What does an experienced lateral interview look like?

Out of curiosity, what does the interview process for an experienced trader > 2 YoE look like? I.e. hopping from Optiver to IMC or DRW to SIG, etc.

Am I going to get asked probability/brainteaser and dice game questions in these interviews? Or is there going to be a heavier emphasis on my professional experience, responsibilities/day-to-day at current role, prop trading oriented questions, volatility-related questions, etc.

I trade a niche product and I will be interviewing for a new team they're hoping to build out. Considering they're going to be building out a new team I assume they'd want someone who knows the ropes and dos and don'ts of the product/desk.

I will be leaving my current shop anyways, but is there a way to kind of tell if they're just pumping me for information about the product/strategy stuff and is there a way to kindly avoid something like this? I'm happy to leave and join the team, but would not be happy if this role didn't exist and they've filled spots and just want information from a competitor.

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Would you be leading or a co-leader of the new team? For building out a new team/strategy I think there would be a lot of focus on necessary trading/data infrastructure and the expected risk/capital profile of the trade. For more mid level roles I would expect to see some brainteasers and coding questions if applicable as well as questions on your current team's strategies and the products you trade. How to demonstrate your understanding without revealing confidential information is admittedly tricky

 

I ended up finishing the interview. They're building out a new team/strategy that I specialize in and it was a lot of high level strategy, how we currently do things, how I think about prop trading opportunities in the space, amongst other things. Not very many technical questions, some basic stuff on how to think about volatility and the Greeks. It was an interview with 4 people, and now I have another interview next week with the head of that new group which I was told would be more personal.

 

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