Susquehanna International Group

SIG has a very open and merit based culture. Where as a lot of companies say they run like a startup and have a meritocracy, SIG actually for the most part adheres to this policy closely and is reflected from most of the managers down to the rank and file employees.

There are a lot of different groups - even with technology, within SIG. Once you are here, there's a lot of potential to transition laterally if you find a particular interest (Market data, security, server-side, client-side, database..etc) and if you want to work close to the desk/traders, you generally can get that opportunity working for most of the groups here.

The employee review structure is fair and a lot of attention is paid to compensation and performance review. Star performers are rewarded based on their contributions and it is possible to come here, do a great job, and reap the benefits - however, there is a limited upside as a technology employee here. The lion's share of the bonuses goes towards traders and head traders here.

The counter-point to the relative flat structure and merit-based culture is, with the growth that they have been experiencing, especially in technology, the employee structure can feel a little hierarchical in the end and what you do can increasingly feel pigeon-holed. There's a lot of initiatives going on, a lot of projects flowing, but it's easy to increasingly feel like a cog in the wheel without actively going out and ask people from other departments are doing.

If you are just starting out, especially in financial/trading industry, you might be better served working for a startup or boutique just to get the opportunity to do a little bit of everything and carve out a niche for yourself. To prevent yourself from settling into a cycle of overspecialization or monotony here, you definitely have to be mindful of actively asking for new projects and growth opportunities.

There are some internal competition here as well, from each trading/technology group, as well as internal competition among workers in a particular group. The best technology people within software develop usually get new development projects and architectural leeway, whereas the middle of the pack and lower end performers get stuck supporting legacy systems.

To some people, doing support and incremental fixes to existing systems is a safe and stressful job and they are okay with it. If you are particularly interested in writing performance intensive code or novel low level system code, you should specify that and try to get out of legacy support duties as soon as possible.

Listen to the owners when they repeat the mantra of "We hate bureaucracy and try to eliminate it" and really strive to do so.

With the growth of SIG and management's attention (read: paranoia) of risk management, it's increasingly becoming conservative towards software development and management overall. This impedes innovation to have so many checks and balances and procedures that don't make sense for a new program or product to get out the door. So much attention is paid to managing releases, change, and the stability of the production environment that actually cultivating engineering prowess, sophistication in software development and cutting edge technical skills seems to often take a back door.

Many managers seem much more concerned with covering themselves in the event of a poor release into the production environment that they don't support, protect, and encourage smart risk-taking and aggressive development for the sake of first to market or innovative engineering or thinking. Learn to balance risk-control, change management, with actually encouraging automation in rank and file employees to use good judgement and initiative to deliver on time and in good quality software.