The Optiver application process, explained

What Optiver’s online assessment actually is, the eight-month rule that catches people out, the stage order by role and region, the 2026-27 deadlines, and which of the widely-copied game lists are actually evidenced.

By the Game Assessment Prep research teamUpdated September 11, 2026How we research

The Optiver interview rounds at a glance

1Online application — Only through the Apply button on the job listing — Optiver states it cannot accept CVs or applications by email or any other channel. You are considered for one campus role at a time, so apply to your top preference first.Deadlines and the 8-month rule
2Online assessment on the Optiver Assessment Platform — The first real filter for every campus role, before any interview. The invitation can take 24 to 48 hours to arrive; you log in with a one-time code emailed to you or an authenticator app you set up yourself. Calculators are not permitted. One attempt every eight months, firm-wide.What is actually in it
3Behavioural interview with a recruiter — Optiver’s own spelling. The next step after the assessment for every Sydney campus role. Slots are booked through Calendly, first come first served. Raise CV updates and competing offer deadlines here.
4Technical interview or technical assignment — role-dependent — Software and FPGA Developer get a technical interview; Quantitative Research and Market Risk get a technical assignment. Quantitative Trading, FutureFocus and Career Kickstarter have no separate technical stage in the Sydney flow.
5Final interview day — Software Developer: 2 technical plus 1 behavioural. FPGA: 1 technical plus 1 behavioural. Quantitative Trading ends at a final interview day; Research and Risk end at a final interview. Optiver says finals "do not require technical preparation" and that dress is casual. US finals are all virtual.
6Decision — Optiver aims to respond within a week of an interview, and asks candidates with conflicting offer deadlines to say so, so a decision can be expedited. It gives no individual feedback on applications or assessments.

What games are in the Optiver assessment?

Optiver does not publish what is in its online assessment. Every section and game name below comes from candidates and prep sites, not from Optiver — and Optiver itself tells candidates to ask its recruiters rather than trust third-party descriptions of its process. Two more honest warnings before the list. First, the set is not fixed: a public 2023 graduate software candidate write-up recorded nine short games in about an hour, while one prep site reports recent quantitative trading and PhD invitations showing as few as three. Optiver configures the battery by role and cycle, so treat any list as indicative, never as a syllabus. Second, we link no vendor practice route from this page, and that is deliberate. Optiver uses no game vendor, so pointing you at a pymetrics or Arctic Shores or Aon exercise because the names rhyme would imply a relationship the evidence refutes. If you want general cognitive practice, our practice hubs are open — just do not read them as "the games Optiver uses".

HackerRank coding assessment — Software roles (officially named)

Category practice

Official source

The one part of the process Optiver confirms in its own words: "You can complete the Software HackerRank assessment in C++, Java and Python." A timed coding round, not a game. A public 2023 graduate software candidate write-up describes two questions in 120 minutes at roughly LeetCode medium-to-hard difficulty, plus a separate ten-question, twenty-minute multiple-choice section on object-oriented programming concepts; a forum post from a 2026 Career Kickstarter Tech cycle describes a round of about two hours often involving an order-book implementation. Those details are candidate-reported; the existence of the HackerRank stage is official.

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

HackerRank FPGA / digital-design assessment — FPGA roles only (officially named)

Category practice

Official source

Optiver: "The FPGA HackerRank assessment will probe your understanding of Digital Circuit Design, FPGAs and a bit of hardware code comprehension - code snippets are given in both VHDL and Verilog." This applies to FPGA Developer applications only. If you are applying to trading, research or risk, you will not see it.

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

Zap-N cognitive game battery (candidate-reported name)

Category practice

Anecdotal

The name most people arrive here searching for. Optiver has never published it. The one corroboration that is not a prep site is a public 2023 Graduate Software Engineer write-up recording "Neuro Assessement Games | 9 Games | 1 Hr | ZAP-N" — three years old and one role. A prep site notes that "The exact set varies by cycle - recent QT and PhD invites often show just three", which is consistent with an employer configuring a battery per role. So: a short, back-to-back set of cognitive exercises exists, its name is reported rather than confirmed, and the count is not fixed.

Source: Public candidate write-up, Graduate Software Engineer 2023 (independent, not a prep site)

Block-stacking / Skyscrapers planning task (reported)

Category practice

Multiple sources

The best-sourced individual exercise on this page, which still only makes it reported. The 2023 candidate write-up names "Building Block" independently of any prep site, and both prep sites describe a block-stacking or skyscraper planning game. The demand is forward planning: work out the sequence of moves before you start moving, rather than improvising and backtracking. We link no practice route because no vendor battery we simulate is evidenced at Optiver.

Source: Public candidate write-up, Graduate Software Engineer 2023; QuantVault (prep site)

Digit / pincode recall (reported)

Category practice

Multiple sources

The second-best-sourced exercise: the 2023 write-up records "Remembering pin num (difficulty level by level)", matching both prep sites’ digit-recall game. Sequences get longer as you succeed. If you want to drill the underlying skill, chunking is the technique that moves scores — group digits into threes and fours the way you would a phone number. We deliberately do not link our pymetrics or Aon digit games here: Optiver uses neither vendor, and the link would imply a relationship the evidence refutes.

