Blog12 min readApplr Team

Jane Street vs Jump Trading (2026): Pay, Seats, Non-Competes

Jane Street vs Jump Trading for 2027: the same $300K US base, but Jane Street hires new grads directly while Jump hires through interns and uses non-competes.

Jane Street vs Jump Trading (2026): Pay, Seats, Non-Competes

Jane Street and Jump Trading post the same headline number for 2027, a $300,000 US base, so the decision comes down to how you get in and what you sign on the way. Jane Street hires new grads straight into full-time trader, researcher and engineer seats in New York, London and Hong Kong, and it does not use non-competes. On 22 October 2026, Jump's US trading and engineering seats were all internships, so for most applicants the summer is the interview, and a 2023 court case shows its contracts can add up to a year of non-compete after garden leave.

The 30-second verdict

Jane StreetJump Trading
SizeAbout 3,500 employees (Reuters, May 2026)About 2,357 employees as of March 2026 (Revelio Labs)
ResultsNot published; Reuters' sources put 2025 net trading revenue at $39.6B and Q1 2026 at $16.1BNot published
Postings, 22 Oct 2026221, including 24 full-time new-grad roles and 41 summer internships95, including 39 campus roles (30 internships, 9 full-time)
US full-time new-grad QT/QR/SWEPosted in New York at $300,000 base eachNone posted; US full-time campus roles are 2 AI Research Engineer ($300,000) and 1 systems engineer ($200,000-250,000)
US intern base (annualised)$300,000 for QT, QR and SWE$300,000 for QT and QR; $250,000 for SWE
First gate60-90 minute test: probability, mental arithmetic, logic (Quantt, Apr 2026)90-120 minute test: 2-3 hard coding problems for SWE, probability and statistics for QT/QR (Quantt, May 2026)
Final roundIn person, run by traders, "more like a conversation than a quiz" (Jane Street)Super Day of 5-7 interviews, then team match (Quantt)
Coding languageAny; don't learn OCaml for the interview (Jane Street)C++ or Python on Linux for the SWE internship (Jump posting)
Non-competeNone (eFinancialCareers, May 2025)0-12 months at the firm's election, after garden leave (UK High Court, 2023)
US visa lineDepends on office and role; ask the recruiterAccepts CPT/OPT students; sponsors full-time work visas

Where the 2027 seats are

Jane Street's job board on 22 October listed 221 openings. Twenty-four were tagged "Full-Time: New Grad", covering quant trader, quant researcher and software engineer in New York, London and Hong Kong, plus software engineering in Singapore. The three New York postings each state a salary of $300,000 with no range. Another 41 were summer internships, which Jane Street says run 10-12 weeks between May and September in New York, London and Hong Kong.

Jump's board listed 95 openings, 39 of them campus roles. Thirty of those were internships. In the US it posted ten internships across trading, research, software, data, systems and AI research, and only three full-time roles: two AI Research Engineer postings and a Chicago systems engineer. Asia had eleven internships in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore and no full-time campus role. Europe was the exception, with full-time campus quant trader and quant researcher roles in London and Amsterdam.

Jump says plainly why the US looks like this. Its Chicago software engineering internship posting calls the internship "the primary way we identify top young software engineers" and a proven path to a full-time offer. A Blind poster weighing both internship offers in November 2022 made the same point from the other side, listing Jump as harder to get into as a new grad without interning first.

Two application rules also differ. Jump is opening 2027 roles region by region, starting with the US, and asks you not to apply for US roles if you plan to apply in another region. Jane Street's interviewing page asks students to wait at least a year before reapplying, and Quantt reports the same 12-month wait at Jump.

Interviews: a conversation versus a depth test

Jane Street's trading interviews page describes phone rounds followed by in-person finals, all run by quant traders. It says no finance knowledge is needed and that the interviews are "more like a conversation than a quiz". Quantt (April 2026) describes a 60-90 minute online test of probability, mental arithmetic and logic, a final day of four to six sessions with a mock trading game, and four to six weeks from application to offer. For engineers, Jane Street lets you code in any language and says you should hear back within a week of applying.

