Can somebody categorize the following roles as front office, back office and middle office please:Risk Management (for trading desk), Strategist, Quantitative analyst.Thanks!

randomax, there is a real good thread under the Career section where Aron explains BO,MO and FO. If you could do a search in the Career Forum I think you should get lucky.

those job titles mean different things in each bank, and so do the terms back, middle and front office...

Is there any difference between just "trading" and "proprietary trading" in an IB? I was told by someone that proprietary trading is done by quant research groups.

Trading in IBs (as opposed to "prop trading") usually refers to market making : you're quoting prices for clients.Prop traders don't have clients, they enter only the trades they want, and get the position they choose to have.Of course, market making desks also manage positions, because you can't be flat always and everywhere.Quant research groups are useful and necessay to both types of desks.Some patterns might be identified though. Market making desks need very accurate pricing models ("quant modeller" job type, with hardcore stoch calculus) whereas prop desks may have some strategists working with them (lots of stats and backtesting associated with the job). "Prop trading is done by quant research groups"It usually means the quant who built the strategy has become a trader, or the trader built a quant model itself. Those guys are sometimes referred to as "quant traders" At least, thats how things go in my place. Any other opinions?

Who are traders then? I know its too general a question (and you are going into trading), but are they then a mix of former quants, other people with graduate degrees such as MBAs, MS etc. I have never seen an IB recruit "traders" in my university and its a major school in the US. So I figured it might be closed-door MBA recruiting. But an MBA student told me he has only seen recruitment for activities such as M&A, mutual funds, corp fin.One more: is there any difference between backgrounds of market-making traders and prop traders? Just trying to understand how the IB world operates...

I hope I can shed a bit more light on this.You will rarely see a firm recruit traders straight out of school, although sometimes it does happen, but rarely. Usually people are brought on as trade assistants, and then move up. People with quants backgrounds are sometimes put straight onto the desk to work with the traders, help with strategy/research/modeling/etc. and then move into a trader role.To be honest, I have some clients that won't hire traders with MBAs. MS, PhD, BS are usually what they want to see.Quantstudent19 pretty much hit it on the head in regards to prop trading and trading. Sometimes in prop trading you will have a quant doing blackbox trading.Hope that helps.

QuoteSometimes in prop trading you will have a quant doing blackbox trading.I can guarantee you that it ain't a black box to the guy doing the trading!

QuoteOriginally posted by: energydudeWho are traders then? I know its too general a question (and you are going into trading), but are they then a mix of former quants, other people with graduate degrees such as MBAs, MS etc. I think very few newly hired traders have MBAs now. Most of them get in after a BS through the graduate programme as an analyst and land onto a trading desk.Most MFE and PhD students get quant jobs straight out of school, but might then manage to get a trading role after a few years.BS grads usually get jobs in cash or vanilla trading, whereas MFEs and PhDs will trade more exotic products.The trader's backgrounds also depend on the bank's policy and culture. See French banks, more than half of their traders come from French "grandes ecoles"... (and i won't be complaining about it )

QuoteOriginally posted by: quantstudent19QuoteOriginally posted by: energydudeWho are traders then? I know its too general a question (and you are going into trading), but are they then a mix of former quants, other people with graduate degrees such as MBAs, MS etc. I think very few newly hired traders have MBAs now. This is not accurate. I am getting an MBA right now at a top school and we have >40 people from my class that got summer internships in Sales & Trading rotation programs - and most of these people will end up in trading (as opposed to sales) positions. In fact, if you check out the web sites of all the top I-banks and look under MBA recruiting, you will see that they are recruiting for S&T out of the MBA programs.

QuoteOriginally posted by: jagThis is not accurate. I am getting an MBA right now at a top school and we have >40 people from my class that got summer internships in Sales & Trading rotation programs - and most of these people will end up in trading (as opposed to sales) positions. In fact, if you check out the web sites of all the top I-banks and look under MBA recruiting, you will see that they are recruiting for S&T out of the MBA programs.Ok i know lots of IBs recruit MBAs in sales & trading, but i thought most of them were going into sales (where MBA education is probably more useful)Also, couldn't find a single MBA grad on the trading desks around meAnyway, sorry for generalizing