Source: Public candidate write-up, Graduate Software Engineer 2023; QuantVault (prep site)

Balloon-pumping risk task (reported)

Category practice

Single source

Reported by prep sites only: inflate a balloon for increasing reward, and lose the round if it pops. This is a BART-style paradigm — a public psychometric design that many publishers implement independently. It is emphatically not evidence of pymetrics or Arctic Shores at Optiver, and we will not link either vendor’s balloon game from this page for that reason. If the task appears in your sitting, the behaviour it reads is consistency: erratic swings between very cautious and very reckless rounds are the thing worth avoiding.

Source: QuantVault, Optiver Zap-N games (prep site; unsourced)

The Switch — dual-task switching (reported)

Category practice

Single source

Named by both prep sites, which copy each other, so treat it as one source rather than two: alternate between two rules, such as judging arrow direction and judging whether a number is odd or even, with the active rule changing on you. Task-switching is a generic cognitive paradigm; the shared word "switch" with an Aon exercise is not a vendor match, and we link no Aon route here.

Source: QuantVault, Optiver Zap-N games (prep site; unsourced)

Code Compare — timed string matching (reported)

Category practice

Single source

Reported by both prep sites: decide quickly whether two strings or codes are identical. Pure speed-accuracy work, with the usual trap that rushing produces errors faster than it produces answers. No equivalent exists in our practice library.

Source: QuantVault, Optiver Zap-N games (prep site; unsourced)

Number Box / arithmetic puzzle (reported, descriptions disagree)

Category practice

Single source

Both prep sites name something here but do not fully agree on what it is — one describes a 24-points style arithmetic puzzle where you combine given numbers to hit a target, the other simply calls it Number-Box. Take the shape of it, not the detail: arithmetic under time pressure, no calculator.

Source: QuantVault, Optiver Zap-N games (prep site; unsourced)

80-in-8 mental arithmetic (reported): 80 questions, 8 minutes, no calculator

Category practice

Single source

The most talked-about part of the Optiver process and, on the evidence, the most misreported. The section name is candidate and prep-site terminology that Optiver has never published. The format reported is 80 arithmetic questions in eight minutes — roughly six seconds each — covering multiplication, division, percentages, fractions and decimals. Optiver publishes no cut score, and the prep-site figures conflict: pass marks in the mid-50s and competitive scores around 70 are quoted, with sources disagreeing even on whether skipped questions are penalised. Do not aim at a number. The only official rule is that calculators are not permitted, which is the part actually worth preparing for.

Source: JobTestPrep, The Optiver Test (prep site; unsourced)

NumberLogic / number-sequence test (reported)

Category practice

Single source

A prep site reports a sequence-completion test of around 25 minutes: work out the rule generating a series of numbers and supply the missing term. Single-source, and the duration is unverified. We link no SHL inductive-reasoning practice here — doing so would imply an SHL relationship this page exists partly to correct.

Source: JobTestPrep, The Optiver Test (prep site; unsourced)

Beat the Odds — probability under time pressure (reported)

Category practice

Single source

A prep site reports a short probability section under a clock. The question counts and timings quoted for it are unverified prep-site figures. The underlying skill — fast expected-value and probability reasoning — is worth practising regardless, because it reappears in the technical interviews where it is much better evidenced.

Source: JobTestPrep, The Optiver Test (prep site; unsourced)

Zap-Q personality questionnaire (reported)

Category practice

Single source

A prep site reports a work-style questionnaire of roughly twenty minutes. The name has never been published by Optiver. As with any personality instrument, answer consistently and honestly — inconsistency across similar items is the thing these are built to detect.

Source: JobTestPrep, The Optiver Test (prep site; unsourced)

Likelihood / event-ordering section (reported by a small number of 2026 candidates)

Category practice

Anecdotal

The weakest item on this page, included only because it is recent. A candidate-report database entry from 2026 sittings describes reading a chart or data table and ranking three events from most to least likely, around fifteen questions at roughly ninety seconds each. It is marked low-frequency among reported experiences and the full detail is paywalled. It may be a limited trial rather than a standard section — do not build preparation around it.

Source: 1Point3Acres, Optiver likelihood/event-ordering entry (candidate reports, low frequency, partly paywalled)

Good to know: None of the section or game names above is Optiver’s own terminology, and prep-site lists do not agree with each other — one names Figure-It-Out, Grill-Master and Shapeshift, which appear nowhere else; the other instead names a 24-points arithmetic game, a dial-timing reaction test and a pattern-deduction game. Neither cites a source, and prep sites copy each other, so two sites saying the same thing is one source, not two. Only the block-stacking and digit-recall tasks have corroboration from an independent candidate account, and that account is from 2023 and one role. The number of exercises is not fixed, no pass mark is published, and no practice route on this site is a simulator of Optiver’s battery — Optiver uses no game vendor. Your invitation is the only document that tells you what you are actually sitting. If yours names the sections, tell us so this page can be tightened.

