Ken Griffin’s Citadel companies just hired 350 interns—only 0.36% of over 115,000 young applicants made the cut

Up-and-coming professionals are vying for limited summer work, with some early-career opportunities growing more competitive than Ivy League colleges. Unlike other employers reeling back their entry-level hiring, Ken Griffin’s finance firms just welcomed its biggest internship class yet.

But even as the billionaire’s companies expand their entry-level ranks, landing the summer gig has never been harder.

More than 350 interns across Citadel and the company’s sister firm, Citadel Securities, just kicked off their program this Monday. Citadel’s young hires are starting their summer gig with an offsite in Palm Beach, Florida, where Citadel Securities will end their stint for the season. It’s the largest intern cohort the business has ever had, spanning 90 colleges globally, but that didn’t mean fresh-faced professionals had an easier time landing a spot.

This year’s competition hit a boiling point, with more than 115,900 applications flooding in for the limited spots, up 6.4% from the 2025 record. Only 0.36% of candidates wound up making the cut this year, marking another record for some of Gen Z’s most coveted internship spots.

During the summer gig Citadel interns work on team projects that have a tangible effect on the business across pipelines including quantitative research, engineering, and investing. Nearly all of the recruits come from backgrounds in computer science, physics, and statistics, while around a tenth are economics and finance majors. And Citadel is looking to build the skills, knowledge-base, and network of its young talent over the two-and-a-half month internship; throughout the process they’ll be clued in with other company employees, paired with a mentor for career guidance, and meet weekly with their managers for one-on-one conversations.

At the end of the program, the early-career talent will present their projects in hopes of securing a return offer. Citadel’s leadership predicted that a majority of interns will receive a full-time work opportunity after the program, as many have in years past. And they turn out to be more successful hires in the long-run; the company found that campus recruits are twice as likely to one day become a high-performer at the financial titan.

During their 11-week-long stint, the interns won’t have to survive on ramen noodles and instant coffee while working at the financial giant. Interns at Citadel and Citadel Securities receive around $4,300 to $5,800 weekly in base salary, which is dependent on their job and professional experience.

Additional perks include a signing bonus and a $15,000 housing stipend, or the choice to live in the corporate housing. Citadel is looking to attract the brightest quants and traders—and it’s willing to shell out to snap up the best young talent.