Software Engineer Intern

The application process at IMC begins with submitting an online application through their official careers website. After that, the first step is an online assessment, which typically includes two LeetCode-style algorithmic problems of medium to hard difficulty. These are designed to test your problem-solving ability, data structures knowledge, and efficiency under time pressure.

If you pass the coding assessment, the next step is a one-way video interview, where you record answers to a few technical and reasoning questions. For example, one question could involve designing an in-memory hotel booking system, where you must discuss which data structures you would use and why.

Following that, there’s a 15-minute recruiter screen. In this call, you briefly go through your background, motivation, and interest in trading or software development at IMC.

The next stage is the first technical round, which lasts around 45 minutes. This interview is highly conceptual and focuses on C++ (or Java, depending on your track), memory management, OS fundamentals, and data structures. Topics can include:

Differences between lists, sets, maps, and unordered maps

How hash tables work and how collisions are handled

Stack vs heap memory, cache organization (L1/L2/L3), and cache efficiency

Smart pointers, references vs pointers

Hardware-level memory management and caching behavior

You’re expected to explain how things work under the hood (e.g., CPU cache prefetching, memory fragmentation, virtual memory, etc.) and sometimes reason about performance or memory trade-offs.

If you advance, the final round typically consists of two parts:

A technical interview focused on building or extending a simple matching engine (simulating order matching logic).

A behavioral interview and informal chat with team members or a hiring manager, discussing teamwork, motivation, and fit within IMC’s culture.

Advice:
It’s best to study C++ internals, OS concepts (memory hierarchy, caching, virtual memory), and data structure performance in depth. Be prepared to reason about what happens “under the hood” rather than just giving definitions. The overall interview atmosphere is challenging but friendly—interviewers value clear, structured reasoning and curiosity about how systems work at a low level.