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Tower Research Capital Interview Guide

Tier 1 HFT
HQ: New York, NY

Tower Research is a legendary name in HFT. Founded by Mark Gorton. They are known for having some of the fastest execution stacks in the world.

At a Glance

Compensation

Intern: $15-18k/month
New Grad: $300k+ TC

Interviews

Focus: OS Internals, Networking, C++ Metaprogramming.

Tech Stack

Core: C++ (Modern), FPGA.
Style: Performance obsessed.

The Interview Process

  1. HackerRank:Standard Algo/DS + C++ MCQs. Expect specific questions on `std::map` vs `std::unordered_map`.
  2. OS / Systems Round:"What actually happens when you call `malloc`?" "Explain Virtual Memory."
  3. Low Level C++:"How is a V-Table implemented?" "Write a lock-free queue."

Sample Questions

OS: The Page Fault

"Walk me through a page fault."
(CPU interrupt → Kernel Mode → Find page on disk → Load to RAM → Update Page Table → Resume).

Coding: Median of Stream

"Find the median of a stream of integers."
(Two Heaps solution is standard. But optimize it for cache locality if you can).