Transcript

Get to Know Us | Jane Street

Hi, I’m Jay. I’ve worked at Jane Street since 2017 on the Fixed Income Desk. I’m a TDO in the New York office.

How can I prepare for the TDO interview?

The Jane Street TDO interview is fairly unique. We like to work with our interviewees as sort of a collaborative team effort. So the thing I would recommend most is to be prepared to ask questions and be ready to not know the immediate answer to the question, but sort of know what direction you’re heading in and work with the interviewers in order to get there.

What does your day-to-day look like?

The day-to-day of a TDO varies depending on how busy a trading desk is. Sometimes TDOs will be able to do project work. Other times, TDOs are very focused on making sure that the desk survives the trading day, as certain trading days can be much more intense than others. Oftentimes, you’ll find yourself working with different groups within Jane Street, whether it’s the compliance groups, the regulatory groups, the reconciliation groups, all sorts of fun people at Jane Street. Additionally, TDOs get the opportunity to specialize within their role. So if you find yourself doing one task more than others, and you prefer it, usually managers will give you leeway in order to sort of lean more into the roles that you enjoy.

What is the biggest difference between year 1 and year 3 as a TDO?

The biggest difference between year one and year three at Jane Street is the knowledge base that you get. Over time, you’ll have the opportunity to work with a lot of different groups and absorb information, as people at Jane Street are very forthcoming and as time goes on, you’ll learn more and more. Once you feel like you have the knowledge and confidence, you’ll be able to tackle bigger and better things and work across different groups at Jane Street to support the firm’s growth.

I’m most interested in becoming a dev or trader. Should I still apply to be a TDO?

If you’re interested in becoming a dev or trader, I think you should apply directly for the role, instead of the TDO role.

How much will I interact with other groups at Jane Street?

In the TDO role, you’ll be able to liaise with a bunch of different groups at Jane Street, from tax, to legal and compliance, to various dev groups, such as trading systems. You sort of get exposure to the farm-to-table of how a trade works. It’s very, very exciting, because it turns out trading is very complicated and learning how all the little gears twist and turn is very exciting.

Jane Street has given me a lot of freedom and leeway to work on projects that I enjoy. As time has gone on, they’ve given me leeway to work on bigger and more exciting things. Honestly, I don’t think I could get this freedom anywhere else.