FPGA Engineer
Posted Oct 2, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Tell me about a low-latency hardware system you designed and owned. What latency did you hit, and how did you measure it?
What they are checking: Whether they have shipped real low-latency designs and measure performance carefully instead of guessing.
Tell me about a new technique or platform you researched and brought into production.
What they are checking: Whether they can research new low-latency methods and judge whether they are worth integrating.
Optiver values simple, well-architected solutions. Tell me about a time you made a design simpler instead of adding features.
What they are checking: Whether they value simplicity and can resist overengineering, which keeps systems reliable and fast to change.
What would you do
A trader tells you the hardware system missed some opportunities yesterday. How do you investigate?
What they are checking: Whether they work from evidence like captures and logs and partner with traders to find the real cause.
About the work
How do you shave nanoseconds off a path that already meets timing?
What they are checking: Whether they know advanced latency techniques like reducing logic levels, placement and choosing what to precompute.
Walk me through how you would design a market data feed handler in an FPGA.
What they are checking: Whether they understand exchange protocols, parsing and order book updates at hardware speed.
How do you trade off latency against flexibility when traders want to change strategy parameters often?
What they are checking: Whether they can design systems that stay fast but still let traders adjust behavior without a rebuild.
How do you make sure a hardware trading system fails safely?
What they are checking: Whether they build in risk checks and kill switches, since a bad system can harm the firm and the market.
What is your approach to verification for a design that will trade real money?
What they are checking: Whether they use thorough verification like constrained random testing and replaying real market data.
How do you split work between hardware and software in a trading system?
What they are checking: Whether they can decide what belongs in hardware for speed and what belongs in software for flexibility.
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by Optiver.