How to Apply to Jane Street

11 min read Last updated March 12, 2026 250 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • Jane Street does not require finance experience — they hire brilliant quantitative thinkers from math, CS, physics, and engineering and train them on markets
  • OCaml proficiency is a major differentiator for software engineering roles; even basic functional programming experience sets you apart from most applicants
  • The interview process is collaborative, not adversarial — interviewers want to see how you think, not just whether you get the right answer
  • Mock trading exercises like the Figgie card game test real-time decision-making under uncertainty, which is central to the firm's work
  • Apply directly through janestreet.com and explore their 12+ student programs (FTTP, QTC, JSIP, INSIGHT) which serve as pipelines to full-time offers
  • Competitive math and programming achievements (Putnam, IMO, ICPC, Codeforces) are among the strongest resume signals for this firm
  • Jane Street's culture values intellectual humility and curiosity over credentials and pedigree — demonstrate genuine passion for problem-solving
  • Compensation is among the highest in finance and technology, but the hiring bar is correspondingly extreme — preparation should be measured in months, not days

About Jane Street

Jane Street is a quantitative trading firm and global liquidity provider that trades a wide range of financial products across markets worldwide. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in New York City, the firm has grown into one of the most prestigious and selective employers in the intersection of finance and technology. With offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Chicago, and Singapore, Jane Street is known for building nearly all of its software in-house — most notably using OCaml as its primary programming language, a choice that sets it apart from virtually every other firm in finance. The company operates in incredibly competitive, rapidly evolving markets where feedback on decisions is immediate and tangible. Jane Street emphasizes a collaborative, intellectually rigorous culture that attracts top talent from mathematics, computer science, physics, and engineering. Unlike the stereotypical cutthroat trading floor, Jane Street prizes curiosity, open collaboration, and deep problem-solving. The firm is consistently ranked among the highest-paying employers in both finance and technology, with compensation packages that reflect the caliber of talent they recruit.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Identify the Right Role and Track

    Jane Street organizes hiring into two main tracks: Experienced Candidates and Students/New Grads. Within these tracks, roles span four groups: Trading, Research & Machine Learning; Technology; Institutional Sales and Trading; and Infrastructure. Before applying, carefully review the role descriptions on janestreet.com/join-jane-street/open-roles/ and filter by type, location, department, and team. For students, also explore their 12+ recruiting programs (FTTP, QTC, INSIGHT, JSIP, etc.) which serve as pipelines into full-time roles. Understanding which track and group fits your background is essential before submitting an application.

  2. 2
    Submit Your Application Online

    Apply directly through Jane Street's careers portal at janestreet.com. All legitimate communications come from @janestreet.com or subdomains like @recruiting.janestreet.com — be wary of any other domain. You can also reach out to [email protected] for general recruiting questions. Your application should include a polished resume that highlights quantitative ability, technical projects, and problem-solving experience. Jane Street does not require finance experience; they are looking for smart people with curious minds from any background. Tailor your resume to emphasize mathematical rigor, programming skills (especially functional programming), and any competitive math or programming achievements.

  3. 3
    Complete the Initial Screen

    After application review, selected candidates typically receive either a phone screen or a take-home problem set, depending on the role. For trading roles, expect probability and mental math questions that test your ability to think quantitatively under pressure. For software engineering roles, expect technical questions focused on algorithmic thinking and potentially OCaml or functional programming concepts. For research roles, expect a mix of mathematical reasoning and statistical modeling questions. This stage is designed to assess raw problem-solving ability rather than domain knowledge in finance.

  4. 4
    Technical and Quantitative Interviews

    Candidates who pass the initial screen advance to deeper technical interviews. Trading candidates face probability puzzles, estimation problems (Fermi questions), and expected value calculations that escalate in difficulty. Software engineering candidates work through coding problems with an emphasis on correctness, efficiency, and clear reasoning — familiarity with functional programming paradigms is highly valued. Research candidates tackle open-ended mathematical problems and may discuss published papers or prior research. Throughout all interviews, Jane Street evaluates how you think, not just whether you arrive at the correct answer. Explaining your reasoning clearly and exploring alternative approaches is as important as the final solution.