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Who gets the Optiver assessment?

Optiver is one of the few large employers that does not buy its assessment from anybody. The Europe recruitment FAQ names the "Optiver Assessment Platform" and describes its own one-time-code and authenticator-app login, and the live portal at assessment-portal.optiver.com authenticates through Optiver’s own Okta and STS on Optiver-controlled AWS infrastructure. Fetched directly, it carries no script, domain or branding from SHL, Aon, pymetrics, Arctic Shores, HireVue, Criteria or any other assessment vendor. The one third party Optiver does name officially is HackerRank, and only for the Software and FPGA coding assessments.

That matters because most of what is written about Optiver online is wrong in a specific way. Prep sites assert that Optiver applicants take an SHL test; none of them cites an official source, a candidate report, or even a role or region, and the portal contains no SHL fingerprint. Others point candidates at pymetrics or Arctic Shores practice because a reported Optiver task involves pumping a balloon — but balloon-pumping risk tasks are a public psychometric paradigm that many publishers implement independently, and no source places either vendor at Optiver. This page links no vendor practice route for exactly that reason.

Optiver itself invites this skepticism. Its US campus Q&A asks "There’s a lot of information out there about your interview process. How do I know what’s true and what’s not?" and answers by telling candidates to ask its recruiters. So here is the honest division: Optiver officially publishes its stage order by role, its eight-month attempt rule, the no-calculator rule, its invitation timing and its deadlines. It has never published what is inside the assessment. Every section name you will read below — 80-in-8, Zap-N, NumberLogic, Beat the Odds, Zap-Q — comes from candidates and prep sites, not from Optiver, and this page says so at every point.

The single fact most worth internalising before you apply: assessments can be completed only once every eight months, the rule applies "across all offices and roles", scores carry forward automatically rather than triggering a fresh invitation, and Optiver offers no resets or retakes once an attempt has started. A rushed sitting for an Amsterdam Career Kickstarter role is the same score a Chicago internship or a Sydney graduate application will be judged on.

Career Kickstarter — Trading (Amsterdam), 30 November to 4 December 2026

A five-day program at Optiver’s Amsterdam headquarters for BSc and MSc students graduating from European universities, open to all Econometrics and STEM backgrounds with no prior finance experience needed. Two stages only: an online assessment, then technical interviews. Applications close 17:00 CEST on 20 September 2026 and the online assessment is due 23:59 CEST the same day.

Official source

Source: Optiver careers, Career Kickstarter - Trading 2026 (official job posting)

Career Kickstarter — Tech (Amsterdam), 23 to 27 November 2026

Five days at Amsterdam HQ for BSc, MSc or PhD students and graduates in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a related technical field from an EU, EEA or UK university, graduating between May 2025 and August 2027. Requires C++, Python or Java plus algorithms, memory and concurrency, CPU architecture, operating systems and relational databases. No trading experience needed. Applications close 13 September 2026 at 17:00 CET; online assessment in the second half of September; technical interviews through mid-October. Top performers can receive a direct Graduate Software Engineer offer.

Official source

Source: Optiver careers, Career Kickstarter - Tech (official job posting)

Amsterdam summer internship (10 weeks, July to August)

Tracks in trading, research and technology. Optiver Europe notes some flexibility on timing is possible for certain business areas and says to raise it in the behavioural interview. Amsterdam is also where graduates from other offices do their initial training.

Official source

Source: Applying to Optiver Europe: Recruitment FAQ

Sydney internships — Trading, Research, Risk and Technology

For penultimate-year students finishing studies in 2027. Trading, Research and Risk internships run eight weeks over summer from December 2026; Technology runs ten weeks from December 2026. Process: Application, Online assessment, Behavioural interview, a role-specific technical stage where one applies, then a final interview day. Applications are rolling with no fixed closing date.

Official source

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

Sydney graduate intakes — and the catch

Optiver Sydney runs two graduate intakes, September 2026 for mid-year finishers and February 2027. Graduates in Trading, Research and Risk do initial training in Amsterdam alongside global peers before returning to Sydney, and Technology graduates likewise start with Amsterdam training. But Optiver states it will not open separate graduate roles in Sydney this year — Career Kickstarter is the graduate pathway there, so do not wait for a graduate posting that is not coming.

Official source

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

FutureFocus (Sydney) — pre-penultimate insight program

A five-day program for pre-penultimate students finishing studies in 2028 or 2029, including first-years, in two streams: Trading and Research, or Technology. It runs three times a year — twice in May 2026 and once in September 2026 — with applications opening in January for the May programs and June for the September one. Excelling can lead to a direct 2027/28 Summer Internship offer. Process: Application, Online assessment, Behavioural interview. Note that even this insight route starts with the same online assessment, and it counts against your eight months.

Official source

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

Career Kickstarter (Sydney) — the graduate pathway

Five days of lectures, coding workshops, trading simulations and mentorship for final-year students or graduates of no more than three years, in Technology, Trading or Research streams. Applications opened December 2025 and the program ran in March 2026 — that cycle is complete, so watch for the next opening rather than treating those dates as live. Excelling can secure a full-time graduate offer. Process: Application, Online assessment, Behavioural interview.

