The Citadel First-Round Phone Screen interview is stage 2 of 8 in the Citadel interview process, after the Online Assessment. Format: 45-60 min - video. A 45-60 min remote interview blending technical and behavioural.
Preparing for this round? Practice the 13 questions mapped to the Citadel First-Round Phone Screen, with worked solutions. A free account saves your progress.
What the First-Round Phone Screen tests
Core technical: one coding question (LeetCode-medium, Python or C++) plus a probability/statistics question for quant tracks. Recruiter intro up front; they screen for correct, efficient code written quickly and for genuine interest in Citadel.
QuantVault maps 13 practice problems to this round. By topic, the biggest groups are expectation (6), coding (5), probability (2); by difficulty, 3 easy, 10 medium and 0 hard. 13 of them were reported by candidates who interviewed at Citadel, most recently in Jun 2026.
- A remote video interview on CoderPad: 45 to 60 minutes for quant research, 45 minutes for engineering. The link comes in advance, so test it.
- For quant research it covers programming, data structures and algorithms, and research ability, plus behavioural questions on internships, projects and why Citadel.
How to prepare for the First-Round Phone Screen
- They share screen via CoderPad — get comfortable with that UI before the call.
- Their probability questions LOVE conditional expectation. Drill it.
Further reading: Behavioral questions at trading firms · C++ and low-latency interview questions · How quant superdays work · Market-making game interview guide.
Question types in this round
The 3 largest question types in the Citadel First-Round Phone Screen practice set; across them the most common sub-topics are conditional probability, complexity analysis, data structures, expected value, first-passage and stopping times, geometric distribution. The questions themselves, with worked solutions, are in the round practice.
Expectation6 in this round
Coding5 in this round
Probability2 in this round
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Citadel First-Round Phone Screen interview?
It is stage 2 of 8 in the Citadel interview process, after the Online Assessment. Format: 45-60 min - video. A 45-60 min remote interview blending technical and behavioural. Core technical: one coding question (LeetCode-medium, Python or C++) plus a probability/statistics question for quant tracks.
How long is the Citadel First-Round Phone Screen interview?
Candidates report: 45-60 min - video.
What questions come up in the Citadel First-Round Phone Screen interview?
The practice set QuantVault maps to this round centers on expectation, coding, probability.
How should I prepare for the Citadel First-Round Phone Screen interview?
They share screen via CoderPad — get comfortable with that UI before the call. Their probability questions LOVE conditional expectation. Drill it.
What comes after the First-Round Phone Screen?
The Behavioral / Culture-Add Round (stage 3 of 8). Format: 30 min · with senior researcher.
Practice the Citadel First-Round Phone Screen round
Work the 13 mapped practice problems with progress tracking, then move to the next stage of the Citadel funnel.