When Edward Nathan Varghese walked into IIT Hyderabad as a computer science undergraduate, he did what thousands of students do — focused on coding, classes, and competitions. What he didn’t know then was that four years later, he would walk out with a Rs 2.5 crore job offer, the highest package ever recorded at IIT Hyderabad since the institute was founded in 2008.
The 21-year-old final-year student has received the offer from Optiver, a global trading firm based in the Netherlands. Edward will join the company as a software engineer in July, after converting a two-month summer internship into a pre-placement offer.
FROM INTERNSHIP TO RECORD OFFER
Edward’s journey to the record package did not involve multiple interviews or a long placement season. According to media reports, Optiver was the first and only company he interviewed with during placements.
During his summer internship, two students were selected. Edward stood out and successfully converted the opportunity into a full-time role, beating stiff competition in the process.
He credits his success to a mix of factors — the IIT tag, a flexible academic curriculum, and a strong emphasis on coding and competitive programming from the first year of engineering.
STRONG ACADEMIC TRACK RECORD
Born and raised in Hyderabad, Edward later moved to Bengaluru, where he completed his schooling from Class 7 to Class 12. His performance in competitive exams has been consistently strong.
He secured AIR 1100 in JEE Main and AIR 558 in JEE Advanced in 2022, earning his seat at IIT Hyderabad. Alongside engineering, Edward also appeared for the Common Admission Test (CAT), scoring an impressive 99.96 percentile in 2025 and securing rank 120.
LEADERSHIP ROLES ON CAMPUS
Edward’s profile goes beyond academics. As per his LinkedIn profile, he served as the Overall Head at the Office of Career Services at IIT Hyderabad, where he led a team of eight student managers and nearly 250 coordinators across different placement and internship cells.
Before this, he worked as an Internship Cell Coordinator for close to eleven months, giving him an inside view of how campus placements function.
INTERESTS BEYOND CODING
Speaking about his interests, Edward writes on LinkedIn, “My interests span algorithms, competitive programming, finance and management. I’m eager to explore these domains and connect with like-minded individuals.”
Both his parents are engineers, and the family has expressed pride in his achievement.
WHY THIS OFFER STANDS OUT
Until now, the highest package at IIT Hyderabad stood at Rs 1.1 crore in 2017. In comparison, the highest offers were Rs 90 lakh in 2023–24 and Rs 66 lakh in 2024–25.
Edward’s Rs 2.5 crore offer not only breaks records but also marks a major moment in the institute’s placement history.
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