  5. 5
    Mock Trading or Collaborative Exercise

    A distinctive element of Jane Street's interview process is the mock trading exercise, particularly for trading and research candidates. This often involves a card game called 'Figgie,' a proprietary game designed to simulate market dynamics where candidates must make bets, assess probabilities, and manage risk in real time. The exercise evaluates your ability to make decisions under uncertainty, update beliefs with new information, collaborate with others, and manage emotional composure during volatile situations. Software engineering candidates may instead participate in pair programming sessions or system design discussions that mirror the collaborative coding environment at the firm.

  6. 6
    Superday / Final Round On-Site Interviews

    Final-round candidates are invited to Jane Street's office (typically New York) for a full day of interviews. This 'superday' typically includes four to six sessions covering a mix of technical problems, behavioral questions, and collaborative exercises. You will meet people from across the team you would be joining. The on-site is as much about cultural fit as technical ability — Jane Street places strong emphasis on intellectual humility, collaborative instinct, and genuine curiosity. Expect the day to be intense but also collegial; interviewers are looking for people they would enjoy working with on hard problems every day.

  7. 7
    Offer and Decision

    Successful candidates receive offers that are among the most competitive in finance and technology. Jane Street is transparent about compensation during the process and typically moves quickly once a decision is made. New hires go through an extensive onboarding and training program — for traders, this includes weeks of structured education on markets, probability, and the firm's systems. For engineers, onboarding includes deep dives into the OCaml codebase and pair programming with experienced team members. The firm invests heavily in developing its people, so the hiring bar reflects the long-term commitment they make to every hire.

Resume Tips for Jane Street

critical

Lead with Quantitative Achievements

Jane Street values quantitative ability above almost everything else. Place your strongest math, statistics, and analytical accomplishments near the top of your resume. Competition results (Putnam, IMO, USAMO, competitive programming like ICPC or Codeforces ratings), research publications, and coursework in probability, statistics, real analysis, or linear algebra all signal the kind of mathematical maturity Jane Street seeks. Quantify results wherever possible: 'Top 50 in Putnam' or 'Published 3 papers in combinatorics' carries far more weight than generic descriptions of coursework.

critical

Highlight Functional Programming and OCaml Experience

Jane Street is the largest industrial user of OCaml in the world and has built its entire technology stack around it. If you have experience with OCaml, Haskell, F#, Scala, Erlang, or other functional languages, make it prominent. Even if your primary experience is in Python or C++, call out any exposure to functional programming concepts: pattern matching, immutable data structures, type systems, monads, or higher-order functions. Contributions to open-source OCaml projects (Jane Street maintains many, including Core, Async, and Incremental) are especially valuable to mention.

critical

Demonstrate Problem-Solving Over Credentials

Jane Street explicitly states they seek 'smart people with curious minds from any background.' While many hires come from top universities, the firm cares more about demonstrated problem-solving ability than pedigree. Include personal projects that showcase creative thinking — a novel algorithm you implemented, a game theory experiment, a trading bot simulation, or an open-source contribution that required deep technical reasoning. Show that you pursue hard problems because you find them inherently interesting, not because they were assigned.

recommended

Keep It Concise and Technical

Jane Street reviewers are technical people who read resumes quickly. Aim for one page (two at most for experienced candidates with 10+ years). Remove filler words, generic descriptions, and soft-skill buzzwords. Every bullet point should convey specific, measurable information: technologies used, scale of systems built, quantitative results achieved, or complexity of problems solved. The resume should read like it was written by someone who values precision — because that is exactly the kind of person Jane Street hires.

