SIG Quant Salary (2026): Trader & Researcher Comp Breakdown

Susquehanna International Group (SIG) is the firm that made options market making synonymous with poker and decision science, and its pay model reflects that philosophy: rather than dangling the largest guaranteed first-year number in the industry, SIG invests heavily in training new traders and then pays out against desk P&L as they prove themselves. Every figure below is candidate-reported — levels.fyi, Glassdoor, Wall Street Oasis, and aggregators like Quant Blueprint — as of mid-2026. Bonus-heavy comp is lumpy, so read everything as a reported range, not a promise.

How SIG's pay model actually works

SIG hires most new-grad quantitative traders into a structured trader development program: months of classes covering options theory, game theory, mock trading, and famously, poker, with each new hire paired with a senior trader as a mentor. Comp during and immediately after the program is a solid base plus a discretionary bonus tied to desk and firm performance. The number candidates fixate on — the year-one guarantee — is where SIG looks weakest against Citadel Securities or HRT. The number that matters more is the payout trajectory: candidate reports describe bonus and profit-share components that scale hard with P&L contribution at mid-level, with reported quant trader compensation spanning roughly $150k to over $1M depending on seniority and desk (per Quant Blueprint's aggregated range).

Reported numbers: intern to experienced

Honest caveats: Glassdoor and levels.fyi samples skew toward people who submit, SIG discloses less than firms subject to NYC pay-transparency postings (its main trading floor is in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania), and the spread between a median trader and a strong options desk in a volatile year is enormous. Treat the wide ranges as the honest answer.

Trader vs researcher vs developer

• Quantitative Trader (QT): SIG's signature track. Lower guaranteed year-one pay than the top market makers, but the payout path — bonus tied to desk P&L, with reported profit-share elements at mid-level — is how SIG traders reach the reported $500k–$1M+ outcomes.
• Quantitative Researcher (QR): the modeling-heavy track. Levels.fyi self-reports put median TC well above the trader median at equivalent tenure, with less year-to-year swing.
• Quantitative Developer: reported TC of roughly $210k–$406k+ — competitive with big tech, below QR/QT ceilings.

How SIG comp stacks up against peers

On guaranteed new-grad money, candidate reports place SIG below Citadel Securities, Jane Street, and HRT, and roughly alongside Optiver and DRW — our 2026 quant salary guide has the full tier table. What the comparison misses is retention economics: SIG promotes from within, almost never hires experienced traders from outside, and pays its established traders against their book. If you want the highest year-one guarantee, look elsewhere; if you want a defined path to trading your own book, SIG's model is the argument.

Getting the offer

SIG's interview loop leans harder on probability, expected value, and game-theory reasoning than almost any other firm — poker questions are not folklore, they are the brand. Start with our SIG interview process guide for the full loop, drill the SIG online assessment practice set for the first screen, and work through real SIG interview questions with solutions before the phone rounds. Betting and market-making games show up live — our trading games are built for exactly that rehearsal.