Squarepoint Capital

Software Engineer Interview Experience - United Kingdom

March 1, 2022

Negative ExperienceNo Offer

Process

Interviewer was 20 mins later, then 10 mins rushed chat about my CV without any description of what the day to day work would be. Then started asking about oop and generators, before going into some easy-medium algo questions (3 of them).

Considering the interviewer turned up late, it would have been nice for him to say why I might want to work there. Got the immediate impression the negative reviews on glassdoor were correct.

The technical questions were poorly delivered as well, usually one would discuss with the interviewer, but this was more them sitting in silence while I coded even when I would speak to them.

Rushed questions at the end, interviewer gave one word answers.

Would suggest the company having two interviewers in case one of them turns up late or seems generally disinterested, or just send a link out to do some codility questions beforehand if that's all you want candidates to do.

Questions

What do dunder methods do, how do you inherit from a class (e.g. supers), generators

Find the median of an array

Find the sub-array in an array

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 32 interview experiences for the Squarepoint Capital Software Engineer role in United Kingdom.

Success Rate

13%

Pass Rate

Squarepoint Capital's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in the United Kingdom is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive53%

Neutral22%

Negative25%

Candidates reported having very good feelings for Squarepoint Capital's Software Engineer interview process in United Kingdom.

Squarepoint Capital Work Experiences

Growing firm, good colleagues

Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, United Kingdom

Pros: Squarepoint has clearly done very well over the past few years and is consistently growing and expanding as a result. That means a lot of career opportunities, and an environment that's anything but stale. I've noticed a lot of new faces showing up around the office recently, and there's a good positive culture emerging in the engineering teams - casual conversations at lunch, mid-week beers just outside the office on a sunny day, general camaraderie. Colleagues are very skilled. The cynical politics you might sometimes expect at a HF are not present, at least among the software engineering lot. Working here has been fantastic for my career.

Cons: Big growth means growing pains. There's some clear technical debt that needs paying down across some of the firm's systems, which becomes more obvious as scale increases. Not everyone's experience is the same. For better or for worse, different teams can have quite different management styles. Expectations are high. People who struggle can be left feeling exposed; despite the growth, there's clearly a culture of not accepting mediocrity.

Growing firm, good colleagues

Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, United Kingdom

Pros: Squarepoint has clearly done very well over the past few years and is consistently growing and expanding as a result. That means a lot of career opportunities, and an environment that's anything but stale. I've noticed a lot of new faces showing up around the office recently, and there's a good positive culture emerging in the engineering teams - casual conversations at lunch, mid-week beers just outside the office on a sunny day, general camaraderie. Colleagues are very skilled. The cynical politics you might sometimes expect at a HF are not present, at least among the software engineering lot. Working here has been fantastic for my career.

Cons: Big growth means growing pains. There's some clear technical debt that needs paying down across some of the firm's systems, which becomes more obvious as scale increases. Not everyone's experience is the same. For better or for worse, different teams can have quite different management styles. Expectations are high. People who struggle can be left feeling exposed; despite the growth, there's clearly a culture of not accepting mediocrity.

Ok

Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, United Kingdom

February 6, 2024

Pros: * The food -you get £12 in credits a day to spend on a delivery service. This usually covers lunch. * Nice kitchen * Quarterly paid for events * Conference budget * Generally nice people * Decent working hours * Well located office, above a gym/barbers & very close to a tube station. Supermarkets nearby. * Good health, travel and dental insurance. * Seems to be doing fairly well, almost kept pace with major indices last year.

Cons: * Repetitive work -you will not learn much here. * Low pay for the industry * Hidden company structure means progression is totally obfuscated. No KPIs, no performance reviews, no structured development. If you want to be promoted then you should have joined as the company was growing. * The person making decisions about compensation doesn't know what you're working on. * There is a lack of structure in projects. Direction of work seems to be dictated by what is in vogue at the time. * Flat structure causes politicking. * Median tenure is around 1.5 years, there's a reason for this. * Lack of any diversity, both in people and ideas. * Remote working seems to be available for certain people and not others. At least 4 days in the office is strictly enforced for certain people but not others.

Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, United Kingdom

February 6, 2024

Pros: * The food -you get £12 in credits a day to spend on a delivery service. This usually covers lunch. * Nice kitchen * Quarterly paid for events * Conference budget * Generally nice people * Decent working hours * Well located office, above a gym/barbers & very close to a tube station. Supermarkets nearby. * Good health, travel and dental insurance. * Seems to be doing fairly well, almost kept pace with major indices last year.

Cons: * Repetitive work -you will not learn much here. * Low pay for the industry * Hidden company structure means progression is totally obfuscated. No KPIs, no performance reviews, no structured development. If you want to be promoted then you should have joined as the company was growing. * The person making decisions about compensation doesn't know what you're working on. * There is a lack of structure in projects. Direction of work seems to be dictated by what is in vogue at the time. * Flat structure causes politicking. * Median tenure is around 1.5 years, there's a reason for this. * Lack of any diversity, both in people and ideas. * Remote working seems to be available for certain people and not others. At least 4 days in the office is strictly enforced for certain people but not others.