recommended

Include Competitive Programming and Puzzle Experience

Competitive math and programming contests are a strong signal for Jane Street. List your ratings (Codeforces, TopCoder, LeetCode), competition placements, and any math olympiad participation. If you have experience with probability puzzles, card games, poker, or strategic board games at a competitive level, mention it — these activities develop the exact probabilistic and game-theoretic thinking that Jane Street values in its trading and research roles.

recommended

Show Collaborative and Communication Skills Through Projects

Jane Street's culture is deeply collaborative. Rather than listing 'team player' as a skill, demonstrate collaboration through your project descriptions. Mention open-source contributions with code review, team-based research with co-authors, pair programming experience, or hackathon projects where you worked closely with others. Jane Street wants people who can explain complex ideas clearly and work productively with brilliant colleagues, so frame your experience to show that you thrive in intellectually demanding collaborative environments.

nice_to_have

Omit Irrelevant Finance Jargon

Jane Street does not expect or require finance experience from most candidates. Padding your resume with finance buzzwords you picked up from a textbook can actually work against you. If you have genuine trading, market-making, or quantitative finance experience, include it with specific details. Otherwise, focus on your core strengths in math, computer science, or engineering. The firm will teach you everything you need to know about markets during their extensive training program.

ATS System: Jane Street Custom Careers Portal

Jane Street uses a custom-built careers portal at janestreet.com/join-jane-street/open-roles/ rather than a mainstream ATS like Greenhouse or Lever. The portal features dynamic filtering by type, location, department, team, and duration. Because Jane Street builds most of its tools in-house, their application system is proprietary. Applications are submitted directly through their website, and all legitimate recruiter communications come from @janestreet.com or subdomains such as @recruiting.janestreet.com.

  • Apply directly through janestreet.com — Jane Street does not use third-party job boards for primary applications
  • Use filters on the open roles page to find positions matching your experience level and preferred location
  • Verify recruiter authenticity: legitimate emails come only from @janestreet.com or @recruiting.janestreet.com
  • Contact [email protected] for general recruiting questions or [email protected] to verify a recruiter
  • The portal loads job listings dynamically — if listings do not appear, ensure JavaScript is enabled in your browser

Interview Culture

Jane Street's interview culture is uniquely rigorous and collaborative.

Unlike many finance firms where interviews can feel adversarial or designed to intimidate, Jane Street interviewers are genuinely interested in seeing how candidates think through hard problems. The process emphasizes depth over breadth — rather than rapid-fire trivia, you will spend extended time on fewer problems, exploring edge cases, alternative approaches, and extensions. Interviewers frequently give hints and engage in Socratic dialogue, treating the interview more like a collaborative problem-solving session than an interrogation. For trading roles, the interview process is heavily quantitative. Expect probability puzzles that start simple and escalate: 'What is the expected number of coin flips to get three heads in a row?' might lead to a series of increasingly complex variations. Mental math speed matters, but so does your ability to structure a problem, identify when your intuition might be wrong, and update your thinking. The mock trading exercises — particularly the card game Figgie — reveal how candidates handle uncertainty, process information under time pressure, and interact with others in a competitive but collaborative setting. For software engineering roles, the emphasis is on writing correct, clean code and reasoning about program behavior. Jane Street's deep commitment to OCaml means interviewers appreciate candidates who think about type safety, immutability, and program correctness. You will not be asked to memorize sorting algorithms; instead, expect problems that test your ability to model complex systems, handle edge cases rigorously, and communicate your design decisions clearly. Culturally, Jane Street values intellectual humility — the willingness to say 'I do not know' and then work systematically toward an answer. Arrogance and bluffing are red flags. The firm wants people who are excited by the process of discovery, not just the satisfaction of being right.