Official source

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

PhD Quant Lab (Sydney)

A two-day insights program for PhD students covering quantitative finance, with sessions from traders, researchers and developers. Applications open in April and the program runs in July 2026. PhD students may alternatively apply directly to the role matching their graduation year.

Official source

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

US internships — Chicago, Austin and New York, Summer 2027

Quantitative (Quant Trading or Quant Research, with the split assigned through the interview process), Software Engineering, and Trading Automation and Operations. Quantitative interns need a STEM Bachelor’s or Master’s graduating December 2027 to June 2029 with sophomore standing or higher; SWE interns need CS or CE graduating December 2027 to June 2028 with junior standing or higher. Trading Automation and Operations is a ten-week internship with return-offer potential in Chicago, Austin, New York or Amsterdam. US offices sponsor visas for select roles as stated per job description.

Official source

Source: Optiver careers, Quantitative Intern Summer 2027 Chicago (official job posting)

No finance background required — Optiver says so directly

Optiver’s US campus Q&A states: "No financial experience is necessary to succeed at Optiver. Many of our new hires have no prior knowledge of the trading industry before joining. Our training program teaches you everything you need to know in order to thrive in your role." Sydney hires across diverse academic backgrounds, particularly STEM and quantitative or technical degrees.

Official source

Source: Optiver US campus recruiting Q&A

Experienced hires — same rules, unpublished stage order

Optiver Europe lists experienced roles for people with more than three years’ work experience, and the eight-month assessment rule and Assessment Platform policies apply firm-wide, "across all offices and roles". Optiver also runs a separate experienced-hire event, The Trading Floor, described as "a series of exercises and challenges built on the real job" for experienced institutional trading professionals. What Optiver does not publish is a stage list for experienced hires — the per-role flows on this page are campus flows only.

Official source

Source: Applying to Optiver Europe: Recruitment FAQ

How does the Optiver assessment work?

Optiver runs its own platform — this is the load-bearing fact

Official source

Optiver’s Europe recruitment FAQ names the "Optiver Assessment Platform" and describes its own one-time-code and authenticator-app login flow. We fetched the portal itself: assessment-portal.optiver.com returns HTTP 200, is titled "Optiver Assessment Portal", and authenticates through optiver.okta.com and sts.optiver.com on Optiver-controlled AWS infrastructure. A search of the whole page for SHL, Aon, cut-e, pymetrics, Arctic Shores, HireVue, Criteria, Revelian, Talent Q, Mettl and Codility returned nothing. Candidates in forums refer to it as the OAP.

Source: Optiver Assessment Portal (live login page, fetched HTTP 200)

Who wrote the games inside it is not public

Estimate / inference

The portal is unambiguously Optiver-hosted and Optiver-authenticated, and no vendor fingerprint appears in it. That is not the same as proof that Optiver built the exercises itself — a white-labelled engine served inside Optiver’s own portal cannot be ruled out from the outside, and Optiver has never said whether the battery is built in-house or licensed. What you can rely on is the platform, not the authorship.

Source: Optiver Assessment Portal fetch, reviewed 11 September 2026

HackerRank is the only vendor Optiver names, and only for coding

Official source

The Sydney campus FAQ states: "You can complete the Software HackerRank assessment in C++, Java and Python", and for hardware roles, "The FPGA HackerRank assessment will probe your understanding of Digital Circuit Design, FPGAs and a bit of hardware code comprehension - code snippets are given in both VHDL and Verilog." These are timed coding rounds for Software and FPGA roles, not games, and not a general stage every applicant sees.

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

One attempt every eight months, across every office and role

Official source

Optiver Europe: "assessments can only be completed once every 8 months. If you have already completed the tests for a similar role within this period, your previous results will automatically be used and you will not receive a new assessment invitation." Sydney adds that this applies "across all offices and roles" — which is why you may log in and find assessments already marked complete the day you were invited. Optiver will not undo it: "to ensure a fair and consistent recruitment process for all candidates, we’re unable to offer assessment resets or retakes within 8 months once an attempt has been started." US postings repeat the bar: if you completed an online assessment or interviewed for a quantitative graduate or internship role at any Optiver location in the past eight months, you are not yet eligible to reapply.

Source: Applying to Optiver Europe: Recruitment FAQ; Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

No calculators

Official source

Optiver states plainly: "To effectively evaluate your skills, the use of calculators is not permitted during our assessment." Practice your mental arithmetic on paper or in your head, not with a calculator to hand — the gap between the two is larger than most people expect under a clock.

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

The invitation takes 24 to 48 hours — check spam

Official source

Optiver Sydney: "It can take 24-48 hours for the assessment to appear in your inbox." Check promotions and spam folders before assuming something went wrong. You log in with a one-time code sent to your email, or through an authenticator app you set up yourself, so have a phone to hand at the start.