Jump's loop is longer and more technical. Quantt (May 2026) describes a 90-120 minute online test with two or three hard coding problems for engineers, or a probability and statistics test for traders and researchers. Then come two or three 45-60 minute phone screens and a Super Day of five to seven interviews. Quantt says it is "widely understood" that only 10-15% pass the online test, but Jump has not confirmed that. Its estimated split for engineers is half coding, a quarter systems design, 15% C++ specifics and 10% behavioural, with sample tasks such as cancelling an order in O(log N) and laying out a struct around cache lines. Offers are followed by a team match, and Quantt says pay is the same whichever team you choose.

In practice, Jane Street tests how you reason out loud with a trader, and Jump tests how deep your C++, systems and probability go. If you are unsure which language to bring, our C++ vs Python guide to quant coding rounds breaks it down firm by firm.

Pay, bonuses and the non-compete

The posted base pay matches, so what differs is how the rest of the offer is set. Neither firm publishes bonuses. On Blind in October 2020, an HRT employee replying to a Jane Street offer thread said friends at Jane Street all got the same standard new-grad rate, with little room to negotiate. In the November 2022 thread, the poster with both offers said Jane Street does not negotiate while Jump's numbers vary from person to person, and put both at roughly $20,000-25,000 a month including sign-on. In a December 2021 thread, a Jump employee called the non-guaranteed bonus "very variable", depending on personal and team performance, and another poster described Jump as a siloed team structure.

Treat third-party totals as estimates. Quantt puts Jump graduates at $250,000-500,000 in year one, including sign-on and first bonus, and labels the figures illustrative. techinterview (July 2026) estimates a Jane Street summer at about $60,000 for ten weeks.

The bigger difference is what happens when you leave. eFinancialCareers wrote in May 2025 that Jane Street "famously doesn't give its staff non-competes", and noted in the same piece that Jump had several staff on garden leave. The court record shows what a Jump clause can look like. In Jump Trading International v Couture (April 2023), a London quant researcher gave a year's notice and spent it on garden leave. His contract then let Jump choose a non-compete of zero to twelve months, starting only after garden leave ended. Jump chose twelve. The judge refused an interim injunction because Jump had waited too long, so the case does not settle whether the clause can be enforced. That was an experienced hire, and new-grad terms may be shorter, so ask for your clause in writing.

The year each firm just had

Jane Street had the bigger and noisier 2026. Reuters reported in May that its first-quarter trading revenue hit a record $16.1 billion, with profit more than doubling to $10.3 billion, helped by stakes in AI companies including Anthropic. Then, according to Reuters as summarised by Hedgeweek in August, July brought a setback of roughly $15 billion and Jane Street's first negative month since 2016. Revenue fell about 25% below its late-June peak, hit by AI-linked stocks and long positions in Asian equities. One Reuters source still put year-to-date revenue above $40 billion, already more than all of 2025, and the firm has cut risk since.

Jump publishes nothing, so its news comes from expansion and lawsuits. Hedgeweek, citing Bloomberg, reported on 7 September 2026 that Jump is taking another 11,000 square feet at One International Finance Centre in Hong Kong and recruiting quant traders and AI staff there. Separately, The Block reported in December 2025 that Terraform Labs' plan administrator is suing Jump, its co-founder and a former president for $4 billion over the TerraUSD collapse. Jump called the suit a "desperate attempt" to shift blame. The Block also notes that Jump's unit Tai Mo Shan agreed to pay about $123 million to the SEC over the same episode. None of it is likely to change a new grad's day job, but expect to be asked about it.

For international students

US. Jump's US internship postings say it accepts students eligible for CPT/OPT and sponsors work visas for full-time roles. Jane Street's interviewing page says sponsorship depends on office and role. Ellis, using Department of Labor data updated August 2026, counts 45 H-1B labour condition applications for Jane Street Group in 2025 and 47 so far in 2026, against 56 and 61 for Jump Operations. Those are filings, not hires, but both firms clearly file.