What Jane Street Looks For

  • Exceptional quantitative reasoning: the ability to break down complex probability, statistics, and mathematical problems quickly and accurately
  • Intellectual curiosity and genuine passion for solving hard problems — not motivated solely by compensation
  • Strong programming skills, especially in functional programming languages (OCaml, Haskell) or willingness to learn them deeply
  • Collaborative mindset: the ability to work productively with brilliant colleagues, explain ideas clearly, and accept constructive feedback
  • Composure under uncertainty: comfort making decisions with incomplete information and updating beliefs as new data emerges
  • Mathematical maturity demonstrated through competition results, research, or advanced coursework in probability, combinatorics, or statistics
  • Intellectual humility: willingness to admit mistakes, explore alternative approaches, and prioritize correctness over ego
  • Clear, precise communication: the ability to articulate complex reasoning in a structured, logical way
  • Evidence of self-directed learning and pursuing challenges beyond what is required by coursework or job responsibilities

Frequently Asked Questions

What programming languages does Jane Street use, and do I need to know OCaml before applying?
Jane Street is the largest industrial user of OCaml in the world and has built virtually its entire technology stack around this functional programming language. For software engineering roles, OCaml experience is a significant advantage but is not strictly required — the firm has hired many engineers who learned OCaml after joining. However, demonstrating familiarity with functional programming concepts (pattern matching, algebraic data types, immutable data structures, type inference) through experience with OCaml, Haskell, F#, Scala, or Erlang will considerably strengthen your application. Jane Street maintains several major open-source OCaml libraries including Core, Async, and Incremental, and contributing to these projects is one way to demonstrate relevant skills before applying. For trading and research roles, programming language choice matters less than quantitative reasoning ability, though most traders and researchers do write code regularly.
How difficult are Jane Street interviews compared to other top firms?
Jane Street interviews are widely considered among the most difficult in both finance and technology. The quantitative rigor expected — particularly for trading and research roles — goes well beyond what firms like Goldman Sachs, Citadel, or even top tech companies typically require. Trading interviews involve multi-layered probability puzzles, rapid mental math, and mock trading exercises that test your ability to think under genuine pressure. Software engineering interviews emphasize correctness and elegance over brute-force coding speed. That said, the difficulty is not designed to be cruel or tricky — Jane Street interviewers are collaborative and genuinely want to see your best thinking. The key difference from other firms is depth: you will spend significant time on fewer problems, exploring variations and edge cases, rather than racing through a checklist of standard questions.
What is the Figgie card game and how should I prepare for it?
Figgie is a proprietary card game created by Jane Street that simulates market-making dynamics. Players trade cards from a modified deck, trying to determine which suit is the 'goal suit' (present in greater quantity) and accumulate cards in that suit while trading others. The game tests several skills simultaneously: probabilistic inference (updating your beliefs about the goal suit as you observe trades), market-making intuition (quoting bid and ask prices), risk management (deciding how aggressively to trade), and interpersonal awareness (reading other players' behavior for information). To prepare, you can practice with the free online version that Jane Street has made available. Focus on developing your ability to make quick expected-value calculations, manage position risk, and extract information from the behavior of other market participants. The game rewards calm, systematic thinking under time pressure rather than aggressive or reckless play.
Does Jane Street hire people without finance or trading experience?
Yes, emphatically. Jane Street explicitly states they seek 'smart people with curious minds from any background' and does not require prior finance experience for most roles. The majority of their hires — including many of their most successful traders — come from pure mathematics, computer science, physics, statistics, and engineering backgrounds with no prior exposure to financial markets. Jane Street runs an extensive internal training program that teaches new hires everything they need to know about markets, trading mechanics, and the firm's systems. What they cannot easily teach is the deep quantitative reasoning, intellectual curiosity, and collaborative problem-solving instinct they screen for during interviews. If you have strong mathematical and analytical skills, do not let a lack of finance background deter you from applying.
What student programs does Jane Street offer, and how do they connect to full-time roles?
