About Point72
Point72 Asset Management, founded by Steve Cohen, is a multi-strategy hedge fund with two distinct quant arms: Cubist Systematic Strategies, the firm's pure-quant business, and a quantitative engineering / analytics function inside the discretionary equities and macro businesses. Point72 also runs the well-regarded Academy, a one-year training program for new analysts.
For current openings see our Point72 listings.
Interview Process
The process varies by track:
- Cubist (quant research): online assessment, a phone screen with a researcher, followed by a multi-round on-site with technical and research-fit interviews
- Discretionary analyst / Academy: case-style interviews on stocks, valuation, and market intuition — closer to a fundamental long/short shop
- Engineering: coding screen, system design, and behavioral; modern C++ or Python depending on team
For Cubist Quant Research Roles
Cubist looks for candidates with a strong quantitative research background — typically a PhD in math, physics, statistics, or CS, or an exceptional Master's. The interview emphasizes:
- Statistics and machine learning at depth — regression, regularization, validation
- Programming in Python; sometimes a data-manipulation or backtest exercise
- A research presentation or discussion of past work
- Probability puzzles, but lighter than at HFT shops
For Engineering Roles
Engineering teams support both Cubist and the discretionary side. Interviews focus on:
- Python or C++ coding (LeetCode-style + a more open-ended design problem)
- Working with large datasets — joining, aggregating, optimizing queries
- System design for real-time data pipelines
- Cloud and Kubernetes familiarity
For Discretionary Analyst (Academy) Roles
This is closer to a hedge-fund / private-equity interview than a quant interview. Expect questions about:
- A stock you'd recommend long or short, with thesis and risk
- Reading a 10-K and identifying key drivers
- Valuation methods (DCF, comparables, sum-of-parts)
- Brain teasers about market mechanics
Behavioral
Point72 values intellectual humility — they want analysts who'll change their view when the data says they should. Be ready to talk about a time you were wrong and what you learned. Pitches and views without strong reasoning are penalized.
How to Prepare
- For Cubist: review your past research deeply — they'll dig into the methodology
- For Academy: read The Big Short, Margin of Safety, and pick three stocks you genuinely have a view on
- For engineering: practice system design for trading and analytics platforms
- Polish a stock pitch and a portfolio-management story even for quant roles — Point72 likes both sides