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

Optiver has never published what is inside the assessment

Official source

We checked its official recruitment FAQs for Europe, Sydney and the US, its careers hub, its job postings and its recruitment-events pages. None names a section, a game, a question count or a cut score. Optiver’s own US Q&A tells candidates to ask its recruiters rather than trust third-party descriptions of its process. Every section name circulating online is therefore candidate terminology, and should be read as a rough indication of format rather than a syllabus.

Source: Optiver US campus recruiting Q&A; official FAQ pages reviewed 11 September 2026

No pass mark exists publicly — ignore the numbers you have read

No evidence found

Optiver publishes no cut score for any section. Prep sites quote pass marks in the mid-50s and competitive scores around 70 on the reported mental-arithmetic section, but they cite no source and disagree with each other — including on the basic question of whether skipped questions are penalised. One prep site’s own text says "A passing score is higher than 55, but you’ll want to achieve around 70 or above", which is already inconsistent with the figure most often repeated elsewhere. The only official rule about that section is that calculators are not permitted.

Source: JobTestPrep, The Optiver Test (prep site; unsourced, internally inconsistent)

Optiver’s only official preparation advice

Official source

"Our interview process is meant to assess your ability to problem solve and use logic and reasoning in different formats. You do not need any prior trading knowledge to be successful in our interview process. However, it may be helpful to practice activities that involve quick problem-solving skills, such as mental math and strategy games." Optiver also frames mental math as necessary but not sufficient: "Being good at mental math is necessary but insufficient to thrive as a Trader at Optiver. In addition to quantitative skills, you also need to be a quick decision-maker and stay cool under pressure."

Source: Optiver US campus recruiting Q&A

One campus role at a time

Official source

Optiver US: "You will only be considered for one campus role at a time, so please apply to your top preference. Once you have completed the process for one campus role, you may then apply for a different role." Sydney says the same and asks candidates who applied to the wrong role to email careers@optiver.com.au rather than reapply online. Combined with the eight-month rule, this means the order in which you apply to Optiver roles genuinely matters.

Source: Optiver US campus recruiting Q&A

No SHL, no pymetrics, no Arctic Shores, no Aon, no HireVue, no Criteria

No evidence found

The widely repeated claim that Optiver uses SHL traces to prep sites that cite nothing — one asserts "One of the assessments that Optiver applicants are required to take is the SHL test" with no official source, no candidate report, and no role, region or cycle attached — plus one hearsay line in a crowd-sourced list about percentile cutoffs. Nothing places pymetrics, Arctic Shores, Aon or cut-e, Criteria or Revelian at Optiver either, and no source anywhere reports a one-way or on-demand video interview: Optiver describes its final rounds as live virtual interviews with the hiring team. The portal fetch contains none of these vendors.

Source: Optiver Assessment Portal fetch; targeted vendor checks across official, candidate and prep sources, 11 September 2026

No individual feedback, and no regional vendor variation found

Official source

Optiver does not give individual feedback on applications or assessments, citing application volume. On regions: Optiver names Mumbai, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong and London as offices, but no region-specific assessment evidence was found for any of them, and the Sydney FAQ’s "across all offices and roles" wording points to one shared battery rather than local variants. No evidence of any separate regional drive with a different provider exists.

Source: Optiver US campus recruiting Q&A; Applying to Optiver Europe: Recruitment FAQ

What happens in the Optiver hiring process?

Sydney: the most fully published stage order Optiver has

Optiver Sydney publishes a stage-by-stage flow for each role family — the most detailed official breakdown of any region, and the best template for what to expect elsewhere.

1Apply through the job listing. Sydney eligibility is restricted to Australian or New Zealand citizens, Australian permanent residents, or international students studying at an Australian university. Applied to the wrong role? Email careers@optiver.com.au rather than reapplying online.
2Online assessment on the Optiver Assessment Platform. The invitation can take 24 to 48 hours; log in with an emailed one-time code or your authenticator app; no calculators. One attempt every eight months across all offices and roles.
3Behavioural interview with a recruiter — the next step for every Sydney campus role. Slots are booked through Calendly, first come first served, with new days opening on a rolling cadence.
4Role-specific technical stage: Software Developer and FPGA Developer get a technical interview; Quantitative Research and Market Risk get a technical assignment; Quantitative Trading, FutureFocus and Career Kickstarter have none.
5Final stage: Software Developer’s final day is 2 technical plus 1 behavioural; FPGA’s is 1 technical plus 1 behavioural; Quantitative Trading ends at a final interview day; Research and Risk end at a final interview.

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

Amsterdam Career Kickstarter: two stages, and a deadline trap

The European Career Kickstarter programs run the shortest funnel Optiver publishes — and the tightest calendar.

1Apply through the Optiver job posting. Optiver Europe cannot accept CVs or applications by email or any other channel.
2Sit the online assessment. For Career Kickstarter - Trading 2026, applications close 17:00 CEST on 20 September 2026 and the assessment is due 23:59 CEST the same day — applying at the last minute leaves you no time to sit it. For Career Kickstarter - Tech, applications close 13 September 2026 at 17:00 CET and the assessment runs in the second half of September.
3Technical interviews: September to October for Trading, through mid-October for Tech.
4The program itself: Tech 23 to 27 November 2026, Trading 30 November to 4 December 2026, both in Amsterdam. Top performers can receive a direct offer — a Graduate Software Engineer offer on the Tech side.

