The SIG Quant / Technical Phone interview is stage 3 of 7 in the SIG interview process, after the Technical HR / Recruiter Screen. Format: 45 to 60 min · 1 to 2 rounds · phone or video. A harder probability round with a senior trader, often built around a dice game in which you choose which dice to reroll to improve your chance of a winning hand.
Preparing for this round? Practice the 60 questions mapped to the SIG Quant / Technical Phone, with worked solutions. A free account saves your progress.
What the Quant / Technical Phone tests
Expect an OLS or regression-efficiency derivation and an algorithm question discussed at the level of approach and complexity rather than live code.
QuantVault maps 60 practice problems to this round. By topic, the biggest groups are probability (25), expectation (20), linear algebra (3), game theory (2); by difficulty, 10 easy, 47 medium and 3 hard. 25 of them were reported by candidates who interviewed at SIG, most recently in Jan 2026.
Who takes this round: Trader / Quant Researcher candidates. See the full SIG process and who takes each round.
How to prepare for the Quant / Technical Phone
- The mahjong-dice game rewards EV estimation, not exact combinatorics. Reason about which reroll most improves your completion odds and roughly by how much.
- Be ready to derive OLS (β̂ and Var(β̂)) and explain when the estimator is efficient.
- For the algorithm question, talk approach + complexity — they rarely want you to type code, just reason cleanly.
Further reading: Behavioral questions at trading firms · C++ and low-latency interview questions · Fermi estimation questions · How quant superdays work · Market-making game interview guide.
Question types in this round
The 5 largest question types in the SIG Quant / Technical Phone practice set; across them the most common sub-topics are conditional probability, expected value, discrete probability, independence, first-passage and stopping times, Markov chains. The questions themselves, with worked solutions, are in the round practice.
Probability25 in this round
Expectation20 in this round
Linear Algebra3 in this round
Game Theory2 in this round
Optimization2 in this round
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Frequently asked questions
What is the SIG Quant / Technical Phone interview?
It is stage 3 of 7 in the SIG interview process, after the Technical HR / Recruiter Screen. Format: 45 to 60 min · 1 to 2 rounds · phone or video. A harder probability round with a senior trader, often built around a dice game in which you choose which dice to reroll to improve your chance of a winning hand. Expect an OLS or regression-efficiency derivation and an algorithm question discussed at the level of approach and complexity rather than live code.
How long is the SIG Quant / Technical Phone interview?
Candidates report: 45 to 60 min · 1 to 2 rounds · phone or video.
What questions come up in the SIG Quant / Technical Phone interview?
The practice set QuantVault maps to this round centers on probability, expectation, linear algebra.
How should I prepare for the SIG Quant / Technical Phone interview?
The mahjong-dice game rewards EV estimation, not exact combinatorics. Reason about which reroll most improves your completion odds and roughly by how much. Be ready to derive OLS (β̂ and Var(β̂)) and explain when the estimator is efficient.
What comes after the Quant / Technical Phone?
The Take-Home Data Exercise + On-Site Presentation (stage 4 of 7). Format: 3-day take-home · then an on-site project presentation round.
Practice the SIG Quant / Technical Phone round
Work the 60 mapped practice problems with progress tracking, then move to the next stage of the SIG funnel.