For a strong new grad choosing between a quant shop and big tech, the money is not close and the level label is misleading. A Jane Street New York software-engineer offer runs about $400K-$600K in year one (Quantt, September 2026), while the median Google L4 software engineer in the US earns about $292K (levels.fyi) — and L4 is not a starting level. Google new grads come in at L3, around $205K. So a Jane Street new hire out-earns a Google engineer who has already been promoted once.
What Google buys with the pay cut is optionality: a portable skill set, a lower-risk brand, and lighter hours. What Jane Street buys with the premium is concentration — OCaml, a prop-trading exit market, and a firm that just posted the biggest trading year in Wall Street history. Choose on which of those two things you value at 22, not on the headline number.
The 30-second verdict
| Jane Street (new grad SWE) | Google (new grad SWE) | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting level | Single new-grad track; no public ladder | L3 (The Interview Guys, 2026) |
| Year-1 total comp | $400K-$600K NY, £250K-£400K London (Quantt, est., Sep 2026) | ~$205K median L3 US (levels.fyi) |
| The "L4" number | n/a | ~$292K median US, ~$285K NYC (levels.fyi) — the ~2-year mark, not the offer |
| L4 comp breakdown | — | ~$194K base, ~$72K/yr stock, ~$25K bonus+sign-on (levels.fyi) |
| Interview shape | 1-2 coding OAs, then layered-problem rounds with probability/logic (Aced, 2026) | OA → phone → 4-round onsite → hiring committee (Aced, 2026) |
| Primary language | OCaml, taught after joining (janestreet.com) | Any mainstream language; internal stack |
| 2025 scale | $39.6B net trading revenue, highest on Wall Street (Bloomberg, 2026) | Alphabet still hiring engineers through 2026 (Pichai, SightsIn Plus) |
| Latest quarter | Q1 2026 record: $16.1B revenue, $10.3B net income (Bloomberg, May 2026) | 75% of new code AI-generated, approved by engineers (CNBC, 2025) |
| Exit market | Narrow: prop/quant, OCaml niche | Broad: portable to most of the industry |
| Hours (community) | Long, deal-dependent | Generally lighter than a pod shop (Blind) |
No Jane Street pay figure above comes from the firm; Quantt and levels.fyi both label their numbers as estimates from submitted data. Use them to size the gap, not as an offer letter.
Pay: why "L4" is the wrong comparison
The phrase "Jane Street vs Google L4" contains a trap. L4 is not a new-grad level. Per The Interview Guys' 2026 leveling guide, L3 is the new-grad-to-two-years band and L4 is the 2-5 year band, with Google expecting a competent L3 to promote to L4 in about two years and the L3-to-L4 jump adding roughly $100K in total comp. A new grad choosing Google starts at L3 — levels.fyi puts the US L3 median around $205K-$209K, with sign-ons of $20K-$40K — not at L4.
That reframes the whole decision. A Jane Street new grad's year-one package (Quantt: ~$200K base, $100-150K sign-on, $100-250K+ first-year bonus, so $400K-$600K in New York) does not just beat Google's L3 starting offer — it beats Google's L4 median of about $292K, which the Google hire only reaches after roughly two years and a promotion. A Blind poster in the "quant company new grad swe salaries" thread who identified as a Jane Street employee described the typical new-grad offer as around $200K base, $100K bonus, $100K signing, which lines up with Quantt's low end. In the same thread, someone weighing a move from a quant firm back to big tech noted they would likely land at L3 and under $200K total — a large step down.
The counterweight is real and it is not about this year's cash. Google's L4 stock at ~$72K a year keeps compounding and its brand is portable to almost any employer. Jane Street's bonus is discretionary and cyclical: the firm can pay it because 2025 net trading revenue hit $39.6 billion — the highest of any trading operation on Wall Street (Bloomberg) — and Q1 2026 set another record at $16.1 billion revenue and $10.3 billion net income (Bloomberg, May 2026). A quieter market compresses the number that makes Jane Street win the comparison.
Interviews: layered problems vs the hiring committee
Jane Street tests how you think while a problem changes. The loop starts with resume screening and one or two coding online assessments, then moves to rounds that build on a single solution as the interviewer layers on new requirements, mixing probability, logic, and math with the code (Aced/Exponent, 2026). You are graded on reasoning out loud and adapting when the problem shifts under you, not on having memorized a pattern. Crucially, OCaml is not required: Jane Street states that most engineers join without functional-programming experience, gives no bonus for using OCaml, and will talk you out of trying it for the first time in the interview — use your strongest language, and they teach OCaml, the codebase, and trading domain knowledge after you join (janestreet.com).
Google tests a broad, standardized loop and then removes your interviewers from the decision. The 2026 new-grad process is a recruiter screen, an online assessment of about two algorithmic problems, a 45-minute phone screen, and a four-interview onsite: two coding rounds, one system-design round (light for L3), and one behavioral "Googleyness" round (Aced/Exponent, 2026). The decision then goes to a hiring committee of third-party Googlers who did not interview you, which takes one to two weeks and exists to calibrate away individual-interviewer bias. Practically, that means a strong onsite is necessary but not sufficient — packaging and calibration matter, and a competing offer is the most reliable lever on your L3 package (The Interview Guys, 2026).