Source: Optiver careers, Career Kickstarter - Trading 2026 (official job posting)

The US: online assessment, interviews, virtual final

Optiver’s US campus Q&A gives the shape rather than a per-role breakdown.

1Apply to one campus role — you are considered for one at a time, so lead with your top preference.
2Optiver states "the interview process starts with an online assessment", followed by behavioural and technical interviews. The eight-month bar is stated in US postings too: an assessment or interview for a quantitative graduate or internship role at any Optiver location in the past eight months makes you ineligible to reapply yet.
3The final step is a virtual interview with the hiring team; Optiver confirms "All final round interviews will be conducted virtually."
4Expect an update within a week of applying and a response within a week of an interview. If you have a competing offer deadline, tell your recruiter so the decision can be expedited.

Source: Optiver US campus recruiting Q&A

What the technical stages actually cover

The interview content is much better evidenced than the assessment content, partly because Optiver publishes some of it and partly because candidate accounts converge.

1Trading and quant: probability problems and expected-value reasoning, brainteasers and logic puzzles, and mental arithmetic drilled live under time pressure. Candidates report probability questions appearing as early as the recruiter round.
2Quantitative Research and Market Risk: a technical assignment rather than a live technical interview. Optiver says machine learning "acts as a core part of some of our trading, not just a secondary tool" and advises flagging an AI or ML interest during the process.
3Software: code in whichever language you are most comfortable with. Optiver’s engineers most commonly use C, C++, C#, Java and Python, and Optiver’s own stated reason for preferring C++ is deterministic performance and control of the runtime — useful context for latency and memory-management questions.
4FPGA: Verilog or VHDL, with digital circuit design and hardware code comprehension on the HackerRank stage.
5Career Kickstarter Tech eligibility signals the ground covered on the software side: algorithms, memory and concurrency, CPU architecture, operating systems and relational databases.
6Later trader rounds: candidates widely report a market-making exercise — quoting two-sided prices on an unknown quantity while the interviewer trades against you, with attention to how you update after a bad fill, manage inventory and communicate under pressure. This is candidate-reported, not something Optiver describes.

Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs

What the behavioural rounds cover

Optiver publishes less here than on the stage order, but enough to prepare against.

1Motivation for trading and for Optiver specifically, plus a walk through your background and degree.
2CV updates: Optiver Europe directs candidates to raise changes in this interview rather than emailing them in.
3Competing offers and timelines — Optiver asks you to surface these here so it can adjust.
4Team orientation and self-improvement: Optiver describes its people as "team players who are constantly looking to improve, curious to understand other perspectives and actively contributing to discussions".
5Which desk fits: Optiver’s own framing distinguishes Options Market Maker (puzzles, decisions under uncertainty), Delta 1 (statistical analysis, big data) and Institutional (relationships, communication).
6Final rounds: Optiver says these "do not require technical preparation", that it sends resources and tips beforehand, and that dress is casual — "We encourage candidates to dress in what is most comfortable for them."

Source: Optiver US campus recruiting Q&A

When is the Optiver assessment?

Optiver’s calendar is regional and, in Sydney, entirely rolling. The pattern worth memorising for Amsterdam is that the online assessment deadline lands on or immediately after the application deadline, not weeks later. Everything below was checked on 11 September 2026.

