Compliance interview prep.

Behavioural questions to expect

1. Walk me through your CV.
2. Tell me about a project where you owned a compliance review, a control gap, or a regulatory response end-to-end.
3. Tell me about a weakness, a failure, or feedback you've received and worked on.
4. Why hedge-fund compliance — why not long-only, banking compliance, legal, or audit?
5. Monitoring + surveillance, advisory, Code of Ethics, regulatory reporting — which seat appeals, and why?
6. Why the firm?
7. How would you describe the firm's compliance programme and where you'd add value?
8. What recent regulatory programme or change has affected the firm's compliance function, and how would you have approached it?

Technical concepts to master

• MNPI + expert networks — the post-SAC / Galleon canon

  MNPI definition · Expert-network controls (the post-SAC canon) · Restricted list + watch list · Information barriers + wall-crossings

• Short-selling mechanics — the L/S compliance differentiator

  Locate + reasonable belief · Close-out + failures-to-deliver · SSR / Rule 201 alternative uptick · EU + UK SSR net-short notification

• Form PF + private-fund reporting calendar

  Form PF Section 1 vs Section 2 · Form PF 2024 current-reporting events · 13F + 13D / 13G · AIFMD Annex IV + UK equivalent

• Code of Ethics + personal trading (Rule 204A-1)

  Access person definition · Pre-clearance + blackout windows · Quarterly transaction + annual holdings reports · Gifts + entertainment + outside activities

Practical drills

• A PM had a paid expert-network call with a former VP of Engineering at a public software company. The expert mentioned 'we're behind schedule on the next major release, probably a Q3 announcement instead of Q2'. The PM tells you the next morning. Walk me through how you'd handle it.
• A trader pings you at 10:15am: they want to short 50,000 shares of a $30 mid-cap biotech. The PB's first response: 'hard-to-borrow, we can try'. The stock opened at $32 and is currently at $28.50 (a -10.9% intraday move). The fund's current net short position in the name is 0.18% of issued share capital (the firm is UK-FCA-authorised). Walk me through your decision + the rules in play.
• An access person (a senior analyst on the tech sector) submits a pre-clearance request to buy 500 shares of a mid-cap tech name at ~$60 ($30k position). The firm's flagship L/S Equity fund last traded the name 3 days ago (a long buy of 80,000 shares); the trading desk has no pending orders. The firm's blackout window is 7 days before and after firm trading. The de-minimis exemption is < 0.01% of issuer market cap (this issuer is $4bn cap, so 0.01% = $400k). Walk me through your decision.

Smart-question anchors

• Programme structure + leadership — CCO reporting line, deputy structure, three-lines-of-defence
• Expert-network + MNPI controls — vendor stack, chaperone policy, recent exception trends
• Short-selling compliance — PB relationships, locate workflow, SSR notification history
• Surveillance + monitoring stack — trade + e-comms vendor systems, alert calibration, off-channel comms posture
• Form PF + private-fund reporting — current-reporting trigger playbook, recent threshold events

Sourced from

SEC — Regulation SHO (Rules 200-204) + Rule 201 (alternative uptick / SSR) · SEC — Investment Advisers Act (Rules 206(4)-7, 204A-1, 206(4)-1) + Form PF (2024 amendments) · FCA Handbook (SYSC, COBS, MAR) + UK Short Selling Regulation · ESMA — EU Short Selling Regulation (Regulation 236/2012) + MAR + AIFMD · Wall Street Oasis + Mergers & Inquisitions — HF Compliance interview threads · MFA (Managed Funds Association) + AIMA + ACA Group — HF compliance programme guides