The preparation does not transfer cleanly. Jane Street rewards live probability and adaptive problem-solving; Google rewards clean, fast data-structures-and-algorithms execution plus a coherent behavioral story. Prepping only for one leaves you exposed in the other.
Which should you choose?
- You want maximum year-one cash and can accept a narrow fallback: Jane Street. The gap over a Google L3 start is roughly $200K-$400K in year one, and it beats even the L4 median you would not reach for two years.
- You want a portable resume and lower career risk: Google. The skill set moves to most of the industry; OCaml and prop trading do not.
- You are an international student on a visa: weight portability heavily. A US seat at either firm runs through the H-1B lottery, but if it goes against you, a Google skill set finds a new employer far faster than an OCaml-and-prop-trading one. Jane Street's London office is a real alternative on the UK Skilled Worker route, and its graduate pay clears the salary floor comfortably.
- You are unsure whether you like trading: Google first. It is easier to leave big tech for quant later than to leave a Jane Street-shaped resume for a generalist role — the Blind thread's down-leveling warning cuts one direction.
- You are optimizing for learning speed on hard systems: it is closer than the pay gap suggests. Jane Street throws new grads into a live trading codebase; Google puts 75% AI-generated code through human review (CNBC, 2025) on infrastructure at a scale nowhere else matches.
Prepare for both
If you are running both loops, split your prep: adaptive probability and live reasoning for Jane Street, tight DS&A plus a behavioral story for Google. Applr's mock interviews run each firm's real format — you can practice the Jane Street software-engineer loop and the Google L4 software-engineer loop with the format each one actually uses, or the Jane Street quantitative-researcher loop if you are on the trading track.
Before either recruiter screen, get the resume right: Google's screen and hiring committee read differently than a quant shop's, so tailor rather than send one document to both. Start with the Google resume polish guide and a free pass through the ATS resume checker. And track which 2027 new-grad roles are actually open — deadlines at both move on a rolling basis — on the New Grad 2027 tracker.
Sources
- Bloomberg, "Jane Street Notches Record Quarter With $16.1 Billion of Trading Revenue", May 2026
- levels.fyi, Google L4 Software Engineer salary, retrieved Sept 2026
- levels.fyi, Google L3 Software Engineer salary, retrieved Sept 2026
- Quantt, "Jane Street Salary 2026", updated 24 Sept 2026
- The Interview Guys, "Google Salary Levels in 2026: L3 to L8 Decoded", 2026
- Aced (formerly Exponent), "Google Software Engineer New Grad Interview Guide", 2026
- Aced (formerly Exponent), "Jane Street Software Engineer Interview Guide", 2026
- Jane Street, "Preparing for a Software Engineering Interview", retrieved Sept 2026
- Blind, "quant company new grad swe salaries" thread, retrieved Sept 2026
- CNBC, "Google execs say employees have to 'be more AI-savvy'", Jul 2025
Frequently asked questions
- Does Jane Street pay more than Google L4 for a new grad?
- Yes, in year one, by a wide margin. Quantt's September 2026 estimate puts a Jane Street New York graduate software engineer at $400K-$600K total first-year comp (roughly $200K base, $100-150K sign-on, $100-250K+ bonus). levels.fyi's median for a Google L4 software engineer in the US is about $292K, and L4 is not even a new-grad level — Google new grads start at L3, around $205K median. So a Jane Street new grad out-earns a Google engineer who has already been promoted once. All Jane Street figures are estimates; the firm does not publish pay.
- Do new grads get hired at Google L4?
- Almost never. Per The Interview Guys' 2026 breakdown, L3 is the new-grad-to-roughly-two-years level and L4 is the 2-5 year level. Campus offers land at L3, and Google expects competent L3 engineers to reach L4 in about two years. If you see 'Google L4' in a new-grad comparison, read it as 'where you'll be around year two,' not your starting offer.
- Is Jane Street harder to get into than Google?
- Both are selective, but they cut differently. Jane Street runs one or two coding online assessments and then rounds that layer requirements onto a single evolving problem, mixing probability and logic with code (Aced/Exponent, 2026). Google runs an online assessment, a phone screen, a four-interview onsite (two coding, one system design, one Googleyness), then a hiring committee of third-party Googlers who did not interview you. Jane Street tests how you reason live; Google tests a broader, more standardized loop plus committee calibration.
- Do I need to know OCaml to interview at Jane Street?
- No. Jane Street says most engineers join with no OCaml or functional-programming background, awards no bonus points for using OCaml, and will actively talk you out of trying it for the first time in an interview — use the language you are most comfortable with (janestreet.com). New hires are taught OCaml, the codebase, and trading domain knowledge after joining. The OCaml lock-in is a career-optionality question, not an interview requirement.
- Which is the safer choice for an international student who needs a visa?
- Google, on portability. A Google engineering skill set transfers to thousands of employers worldwide, which matters if an H-1B lottery goes against you and you need to move fast. Jane Street pays far more but concentrates you in OCaml and a narrow prop-trading exit market, and a US seat at either firm still runs through the H-1B lottery. If you want maximum year-one cash and can accept a narrower fallback, Jane Street; if you want a globally portable resume and a lower-risk brand, Google.