Cycle	Application dates	Likely assessment window	Evidence
The eight-month rule — firm-wide, all offices and roles	Not a date: one attempt per eight months, scores carried forward automatically	One sitting per eight months. No resets and no retakes once an attempt has started	Official source The rule that trips up the most candidates, and the reason the order of your Optiver applications matters. Optiver Europe: "assessments can only be completed once every 8 months. If you have already completed the tests for a similar role within this period, your previous results will automatically be used and you will not receive a new assessment invitation." Sydney applies it "across all offices and roles", and US postings bar reapplication within eight months of an assessment or interview for a quantitative graduate or internship role at any Optiver location. Practical consequence: a rushed sitting for one Optiver role burns the score every other Optiver role will use. Source: Applying to Optiver Europe: Recruitment FAQ; Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs
Career Kickstarter - Trading 2026 (Amsterdam), program 30 November to 4 December 2026	Applications close 17:00 CEST on 20 September 2026	Online assessment due 23:59 CEST on 20 September 2026 — the same day the application closes. Technical interviews September to October	Official source The single most important scheduling fact on this page: the assessment deadline is the same day as the application deadline, not a later one. Applying at the last minute leaves you no time to sit it, and given the eight-month rule you do not want to sit it in a panic. Eligibility is BSc and MSc students graduating from European universities between September 2024 and September 2027. Source: Optiver careers, Career Kickstarter - Trading 2026 (official job posting)
Career Kickstarter - Tech (Amsterdam), program 23 to 27 November 2026	Applications close 13 September 2026 at 17:00 CET	Online assessment in the second half of September 2026; technical interviews scheduled through mid-October 2026	Official source Same two-stage funnel and the same pattern of the assessment immediately following the application close. Eligibility is CS or CE students and graduates from an EU, EEA or UK university graduating May 2025 to August 2027. Source: Optiver careers, Career Kickstarter - Tech (official job posting)
Europe 2027 campus cycle (internships and graduate roles)	Optiver Europe expected to open applications around the end of August 2026	Online assessment follows application on the Optiver Assessment Platform	Official source Optiver Europe: "We expect to open applications for our 2027 campus roles, including internship and graduate positions, around the end of August 2026." Eligibility for the 2026/2027 season is set by graduation date rather than year label: more than three years of work experience means experienced roles; graduating October 2023 to October 2027 means graduate roles or Career Kickstarter; graduating November 2027 to October 2028 in a penultimate year means internships. Source: Applying to Optiver Europe: Recruitment FAQ
Sydney 2026-27 internships and 2026 FutureFocus	Rolling — "applications will close as soon as the positions are filled. We recommend applying early!"	Invitation can take 24 to 48 hours; complete within the deadline stated in your invitation	Official source There is no fixed Sydney closing date, so late applicants can find roles already filled. Extensions are possible by emailing careers@optiver.com.au, but Optiver asks candidates to complete the assessment as soon as they can. Program starts: Trading, Research and Risk internships run eight weeks from December 2026; Technology runs ten weeks from December 2026; graduate intakes are September 2026 and February 2027; FutureFocus runs twice in May 2026 and once in September 2026, with applications opening in January and June respectively; the PhD Quant Lab opens applications in April for a July 2026 program. Source: Optiver Sydney campus recruiting FAQs
US Summer 2027 internships (Chicago, Austin, New York)	Per job posting; Optiver aims to give an update within a week of applying	The process "starts with an online assessment" before any interview; all final rounds are virtual	Official source Quantitative interns need a STEM Bachelor’s or Master’s graduating December 2027 to June 2029 with sophomore standing or higher; Software Engineering interns need CS or CE graduating December 2027 to June 2028 with junior standing or higher. Trading Automation and Operations is a ten-week internship with return-offer potential in Chicago, Austin, New York or Amsterdam. Visa sponsorship is offered for select roles as stated per job description. Source: Optiver careers, Quantitative Intern Summer 2027 Chicago (official job posting)
Response times, firm-wide	Not a deadline — Optiver’s own service targets	n/a	Official source Europe aims to contact all candidates within seven working days, longer in high-volume periods. The US promises an update within a week of applying and a response within a week of an interview. Candidates with competing offer deadlines are told to inform their recruiter so a decision can be expedited. Optiver gives no individual feedback on applications or assessments, citing volume. Source: Optiver US campus recruiting Q&A; Applying to Optiver Europe: Recruitment FAQ
A completed cycle, shown only as a pattern	Career Kickstarter - Trading applications closed 17:00 CET on 14 December 2025	Assessments were due 23:59 CET on 14 December 2025; interviews January 2026; program March 2026	Official source This cycle is finished and is not an opportunity — it is here because it shows the recurring shape: apply in December for a March program, or in September for a late-November one, with the assessment due the same day the application closes. Do not treat these dates as current. Source: Optiver careers, Career Kickstarter - Trading 2026 (official job posting; prior-cycle pattern)

How to practice for the Optiver assessment

Prepare for Optiver differently than for a vendor-game employer, because the constraint is different. With most employers you can sit the games, learn the interface, and try again next cycle. Optiver gives you one attempt every eight months across every office and role, carries the score forward automatically, and will not reset it once an attempt has started. The practical rule that follows: do not open the assessment until you are actually ready, and do not apply to a second-choice Optiver role first.

Prepare by format, not by section name. Optiver has never published its sections, so drilling a leaked list is drilling somebody’s guess. What every account and Optiver’s own guidance agree on is the shape of the thing: fast mental arithmetic without a calculator, short cognitive exercises under time pressure, and probability reasoning. Optiver’s only official advice is to "practice activities that involve quick problem-solving skills, such as mental math and strategy games", and it adds that mental math is "necessary but insufficient" — the rest is decision-making speed and staying calm.

Our practice metrics track your improvement across sessions. Optiver publishes no scoring model and no cutoff for any section, so treat prep-site pass marks as noise and aim at your own trend instead.

Step 1

Decide your Optiver application order before you apply at all

You are considered for one campus role at a time, and one assessment covers you for eight months across all offices and roles. Pick the role you most want, apply to that first, and do not burn the attempt on a warm-up application. If you applied to the wrong role in Sydney, email careers@optiver.com.au rather than reapplying online.

Step 2

Do not open the assessment until you are ready to sit it

Optiver will not offer resets or retakes within eight months once an attempt has been started. Read the invitation, note the deadline, then schedule a quiet block for it — but be careful with the Amsterdam Career Kickstarter deadlines, where the assessment is due the same day the application closes. Apply days early, not hours early.

Step 3

Drill mental arithmetic with no calculator, under a clock

Optiver states outright that calculators are not permitted. Whatever the exact section format turns out to be, fast multiplication, division, percentages, fractions and decimals in your head is the skill it rewards, and a few seconds per question is the reported pace. Practice at that speed rather than at a comfortable one, because the gap only shows up under the clock.