UK. On the Home Office register dated 21 October 2026, Jane Street Europe Limited and Jump Trading International Limited both hold A-rated Skilled Worker licences. If you graduate in the UK, the Graduate visa lasts two years if you apply by 31 December 2026 and 18 months from 1 January 2027.

Asia. Jane Street posts full-time new-grad trader, researcher and engineer seats in Hong Kong. Jump's Asia campus roles are internships only, and its Hong Kong/Shanghai quant trader internship asks for candidates who want to work in one of those cities after graduating. Jane Street's final rounds are in person, and it says it books and pays for your travel.

Which should you choose?

  • Graduating in 2027 without a trading internship: apply to Jane Street now. It has full-time new-grad postings open, while Jump's US trader, researcher and engineer roles on 22 October were internships.
  • Graduating in 2028: apply to both internships, because Jump's internship is how it hires. Pick your Jump region first, since it asks you not to apply to the US and another region at once.
  • An engineer who likes low-level C++: Jump. Its engineering loop weighs C++ and systems design, and its posting asks for C++ or Python on Linux. At Jane Street you will learn OCaml on the job.
  • You may want to move to an AI lab or hedge fund in two or three years: Jane Street. No non-compete keeps that option open.
  • You want to work in Hong Kong or Shanghai: Jane Street for a direct Hong Kong full-time seat. Jump if you are still a year out and can intern in Shanghai or Hong Kong.
  • You want a predictable first offer: Jane Street's standard rate. Jump's offers and bonuses vary more by person and team.

Prepare for both

Sources

§ 01FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Does Jane Street or Jump Trading pay more for new grads?
On posted US base pay they match. Jane Street's New York new-grad quant trader, quant researcher and software engineer postings each state $300,000, and Jump's US quant trader and quant researcher internship postings state a $300,000-a-year base, with $250,000 for its Chicago software engineering internship (all retrieved 22 Oct 2026). Neither firm publishes bonuses. A Blind poster who held both internship offers in November 2022 put each at roughly $20,000-25,000 a month including sign-on.
Can you join Jump Trading as a new grad without interning first?
In the US it is hard right now. On 22 October 2026 Jump's only US full-time campus postings were two AI Research Engineer roles and a Chicago systems engineer role, and its quant trader, quant researcher and software engineer roles were posted as internships. Its software engineering internship posting calls the programme 'the primary way' Jump identifies young engineers. Jump does post full-time campus quant trader and researcher roles for London and Amsterdam.
Does Jump Trading make you sign a non-compete?
Jump's contracts have included them. A 2023 UK High Court judgment involving a Jump quant researcher describes a non-compete of zero to twelve months chosen by the firm within 20 business days of notice, starting only after garden leave ends. eFinancialCareers reported in May 2025 that Jane Street famously does not give its staff non-competes. Ask Jump for the exact clause in your offer before you sign.
Do I need OCaml for Jane Street or C++ for Jump?
Not OCaml. Jane Street's interviewing page says you can interview in whichever language you know best and advises against trying OCaml for the first time in an interview. Jump's Chicago software engineering internship asks for a high level of proficiency in C++ or Python on Linux, and Quantt (May 2026) estimates about 15% of Jump's engineering interviews go to C++ specifics.
Do Jane Street and Jump Trading sponsor visas?
Both file for them. Jump's US internship postings say it accepts students eligible for CPT/OPT and sponsors work visas for full-time positions. Jane Street's interviewing page says sponsorship depends on the office and role and tells you to ask your recruiter. Ellis, using Department of Labor data updated August 2026, counts 45 H-1B labour condition applications for Jane Street Group in 2025 and 56 for Jump Operations. In the UK, both firms' London entities hold A-rated Skilled Worker licences.
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