PDT Partners hires Quant Researcher and Software Engineer. Candidates report 5 interview stages. Below: what each round tests and how to prepare, the timeline, roles and a 4-week prep plan, drawn from candidate reports and PDT Partners's own recruiting pages.
PDT Partners interview: quick answer
- Stages5
- Online assessmentTake-home + algorithms
- Final roundOnsite: Final rounds - the toughest reported problems
- RolesQuant Researcher, Software Engineer
Preparing for PDT Partners? Work the rounds in order in the free PDT Partners interview funnel.
The PDT Partners interview process at a glance
| # | Round | Format and length | Prep |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recruiter Screen | Phone - background + fit | Practice |
| 2 | Take-Home / Coding | Take-home + algorithms | OA guidePractice |
| 3 | Probability & Statistics | 45-60 min - video | GuidePractice |
| 4 | Regression, ML & Time-Series | 45-60 min - research | GuidePractice |
| 5 | Onsite Hardest Rounds | Final rounds - the toughest reported problems | Practice |
Stages are listed in the order candidates report them. Formats come from candidate reports and change between cycles, offices and teams; not every candidate sees every stage.
Every PDT Partners round: what it tests and how to prepare
1Recruiter Screen
An intro conversation about background and interest, sometimes with a quick technical warm-up.
How to prepare
- Know why this firm / why the role.
- Warm up mental math + basics.
- Think aloud.
2Take-Home / Coding
A coding take-home plus clean algorithm/data-structure problems (merge k sorted streams, reference-counted smart pointer, lazy-propagation stack).
Question types: mostly coding, especially data structures, dynamic programming, arrays and C++. Latest candidate report for this round: Jul 2026.
How to prepare
- Clean C++ -- smart pointers, RAII, complexity.
- Streams/iterators -- merge-k, generic interfaces.
- Treat the take-home like production code.
PDT Partners online assessment guide →Practice this round (11 questions) →
3Probability & Statistics
Probability, expectation, statistics, and combinatorics -- estimator reasoning and Bayesian updates.
Question types: mostly probability, statistics and expectation, especially discrete probability, independence, symmetry and uniform distribution. Latest candidate report for this round: May 2018.
How to prepare
- Estimator properties -- bias, variance.
- Combinatorial counting done cleanly.
Full Probability & Statistics guide →Practice this round (14 questions) →
4Regression, ML & Time-Series
Regression pitfalls, machine learning, linear algebra, and time-series with a research flavor.
Question types: mostly regression, machine learning and time series, especially matrix operations, regularization, convex optimization and cross validation.
How to prepare
- Time-series CV -- walk-forward, purge, embargo.
- Bias-variance / regularization judgment.
Full Regression, ML & Time-Series guide →Practice this round (14 questions) →
5Onsite: Hardest Rounds
The hardest reported PDT Partners problems across every topic.
Question types: mostly statistics, coding and expectation, especially maximum likelihood, discrete probability, hypothesis testing and matrix operations. Latest candidate report for this round: Jul 2018.
How to prepare
- Expect the hardest variants across all topics.
- Stay composed under follow-ups.
- Connect the math back to the desk.
Practice the PDT Partners rounds in order
Each round in the PDT Partners funnel has its own practice set, with worked solutions and progress tracking. A free account saves your progress across rounds.
A 4-week PDT Partners prep plan
Built from the order of PDT Partners's rounds and the topics in each round's practice set. Compress it if your first interview is sooner.
| When | Focus | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Foundations | Review coding, probability and statistics, the topics that dominate PDT Partners's practice sets. Start with Quant coding course and Probability course. Work the easy and medium questions in the PDT Partners question set. |
| Week 2 | Early rounds: Recruiter Screen | Practice the screening topics under time pressure, and read the OA guide. Add a daily mental-math drill. Talk every answer through out loud; interviewers score the reasoning. |
| Week 3 | Later rounds: Take-Home / Coding, Probability & Statistics, Regression, ML & Time-Series and Onsite | Move to coding, probability and statistics. Do timed coding sessions in your interview language. Read how quant superdays work. |
| Week 4 | Rehearse the full loop | Run each practice round in order, redo the questions you missed, and prepare two project stories plus a specific answer to "why PDT Partners?" (see behavioral questions at trading firms). |
About PDT Partners
| Firm type | Systematic quant hedge fund |
|---|---|
| Trading style | Research + engineering · Systematic |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Headquarters | New York, NY |
| Other offices | London |
| AUM | ~$10.8B (2024) |
| Employees | ~265 |
| Origins | Began in 1993 as Process Driven Trading, a group inside Morgan Stanley |
| Offices | New York and London |
Culture
Process Driven Trading -- spun out of Morgan Stanley under Peter Muller. A research-deep systematic fund with a strong engineering culture (heavy C++).
What the interviews feel like
A take-home coding/data assignment plus clean C++/algorithms for engineers; probability, statistics, and modeling for researchers.
Practice for PDT Partners on QuantVault
Practice
Courses
Games and drills
Further reading
- How quant superdays work
- Behavioral questions at trading firms
- Mental math for trading interviews
- C++ and low-latency interview questions
- Market-making game interview guide
- The quant interview process, explained
Similar firms to compare
Firms with a similar business and interview style. Many candidates interview at several of them in the same cycle.
Sources and how this guide is built
- Updated October 20, 2026; firm data last reviewed May 30, 2026.
- Round detail draws on 11 questions candidates report from PDT Partners interviews (the most recent report across all rounds is from Jul 2026). A separate curated PDT Partners question set of 53 problems collects the most useful practice for this firm.
- PDT Partners's own pages: PDT Partners careers.
- Public candidate reports and outside interview guides are cross-checked against each other. Where they disagree the page says "reports differ"; details from a single source are marked as candidate reports.
- No actual interview questions are reproduced on this page. The questions, with worked solutions, are in the practice rounds.
PDT Partners interview FAQ
How many rounds are in the PDT Partners interview?
Candidates report 5 stages: Recruiter Screen, Take-Home / Coding, Probability & Statistics, Regression, ML & Time-Series, Onsite. The exact number varies by cycle and team.
Is there an online assessment at PDT Partners?
Candidates report one: Take-home + algorithms. A coding take-home plus clean algorithm/data-structure problems (merge k sorted streams, reference-counted smart pointer, lazy-propagation stack).
What happens in the PDT Partners final round?
Onsite (Final rounds - the toughest reported problems). The hardest reported PDT Partners problems across every topic.
How should I prepare for the PDT Partners interview?
Prepare round by round over about four weeks: foundations first, then the early rounds (Recruiter Screen, Take-Home / Coding, Probability & Statistics), then the later rounds, then a full rehearsal. Each round has its own practice set on QuantVault, and the online assessment has a dedicated guide.
What does PDT Partners do?
PDT Partners is a systematic quant hedge fund headquartered in New York, NY.
Start preparing for PDT Partners
Open the interactive PDT Partners interview funnel: every stage with its practice set, from the first screen to the final round. Create a free account to save your progress.