citadel doesn't really post standard AE/sales roles publicly very often. i found mine through a recruiter who pinged me about their securities division. just in case someone else ends up in the same situation, here's how it went.
the role was institutional sales, covering existing relationships with hedge fund and asset manager clients. not a typical SaaS AE gig. very different.
recruiter screen: asked about my background in financial services sales, specific client types i'd worked with, and whether i understood basic derivatives concepts. that last one caught me off guard. they asked me to explain what a swap is at a high level. i knew enough to get through it but i'd study up if you don't.
first interview (director level): this was half about my sales background and half about financial markets. they wanted to know: how do i build trust with sophisticated institutional clients, how do i handle a client who's unhappy with execution quality, how do i prioritize across a book of accounts. i gave concrete examples from past roles. they pushed hard on specifics: what was the ARR, how long was the sales cycle, how did you handle competitive threats.
one thing i wasn't prepared for: they asked me to describe a current macroeconomic theme i was watching and how it might affect the client relationships i'd manage. they weren't expecting me to be a quant but they did expect me to follow markets seriously.
second interview (peer-level, two current sales people): casual but sharp. they were testing whether i'd fit culturally and whether i actually understood their business. felt more like a conversation than an evaluation but i'm sure they were scoring it.
final round: presentation. given a client profile, outline how i'd grow the relationship over 12 months. i had 48 hours to prep. presented to four people including a managing director.
compensation: institutional sales comp is structured differently from SaaS. base around $180k, but the bonus structure is much more significant. total comp for strong performers is reportedly in the $400-600k range but heavily performance-dependent. they were transparent about this: the base is comfortable, the upside is real but you earn it.
bottom line: if you don't have financial services background, the gap is real. it's not impossible to bridge but the learning curve is steep and they have candidates who already have it. if you do have FS sales experience, this is a very competitive comp package.