Susquehanna International Group reviews

Stay away! Compensation is poor for technology. Get used to 0-3% raises and a bonus that is a pittance. There are no stock awards like other tech firms. Bonuses are a far cry from 100% base that most other HFT firms pay. Even Comcast has been paying better recently. Undergrad hires make 90k + 5k bonus, Grad hires get 120k + 10k bonus and after that small raises. Go to Citadel, Jane Street, D.E. Shaw or Hudson River Trading among a few if you want to be paid well. I haven't seen any ivy league or top tier school hires in tech in a long time. A lot of good people are leaving. Many people who don't pull their weight and are just clipping a paycheck (it is good work life balance, great job security because they never fire anyone in tech). You could be doing the job of n such people but only get paid n% more in recognition for that. Senior managers are busy trying to hire more people who report to them because that is how they make more money. I am glad to have left and should have done it a long time ago, will regret the loss in lifetime earning for a while. I personally know a few people who were contemplating the same. Technology is very mediocre, nothing exciting. The firm operates at a scale where they can make money if the systems keep running. They have a lot of resistance to adopting open source technologies and instead develop poor ripoffs internally. As an example their version control system locks up regularly slowing people down, enough said! Don't come here if you are young and looking to learn exciting technologies and make money.

SIG has a strong brand in the derivatives world, however the institutional equity business, namely Research and Research Sales, is an amateur organization at best. The idea that SIG will leverage its Options expertise to build a strong institutional equities business has been unsuccessful as most equity investors do not care to understand derivatives (and vice versa). Senior Analysts and salespeople are generally comprised of has-beens and never-will-be’s, which is par for the course at most small boutique operations. Leadership is the real concern, as the defacto head of the institutional brokerage operation is a SIG-lifer with little brokerage experience, employing self-serving sycophantic department heads beneath him. Sales tends to rule over the Research Department with little regard or understanding of the Research process (scheduling firm-wide meetings and other important events during earnings season). Salespeople are loathe to make outgoing calls, save for one or two, and are typically interested in heading to the bar by 4:05pm. The Director of Research is a former salesperson who embodies the company’s lack of understanding of how to run a research business. This individual lacks research experience (and the respect of many senior analysts and associates), making up for that with canned speeches about the bright future of the business. Nearly 25% of the company’s Senior Research Analysts defected to competing organizations in the past year as the business continues to shrink under current leadership. The firm has make some questionable hires to replace departed analysts, including individuals who have been out of Equity Research for more than 3-4 years. With the NYC office’s lease up for renewal in 2018 many believe the founders may cut their losses and shut the business entirely.