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volasmiler
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Posts: 3
Joined: December 30th, 2010, 10:26 am

Compensation at large Quant hedge funds

July 27th, 2015, 8:15 pm

Hello,How much would a Quant researcher at one of the larger Quant hedge funds such as Winton, AHL, Two Sigma earn if he or she is starting there right after the PhD? The role would be about developing, improving and maintaining trading models. What is the current market rate for such a position? I'm wondering about total compensation, i.e. salary + bonus. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!
 
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Commodore
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Joined: March 18th, 2014, 4:48 pm

Compensation at large Quant hedge funds

July 28th, 2015, 5:24 am

I'll make a guess to get the conversation going, but I'm interested in what others have to say. I'd guess a new PhD would get $150k and a bonus between $50-100k. After a while, it will be more clear what contribution his/her research has made to the PnL, and the bonus will rise accordingly.If you are asking for yourself, I wouldn't even worry about it. Just take the job. If you get the opportunity to contribute to trading models, your career will take off. Your base salary is only intended to give you enough stability to pay your rent, but the potential bonus upside is huge. So don't pass up an amazing opportunity just because another job/field has offered a higher starting salary.
 
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ThinkDifferent
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Joined: March 14th, 2007, 1:09 pm

Compensation at large Quant hedge funds

July 30th, 2015, 5:01 am

not sure about huge upsides. many top funds (including the mentioned below) had quite uneven performance for the last 5 years.
 
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katastrofa
Posts: 7440
Joined: August 16th, 2007, 5:36 am
Location: Alpha Centauri

Compensation at large Quant hedge funds

August 1st, 2015, 1:01 pm

The number I heard from the recruiter regarding one of those names was £75k + quarterly bonus for an entry level quant researcher, but it was quite a while ago and he was possibly spoofing that to persuade me to interview (the jobspec he showed me included a bunch of some corp-like materials that put me off). I was looking to move quickly from a job where I was getting £45k + 0 bonus (my first job outside the academia, not in finance), which probably lowballed my potential salary. Maybe all those factors played together to reflect some realistic entry level salary -- no idea, but I'm also curious how much they pay these times.
 
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MiloRambaldi
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Joined: July 26th, 2010, 12:27 am

Compensation at large Quant hedge funds

August 1st, 2015, 5:41 pm

About 80,000-100,000 EUR total compensation, but obviously depends on location.
Last edited by MiloRambaldi on July 31st, 2015, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.