What is Susquehanna International Group?
Susquehanna International Group, now branded simply as Susquehanna and still widely called SIG, is a privately held quantitative trading firm founded in 1987. It acts as both market maker and market taker across listed products, with a particular focus on derivatives. The headquarters is in Bala Cynwyd, in the Philadelphia area.
Susquehanna says it has more than 3,500 employees worldwide and handles millions of transactions each day. Those are first-party figures as at 8 September 2026 (Susquehanna at a glance, accessed 8 September 2026).
Susquehanna at a glance
- Founded: 1987 by a group of college friends
- Headquarters: Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania
- Employees: 3,500+ globally
- Core activity: quantitative trading and market making
- Product scope: essentially all listed asset classes, with a focus on derivatives
- Main career disciplines: trading, quantitative research and machine learning, and technology
- Official application route: Susquehanna careers
- Quantt directory: Susquehanna International Group
SIG is a trading firm, not a conventional asset manager. Asking for its "AUM" is usually the wrong question.
Does Susquehanna have assets under management?
Susquehanna primarily trades its own capital and provides liquidity, so there is no directly comparable hedge-fund AUM figure. Public filings may show very large balance-sheet assets or positions held by individual affiliates. Neither measure tells you how much outside investor capital a hedge fund manages.
This distinction prevents a common error. A number such as total assets, gross notional exposure or 13F holdings should not be relabelled "SIG AUM". The firm does not publish a group capital figure on its careers or company pages, and this guide does not invent one.
The practical consequence for candidates is equally important. Market-making economics centre on spreads, inventory, hedging, information and transaction costs. They are different from earning a management fee on client assets.
What does Susquehanna trade?
Susquehanna's own description is broader than "an equity-options shop". It says its trading, technology and quantitative research teams cover essentially all listed financial products and asset classes, with a focus on derivatives. Desks are specialised even though the group footprint is broad (Susquehanna at a glance, accessed 8 September 2026).
That can include options, equities, ETFs, futures, fixed income, commodities and systematic strategies, depending on the office and team. It would be unsafe to claim from public data that:
- equity options are a fixed percentage of group activity;
- SIG is always a top-three US options market maker by volume;
- its aggregate book is delta-neutral;
- most new traders join one product.
Those statements may sound plausible, but Susquehanna does not publish the group-level data needed to verify them.
For a trader, the firm-specific thread is decision-making under uncertainty. A market maker must estimate fair value, quote a price, update as information arrives and manage inventory. Options add nonlinear exposures such as gamma, vega and skew. Our options market-making guide explains the mechanics.
Why does poker matter at Susquehanna?
Poker is not a decorative company legend. Susquehanna says its founders used quantitative skills and poker experience when trading on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and its current quantitative trading programme teaches game theory to improve decision-making and modelling. The firm also runs a global employee poker tournament (Susquehanna trading careers, accessed 8 September 2026; Life at Susquehanna, accessed 8 September 2026).
The useful lesson is narrower than "good poker players make good traders". Poker forces repeated decisions with incomplete information. A sound decision can lose, while a poor decision can get lucky. Reviewing the process separately from the outcome is directly relevant to trading.
Susquehanna does not say on those pages that every trainee spends three to six months in Bala Cynwyd, plays poker several evenings a week, or can fail training on poker performance. Treat that folklore as folklore.
Where does Susquehanna have offices?
The official location page listed 16 offices on 8 September 2026:
- North America: Philadelphia area, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Stamford and West Palm Beach
- EMEA: Dublin, London and Ra'anana
- Asia-Pacific: Sydney, Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo
That list is why applicants must read the location field carefully: products, programmes and work-authorisation requirements vary by office (Susquehanna office locations, accessed 8 September 2026).
Which roles does Susquehanna recruit for?
Susquehanna organises careers around three core disciplines.
Quantitative trading and strategy
Trading roles combine probability, pricing and fast updating with product knowledge. The firm advertises internships, graduate roles, discovery programmes and experienced positions. Current programmes may be office-specific; for example, a London quantitative trading internship was advertised for summer 2027 (Susquehanna job posting, accessed 8 September 2026).
Quantitative research and machine learning
Researchers work with traders and technologists to develop models and analyse data. Some postings use "quantitative systematic trading" or "quantitative strategy" rather than a generic researcher title. Apply to the actual discipline rather than optimising your CV for one imagined job.
Technology
Technology roles cover trading systems, infrastructure, data and business platforms. Language requirements vary by posting. There is no first-party map that puts C++ on every hot path, Python on every research system and Java on every enterprise tool.
Operations, compliance, accounting, equity research and other business roles also support the trading organisation. Susquehanna's careers site describes dedicated training for several of these routes.
How should you prepare for Susquehanna recruiting?
The selection process varies by role, programme and office. Susquehanna's public pages establish the importance of probability, decision science, quantitative modelling and games. They do not publish global pass rates, annual trainee totals or a universal reapplication period.
For trading applications:
- practise expected value, conditional probability and mental arithmetic;
- explain a quote as a bid and an offer, not merely a point estimate;
- update your answer when given new information;
- separate decision quality from realised outcome;
- learn basic options pay-offs and Greeks for derivatives roles.
For research applications, add statistics, experimental design and coding. For technology, follow the language and systems requirements in the posting. The SIG interview guide contains role-specific practice, while quant mental maths questions provides timed drills. Candidate reports can still be useful, but treat exact round counts as anecdotal.
What makes SIG different from Jane Street, Optiver and IMC?
All four are major quantitative trading employers, but a ranking based on slogans is not useful. Susquehanna's verifiable distinction is how explicitly it embeds game theory and strategic games in trader education and company culture. Jane Street is strongly associated with functional programming, while Optiver and IMC originated in Amsterdam. Product and team differences within each firm can be larger than their public brand differences.
Compare the actual office, desk and role. The prop trading firms guide gives a broader map, and companies like Jane Street offers alternatives by job type.
How should you choose a SIG role?
Start with the decision timescale and the object being priced. A trader internship, systematic research post and low-latency engineering role can all be quantitative while rewarding quite different strengths. One tests judgement at a quote; another tests whether a statistical effect survives; the third tests whether a system behaves correctly under load.
Then choose the office. Susquehanna's global list does not imply that every desk recruits in every city. Search the live portal by location and discipline, and compare the training description, eligibility and start date before preparing.
Compensation and evidence limits
Susquehanna does not publish one global compensation table. Some US job adverts include base or estimated pay where required. Signing awards, bonus and benefits vary by programme, office and year. Undated first-year totals and senior-pay folklore are not firm policy.
The same standard applies to hiring. Susquehanna does not publish annual trader-hire totals, assessment pass rates or a guaranteed reapplication window. Use the current job advert and recruiter.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people work at Susquehanna?
Susquehanna says it has more than 3,500 employees worldwide. The figure was current on its official site when checked on 8 September 2026.
Is SIG a hedge fund?
No, not in the conventional client-AUM sense. Susquehanna is primarily a proprietary quantitative trading and market-making group, though individual affiliates conduct other investment activities.
Do you need to know poker to work at Susquehanna?
Prior poker skill is not stated as a general job requirement. What matters for trading roles is the underlying reasoning: probability, expected value, updating and decisions under incomplete information.
What does Susquehanna trade?
The firm says it trades essentially all listed financial products and asset classes, with a focus on derivatives. Specific products and responsibilities depend on the desk and office.
Where should I apply?
Apply through Susquehanna's official careers portal and choose the correct role and location. The firm advertises internships, graduate programmes, discovery events and experienced positions.
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