Jane Street operates over 12 specialized programs for students at various stages, from high school through PhD. Key programs include AMP (a five-week summer program for high school graduates who have faced barriers to STEM access), FTTP (a multi-day introduction to trading and technology for first-year undergraduates), QTC (an interactive program exploring probability and quantitative trading concepts), JSIP (a several-week software engineering program for first and second-year students), and INSIGHT (a multi-day program for women, transgender, and gender-expansive individuals). For PhD students, the Graduate Research Fellowship provides one year of tuition plus a $45,000 stipend. These programs serve as meaningful recruiting pipelines — performing well in any of them significantly increases your chances of receiving an internship or full-time offer. Applications for most programs open months in advance, so check the programs and events page at janestreet.com regularly.
What is compensation like at Jane Street?
Jane Street is consistently among the highest-paying employers in both finance and technology. While the firm does not publicly disclose exact compensation figures, industry reports and self-reported data indicate that new graduate traders and software engineers can expect total compensation packages (base salary, bonus, and other components) that significantly exceed offers from top technology companies like Google or Meta and rival or surpass those of other elite quantitative trading firms like Citadel Securities, Two Sigma, and DE Shaw. Compensation scales aggressively with seniority and performance, as the firm's revenue per employee is exceptionally high. Jane Street's compensation philosophy reflects its belief that attracting and retaining the very best talent requires paying at the top of the market. Beyond direct compensation, the firm provides comprehensive benefits including daily meals, on-site gyms and wellness facilities, and extensive learning and development opportunities.
How should I prepare for Jane Street probability and math interview questions?
Preparation for Jane Street's quantitative interviews should be systematic and sustained over several months. Start with foundational probability: combinatorics, conditional probability, Bayes' theorem, expected value, variance, and common distributions (binomial, geometric, Poisson, normal). Then advance to more complex topics: Markov chains, martingales, stochastic processes, and game theory. Practice mental math daily — you should be comfortable performing arithmetic with fractions, percentages, and multi-digit numbers quickly and accurately without a calculator. Work through books specifically designed for quantitative interview preparation, such as 'Heard on the Street,' 'A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews,' and 'Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability.' Beyond textbook preparation, practice verbalizing your reasoning process, as Jane Street interviewers evaluate your thought process as carefully as your final answers. Engage with puzzles from Jane Street's own monthly puzzle series posted on their website, which gives direct insight into the type of thinking the firm values.
What are the main office locations and does location affect my application?
Jane Street operates six offices worldwide: New York (headquarters and largest office), London, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Chicago, and Singapore. New York is the primary hub with the largest concentration of employees across all departments. London is the firm's main European presence and has a substantial team across trading, technology, and research. Hong Kong and Singapore serve the Asia-Pacific region. Amsterdam and Chicago are newer or smaller offices with growing teams. When applying, you can indicate your preferred location, and some roles may only be available in specific offices. For students and new graduates, most internship and new-hire programs are centered in New York or London. Your location preference generally does not affect the difficulty of the interview process or the hiring bar — the same rigorous standards apply globally. If you are flexible on location, indicating that can broaden the range of opportunities available to you.
Is Jane Street's culture really collaborative, or is that just marketing?
Jane Street's collaborative culture is widely validated by current and former employees across platforms like Glassdoor, Blind, and Levels.fyi. Unlike some trading firms where individual P&L drives compensation and creates internal competition, Jane Street operates with a firm-wide profit-sharing approach that incentivizes collaboration over individual glory. The open office layout, flat hierarchy, and emphasis on pair programming (in engineering) and collaborative trading reflect genuine cultural priorities. New hires consistently report that senior team members are accessible, willing to teach, and genuinely invested in helping junior colleagues develop. The interview process itself mirrors this — interviewers provide hints, engage in dialogue, and treat the interview as a joint problem-solving exercise rather than a test. That said, the intellectual standards are extremely high. Collaboration at Jane Street means working with exceptionally talented people who hold each other to rigorous standards, which can be demanding even if the atmosphere is supportive rather than cutthroat.

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