational rather than a test. They cover basic problem solving and probability, and no prior finance knowledge or advanced maths is needed. What is being assessed is your thinking process, not your recall.
Interview conditions:
- Pen and paper are allowed. Computers and calculators are not.
- Thinking out loud is encouraged, so the interviewer can follow your reasoning.
- Accuracy and clarity matter more than speed.
The series of 3 games
Most of this round is a linked series of 3 games, discussed with 1 or 2 traders who guide you as you play. The scores carry over: where you finish one game is where you start the next, so an early collapse follows you.
| Game | Setup | How it works | What you are working out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Casino game, sports betting | 100 participants, 100 chips each | Multiple rounds of weekly bets on 2 competing teams, Team A against Team B | Reading the odds, using historical data, and sizing your bets so you survive the later rounds |
| 2. Dice game | Single player, starting from the chips you finished game 1 with | An even roll (2, 4, 6) wins 3 chips; an odd roll (1, 3, 5) loses 2 | Risk against your current chip count, and adapting when questions before each roll change the rules |
| 3. Divide and conquer | 100 participants, each commanding an army of 100 soldiers across 10 castles | Divide your soldiers between the castles, aiming for the highest percentile rank among the 100 armies | Whether to spend soldiers on small experiments first, and when the information stops being worth what it costs |
These are the games played most often. We do occasionally hear of them being replaced by brainteasers, which are hard.
How to prepare
- Drill probability and brainteasers in our brainteaser database filtered for Jane Street.
- Build strategic intuition through repeated play, for instance with our dice game.
- Watch Jane Street's mock interview video and their walkthrough of the interview format.
Stage 3: Final Round
A full day of interviews, either in the office or over Zoom. Technical interviews run by current traders make up most of it, and there is an HR element covering cultural fit, your background and your motivation.
At every stage the same thing is being assessed: whether you can think out loud. Say your reasoning as you work, because a clear wrong turn you can explain is worth more here than a right answer you reached in silence.
The technical interviews
These are built to feel like conversations rather than tests. Pen and paper are allowed; computers and calculators are not. Early questions stay on basic problem solving and probability, and later ones open out into complex scenarios that need strategic thinking.
The 20 sided die games
One sequence comes up repeatedly, built on a single setup with a new rule added each time. A 20 sided die numbered 1 to 20 starts with 1 facing up, and you have 100 rounds. Each round you either roll the die for a new number, or take money equal to the face value showing.
| Variant | The rule that changes | Where the strategy lands |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Basic casino game | None. Roll or take, over 100 rounds | Rolling until you hit 20 and then taking 20 for the remaining rounds is the obvious line. Accepting an 18, 19 or 20 balances risk against reward better |
| 2. Die removal after taking | Taking money removes the die, so you have to roll again before you can take again | Accepting the top half, 11 to 20, is the starting point. Going lower, to around 6 and up, trades payout per round against how many rolls you get |
| 3. The casino plays against you | After you take money, the casino may re-roll the die to minimise your earnings | Look for the equilibrium where neither you nor the casino gains anything by re-rolling, which sits around 10 |
Alongside the games you will be asked to calculate expected values in trading games, and to work through brainteasers and other complex problems under time pressure.
How to work the problems
- Make simplifying assumptions to get a foothold in a complex problem.
- Try smaller cases first, then build up to the full problem.
- Work backwards from the outcome when going forwards stalls.
- Clarify before you solve. Resolve any ambiguity in the problem statement before diving in.
- Iterate. Start with a simple strategy and refine it as you work out expected values.
- Check the edges. Think about how a different threshold changes the outcome.
- Treat it as a conversation. Improve your answer on the interviewer's feedback rather than defending your first one.
The HR conversation
The focus here is fit, background and motivation.
- Expect "why trading?" and "why Jane Street?".
- Be ready to show how your values line up with Jane Street's collaborative and innovative culture.
- Have your edge over other traders, your weaknesses and how you would add value to the team ready.
How to prepare
- Work through the probability and basic maths in Jane Street's own probability and markets guide.
- Read what Jane Street does and their culture overview, and be ready to say how you would contribute.
- Practise under interview conditions: pen and paper, out loud, timed, so the setting itself is familiar.
- Work methodically. Break each problem into manageable steps and check your calculations as you go.
- Keep your composure, and aim for relaxed but focused. It is a high-pressure setting and part of what they are watching is how you hold up in it.
Common misconceptions
The Jane Street interview differs from other trading firms in a few ways that catch candidates out.
You need to be quick at mental maths
You do not. Performing complex calculations at speed is not what this process tests. Your numeracy and an intuitive feel for numbers matter considerably more.
Saying something wrong ends your chances
It does not. Interviewers weight your thought process and your problem-solving approach above landing on the correct answer immediately.
Failing once rules you out for good
It does not. Failing once does not disqualify you from reapplying, and many traders now at Jane Street did not get through on their first attempt.
Resources from Jane Street
Jane Street publishes material worth going through before you interview:
- Mock trading interview video, which simulates a Jane Street trading interview.
- Probability and markets guide, a PDF covering the key concepts.
- Their YouTube channel, for trading content and a feel for what working there is like.
Closing remarks
The Jane Street process rewards something narrower than raw ability: clear reasoning, explained as you go, and a willingness to revise an answer when the interviewer pushes on it. The maths stays basic by design. Most candidates who struggle do so by going quiet, or by treating a wrong turn as a failure rather than as a step.
Give yourself weeks rather than days, because the preparation this process takes is routinely underestimated. Work through everything we have for Jane Street until the game patterns feel familiar, play the dice and card games until expected value is automatic, and practise saying your reasoning aloud, since that is the skill actually being measured. Our game theory and strategic trading course closes on a procedure for an unfamiliar game, which is what these rounds are built to hand you.