Not a terrible place to work, but the grass could be greener
Not a terrible place to work, but the grass could be greener
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SIG frequently has employee events such as "Night at the Ballpark", "Family Fun Night" at the Philadelphia Zoo, and Summer "Block Parties"
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SIG always offers to reimburse things such as Uber and ride-shares from any company event that involves alcohol
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SIG often has "sweepstakes" for employees where you can win money/prizes
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you can generally tell that SIG cares about their employees' happiness
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that, of course, is a bit of a ploy to convince employees to overlook the rest of the company's shortcomings
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The workplace environment is nice
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no cubicles, newly renovated workspaces, with plenty of whiteboards, also a fairly nice gym
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Lots of other employee perks, such as free tickets to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and often discounted tickets to other local Philly events
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SIG's recruiting department loves to tout how SIG has a "flat management structure"
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what this really means is that there's no "titles" like you may be used to in other technology companies
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[Staff, Senior, Principal] Software Engineer? nah those titles don't exist at SIG
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this is neat because it doesn't make you feel as if you're competing against some arbitrary benchmark for a promotion
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however, this can also work against you (see the Cons below)
- 45-hour work week is the expected standard - upper management justifies this by calling it a "working lunch" (the price you pay for free food and snacks - but more on that later) - when you factor being "on call" and other incidental "after hours" work that might come up, it's not unusual to bump that to 50 - however, this is very team dependent.
- After the pandemic, the lunch has become mediocre - now, sure, it's free food - who can complain? - but most days, I opt to not eat because of how terrible it can be - so much so, that I don't really consider this to be a "perk" of working here anymore
- Salaries are great at first, but over time become mediocre, especially when considering the above point of 45-hour work weeks - on paper, SIG's salaries look above average, but many forget to account for the extra 260 hours of your life that you lose per year because of the 45-hour weeks - a $100,000 salary at SIG (45 hours per week) is really a $88,899 salary elsewhere (40 hours per week) - recruiting and upper management loves to tout how "competitive" SIG's salaries while neglecting that point.- "Flat management structure" - this can make it difficult for career advancement, because there's no defined "tiers/levels" to aim for - there's no metrics to compare your career advancement against your peers with similar tenure and experience
- Following the above point, trust me, there's nothing "flat" about SIG's upper management structure - your manager has a manager, who has a manager, who also has a manager, who also may or may not have a manager that then reports to the head of technology - it feels like SIG has to give all those "middle managers" a way to stay relevant - this will be a recurring theme with the following WFH points
- Work from home is treated like a second class citizen - as of writing, you can only do it two days per week (3/2 split), and there are still some restrictions - furthermore, in SIG's "return to office" effort after the pandemic - you can tell they really didn't want anyone working from home - the initial policy wasn't very permissive, had tons of restrictions, and it seemed like upper management couldn't make up their minds about what to do - we got the typical "corporate language" spew of "we value in-person collaboration, it's what this company is built-on... blah blah blah" - eventually SIG backtracked a little after they realized how many people were leaving to go elsewhere with more permissive policies, eventually landing on what is currently in place now
- SIG was late to the game in investing in WFH collaboration and productivity tools - only starting a few months ago did we get bona-fide company issued laptops - before that, and all throughout the pandemic, it was implied that we'd use personal computers to WFH- Following the above point, around the time SIG was grappling to determine a concrete WFH policy, potential candidates appeared to be misled as to what the policy was/would be - I remember overhearing interviewers being told to tell candidates that the policy was more permissive than it actually was - presumably, so they wouldn't immediately look elsewhere, and by the time they realized it wasn't what was described, it was too late
- Around compensation talk times, SIG tries very hard to discourage employees from discussing salaries with their peers - you hear the "corporate-speak" spew of "SIG considers compensation to be confidential and privileged - blah blah blah" - none of this is ever in writing, of course, because in the US, prohibiting salary discussions is illegal - maybe if SIG paid employees more competitively, then it wouldn't have to worry about this - open compensation discussions is a part of a healthy workplace
- The technology arm of SIG feels like a second-class citizen to the trading arm - yeah yeah, I get it - the traders make all the money, and technology is just a necessary part of that - but come on, it's not uncommon for a first year trader to be making 3x what a seasoned, experienced technologist does.
- SIG is rarely, if ever, on the bleeding edge of technology - sometimes, the company is so "risk adverse" that technical debt never gets addressed and resolved until absolutely necessary, for fear that something may break and hold up the business
- SIG has a "win win win" culture, especially in trading - sometimes at "any cost" - this type of culture can tend to attract selfish, egotistical, stereotypical "finance bro" individuals, and that can be felt throughout the company's DNA- As a whole, the company doesn't feel entirely diverse - but, this is team dependent - some teams have above average representation, others do not - especially in technology (but this is also a larger problem with the tech industry as a whole)- As of writing, SIG is on a bit of a hiring crunch, you can tell that the company as a whole is feeling the pain of people leaving (hmm, I wonder why?) - recently, they've been offering massive referral bonuses (up to $5k) to employees for some badly-needed vacant positions - you can tell SIG has been hemorrhaging talent/employees as they continue to stay behind the curve on the current tech/job market
- Jeff Yass is a billionaire - if you’re wondering why this under “Cons” - go ahead, Google him - hit the “News” tab and see what you find
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Susquehanna International Group Interview Experiences
Software Engineer
My first round of interview was over the phone, I got call right on time and interviewer was very professional and polite and he knew what exactly he was looking for. He asked a lot of questions about my current role and my roles and responsibilities
Software Engineer
Phone screen, remote technical, onsite technical. Straightforward questions that test how you break down larger problems, with some algorithmic and data structure problems scattered throughout. Not overly lengthy or demanding
Software Engineer
I was contacted by a recruiter in early September, after applying through my college job fair. We had a nice, pleasant interaction over email. She scheduled a phone interview with a general technical interviewer who asked about my prior experiences,
Software Engineer
Bala Cynwyd, PennsylvaniaOctober 1, 2010My first round of interview was over the phone, I got call right on time and interviewer was very professional and polite and he knew what exactly he was looking for. He asked a lot of questions about my current role and my roles and responsibilities
Software Engineer
Bala Cynwyd, PennsylvaniaJune 5, 2025Phone screen, remote technical, onsite technical. Straightforward questions that test how you break down larger problems, with some algorithmic and data structure problems scattered throughout. Not overly lengthy or demanding
Software Engineer
Bala Cynwyd, PennsylvaniaSeptember 1, 2014I was contacted by a recruiter in early September, after applying through my college job fair. We had a nice, pleasant interaction over email. She scheduled a phone interview with a general technical interviewer who asked about my prior experiences,
