Who is Edward Nathan Varghese? IIT Hyderabad student bags institute’s highest-ever placement package at Rs 2.5 crore

Varghese will join Optiver’s Netherlands office as a software engineer starting July

In the middle of a challenging hiring season, a computer science student from IIT Hyderabad has pulled off a remarkable feat by securing a job offer with an annual pay of Rs 2.5 crore from a Netherlands-based trading firm, in what is the biggest placement package the institute has seen since it was founded in 2008.

The offer was made by Optiver, a global trading firm, to Edward Nathan Varghese, a final-year Computer Science and Engineering student. According to IIT Hyderabad, this is the highest package ever received by a student in the institute’s history.

Varghese, 21, will join Optiver’s Netherlands office as a software engineer starting July. The offer came after he successfully converted a two-month internship into a pre-placement offer (PPO).

Born in Hyderabad, Varghese later moved to Bengaluru, where he did his schooling from Class 7. His preparation for placements, he says, was not a last-minute effort but the result of years of focused work. From his first year at IIT Hyderabad, he dedicated himself to competitive programming, eventually breaking into the top 100 coders in the country, as reported by the Times of India.

His leadership experience on campus also stood out. As per his LinkedIn profile, Varghese served as the Overall Head of the Office of Career Services at IIT Hyderabad, managing a core team of eight student managers and coordinating the efforts of nearly 250 placement coordinators. Earlier, he had worked as an Internship Cell Coordinator for close to a year.

During his internship at Optiver, Varghese went through an intensive two-week training period followed by a six-week project that tested both his technical expertise and the ability to make decisions under pressure. Of the two IIT Hyderabad students selected for the internship, he was the only one to receive a PPO.

Interestingly, Optiver was the only company he interviewed for this season, according to the Times of India.

Overall, this placement season proved to be a landmark one for IIT Hyderabad. Alongside Varghese’s record-breaking offer, another Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) student secured a Rs 1.1 crore package. Until now, the institute’s highest package had stood at around Rs 1 crore, achieved in 2017.

The impact was felt beyond individual success stories. In 2025, average salaries at IIT Hyderabad rose sharply, jumping by nearly 75 per cent, from Rs 20.8 lakh in 2024 to Rs 36.2 lakh. The first phase of placements, which concluded in December, also saw students bag 24 international offers, signalling a strong year for the institute despite broader market uncertainties.