Step 4

Practice probability and expected value out loud

This is the one skill that pays twice: it is reported in the assessment and it is well evidenced in the technical interviews and later trader rounds. Work through expected-value problems, conditional-probability puzzles and classic brainteasers, and say your reasoning aloud — interviewers are reading how you think, not just the answer.

Step 5

Build a cognitive baseline without assuming the lineup

The reported exercises cluster into three demands: planning ahead (block-stacking), short-term memory (digit recall), and switching between rules under speed. One session on each shows you which is weakest. Do not treat any published game list as a syllabus — the set varies by role and cycle, and prep-site lists contradict each other.

Step 6

Software and FPGA: prepare the HackerRank round separately

This is the one officially named third-party stage. Software candidates may use C++, Java or Python; candidate accounts describe two questions in about two hours at medium-to-hard difficulty, sometimes an order-book implementation, plus a short multiple-choice section on object-oriented concepts. FPGA candidates need Verilog or VHDL and should revise digital circuit design and hardware code comprehension.

Step 7

Set up real conditions, and have your phone to hand

Quiet room, laptop or desktop, notifications off, one sitting. You log in with a one-time code emailed to you or through an authenticator app you set up yourself, so do not start the process on a device away from your phone. The invitation can take 24 to 48 hours to arrive — check spam and promotions before assuming something went wrong.

Step 8

Treat your invitation as the only authority

Optiver’s own US Q&A tells candidates to ask its recruiters rather than trust third-party accounts of its process, and it is right. Nothing on this page overrides what your invitation says about sections, timings or deadlines. If it names the sections, that settles it.

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Optiver assessment FAQ

Does Optiver use SHL, pymetrics, Arctic Shores or HireVue?

No evidence supports any of them. Optiver runs its own Optiver Assessment Platform: the live portal at assessment-portal.optiver.com authenticates through Optiver’s own Okta and STS on Optiver-controlled infrastructure, and contains no script, domain or branding from any assessment vendor. The widely repeated "Optiver uses SHL" claim traces only to prep sites that cite no official source, no candidate report and no role or region, plus one hearsay line in a crowd-sourced list. The only third party Optiver names officially is HackerRank, and only for its Software and FPGA coding assessments.

What is actually in the Optiver online assessment?

Optiver has never published it. Candidates and prep sites describe a mental-arithmetic section (reported as 80 questions in 8 minutes), a short battery of cognitive games often called Zap-N, a number-sequence test, a probability section and a personality questionnaire — but those names are candidate terminology, not Optiver’s, and prep-site game lists contradict each other. Only two exercises, block-stacking and digit recall, have corroboration from an independent candidate account, and that account is from 2023 and one role. Optiver itself tells candidates to ask its recruiters rather than trust third-party descriptions.

How many games are in the Optiver assessment?

There is no fixed number. A public 2023 graduate software candidate write-up recorded nine short games in about an hour, which is where the widely quoted figure comes from. But one prep site reports recent quantitative trading and PhD invitations showing as few as three, and Optiver plainly configures the battery by role and cycle. Your invitation is the only reliable guide.

Can I retake the Optiver assessment if it goes badly?

No. Optiver allows one attempt every eight months and states it is "unable to offer assessment resets or retakes within 8 months once an attempt has been started". The rule applies "across all offices and roles": if you already sat it for a similar role in that period, your previous results are used automatically and you will not receive a new invitation. This is why you should apply to your first-choice Optiver role first and only open the assessment when you are ready.

What score do I need to pass the Optiver assessment?

How long does it take to get the Optiver assessment invitation?

Optiver says "It can take 24-48 hours for the assessment to appear in your inbox" — check spam and promotions folders before contacting anyone. You log in with a one-time code sent to your email or through an authenticator app you set up yourself, so have your phone with you when you start.

Does Optiver have a video interview?

Not a recorded or one-way one, on any evidence we could find. Optiver describes its final stage as a live interview with the hiring team, and its US Q&A confirms "All final round interviews will be conducted virtually" — virtual meaning live and remote, not pre-recorded. No source reports an on-demand video stage at Optiver.

Do I need a finance background to apply to Optiver?

No. Optiver states: "No financial experience is necessary to succeed at Optiver. Many of our new hires have no prior knowledge of the trading industry before joining. Our training program teaches you everything you need to know in order to thrive in your role." Its only preparation advice is to practice quick problem-solving activities such as mental math and strategy games.

Can I apply to more than one Optiver role at once?

No. Optiver considers you for one campus role at a time and tells candidates to apply to their top preference first; once you have completed the process for one role, you may apply for another. Combined with the eight-month assessment rule, the order in which you apply genuinely matters.

Game Assessment Prep is independent and is not affiliated with Optiver or HireVue. Employer processes can change by program, role, country, and recruiting cycle. Follow your invitation over this guide. Claims were reviewed against the linked employer, vendor, and candidate sources in July 2026 and labeled by evidence strength. How we research and label claims.

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