Good overall

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Montreal, Canada

September 27, 2026

Pros: There is a decent work-life balance and compensation.

Cons: Top down, lack of autonomy

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Montreal, Canada

September 27, 2026

Pros: There is a decent work-life balance and compensation.

Cons: Top down, lack of autonomy

Growing firm, good colleagues

Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, United Kingdom

Pros: Squarepoint has clearly done very well over the past few years and is consistently growing and expanding as a result. That means a lot of career opportunities, and an environment that's anything but stale. I've noticed a lot of new faces showing up around the office recently, and there's a good positive culture emerging in the engineering teams - casual conversations at lunch, mid-week beers just outside the office on a sunny day, general camaraderie. Colleagues are very skilled. The cynical politics you might sometimes expect at a HF are not present, at least among the software engineering lot. Working here has been fantastic for my career.

Cons: Big growth means growing pains. There's some clear technical debt that needs paying down across some of the firm's systems, which becomes more obvious as scale increases. Not everyone's experience is the same. For better or for worse, different teams can have quite different management styles. Expectations are high. People who struggle can be left feeling exposed; despite the growth, there's clearly a culture of not accepting mediocrity.

5.0
Growing firm, good colleagues
Software Engineer • Current Employee
London, United Kingdom
July 11, 2025
Pros: Squarepoint has clearly done very well over the past few years and is consistently growing and expanding as a result. That means a lot of career opportunities, and an environment that's anything but stale. I've noticed a lot of new faces showing up around the office recently, and there's a good positive culture emerging in the engineering teams - casual conversations at lunch, mid-week beers just outside the office on a sunny day, general camaraderie. Colleagues are very skilled. The cynical politics you might sometimes expect at a HF are not present, at least among the software engineering lot. Working here has been fantastic for my career.
Cons: Big growth means growing pains. There's some clear technical debt that needs paying down across some of the firm's systems, which becomes more obvious as scale increases. Not everyone's experience is the same. For better or for worse, different teams can have quite different management styles. Expectations are high. People who struggle can be left feeling exposed; despite the growth, there's clearly a culture of not accepting mediocrity.

Ok

Software Engineer • Current Employee

London, United Kingdom

February 6, 2024

Pros: * The food -you get £12 in credits a day to spend on a delivery service. This usually covers lunch. * Nice kitchen * Quarterly paid for events * Conference budget * Generally nice people * Decent working hours * Well located office, above a gym/barbers & very close to a tube station. Supermarkets nearby. * Good health, travel and dental insurance. * Seems to be doing fairly well, almost kept pace with major indices last year.

Cons: * Repetitive work -you will not learn much here. * Low pay for the industry * Hidden company structure means progression is totally obfuscated. No KPIs, no performance reviews, no structured development. If you want to be promoted then you should have joined as the company was growing. * The person making decisions about compensation doesn't know what you're working on. * There is a lack of structure in projects. Direction of work seems to be dictated by what is in vogue at the time. * Flat structure causes politicking. * Median tenure is around 1.5 years, there's a reason for this. * Lack of any diversity, both in people and ideas. * Remote working seems to be available for certain people and not others. At least 4 days in the office is strictly enforced for certain people but not others.

2.0
Ok
Software Engineer • Current Employee
London, United Kingdom
February 6, 2024
Pros: * The food -you get £12 in credits a day to spend on a delivery service. This usually covers lunch. * Nice kitchen * Quarterly paid for events * Conference budget * Generally nice people * Decent working hours * Well located office, above a gym/barbers & very close to a tube station. Supermarkets nearby. * Good health, travel and dental insurance. * Seems to be doing fairly well, almost kept pace with major indices last year.
Cons: * Repetitive work -you will not learn much here. * Low pay for the industry * Hidden company structure means progression is totally obfuscated. No KPIs, no performance reviews, no structured development. If you want to be promoted then you should have joined as the company was growing. * The person making decisions about compensation doesn't know what you're working on. * There is a lack of structure in projects. Direction of work seems to be dictated by what is in vogue at the time. * Flat structure causes politicking. * Median tenure is around 1.5 years, there's a reason for this. * Lack of any diversity, both in people and ideas. * Remote working seems to be available for certain people and not others. At least 4 days in the office is strictly enforced for certain people but not others.

Good overall

Software Engineer • Current Employee

Montreal, Canada

September 27, 2026

Pros: There is a decent work-life balance and compensation.

Cons: Top down, lack of autonomy

4.0
Good overall
Software Engineer • Current Employee
Montreal, Canada
September 27, 2026
Pros: There is a decent work-life balance and compensation.
Cons: Top down, lack of autonomy

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