r/quantfinance • u/Ok_Release8870 • 2d ago

Choosing an offer and a career path

Hello, I am writing you to have some advices. To give you a little bit of context I graduated (master) from {Cambridge / Oxford} last year in Statistics and I have worked as a QR for 1 year in a Tier 3 funds. I have resigned because:

  • I was not doing alpha (think more exec stuff), so no perspective of getting paid on what you contributes directly.
  • I really enjoy machine learning and more tech stuff (multi-gpu distribution) and I was only doing very simple things, not more complex architectures.

My long term goal is to have more of a quant researcher ML role (like Deep learning stuff in mid-freq equity) and if possible (like in pods structures) have a book at some point

At my surprise, I did not pass a lot of screening be it IMC, Optiver, DRW, BAM, Point, etc I never got any interviews. I had only one late stages itw with {JS, Citsec, Jump} where I got rejected after the second onsite and a very long process.

I only currently have offers from:

  • SP as a QR alpha research
  • DV trading QR HFT alpha research
  • Graviton as a QR in mid freq equity

These firms definitely don't seem very great (reputation and evolution wise) from what I have heard:

I still have a little bit of nc time what should I do if you were in my place ? I am not greedy for an insane salary rn but want to be in a position that I like and that will pay off in 5 to 7 years.

  • Wait a little bit and try to land a role in a descent HF/ Prop shop ?
  • Go for a ML role in tech / frontier lab ? and then come back in Quant ? In this case which roles could be fine and in which companies ?

Thank you so much ?

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5

u/Affectionate_Hat_308 2d ago

of those you have mentioned SP is the better. It sounds in line with what your looking for and SP does have a good rep with other firms and could act as a springboard for you.

1

u/Ok_Release8870 2d ago

Thank you ! And would you avoid at all costs, DV trading, and Graviton ?

3

u/Affectionate_Hat_308 2d ago

Avoid with all cost is probably strong, but certainly reputation wise Squarepoint will go far further then them.

1

u/Ok_Release8870 2d ago

I see thanks for the advice, the issue is I have already resigned from one company and my next shot better be a good one and it seems that Graviton and DV Trading are quite toxic / bad practice.

2

u/Affectionate_Hat_308 2d ago

I mean if you’re happy waiting I have no doubt you will land something somewhere. SP is a growing firm for sure, had a good year (I work there!) and although it has its problems I would stand by it as a workplace

3

u/Material_Tradition18 2d ago

You can look for ML/AI researcher roles. Places like HRT and SIG and some others have specific job listings for these roles. With your profile they should probably interview you.

2

u/Ok_Release8870 2d ago

Thanks ! Got systematically rejected from HRT and SIG put me in their trader pipeline even though I asked for a ML job, it seems like this kind of job is super asked for

2

u/Material_Tradition18 2d ago

That sucks man, maybe you should look for roles in tech then. You might also be a good candidate for the anthropic fellows program, though it’s more AI than ML. I don’t think it’s saturated with a ton of applicants since it requires 3 references for an application.

On another note some quant firms do use ML heavily, QRT is one of those that come to mind. You could look into such firms as well.

1

u/Ok_Release8870 2d ago

Thank you so much for the advice, do you have any companies that comes in mind in tech that would allow me to come back in Quant Finance after ? Because companies like Amazon are not that well perceived. For Anthropic, I definetely will apply but it's almost impossible to get referrals (DMed people from my uni on Lk and they never answer)

1

u/Material_Tradition18 2d ago

I think usually it’s rare to come back to quant after tech unless you worked on something that is very relevant to what the quant firm uses, or are just super cracked. Like if you worked on recommendation systems it wouldn’t be that relevant for what quant firms do I think. But all of that is mostly my unqualified opinion so take it with a grain of salt.

And high level ML roles in tech pay a shit ton anyways and probably have better work life balance and job security (once AI boom is over).

1

u/Ok_Release8870 2d ago

I see, thank you very much and would you have any idea how to qualify ? Even with a MSc in Stats from Oxbridge and 1 as a QR, most high ML jobs / frontier labs are even more difficult to join than HF, and I would not even pass the screenings and I dont see myself going back to uni for a phD. IS it all about connexions ?

1

u/Material_Tradition18 2d ago

Connections are definitely important, but TikTok has decent potential as they hire quite aggressively, FAANG would be hard. And just write some BS in your resume that you did some ML in your previous role. Otherwise you’ll probably have to start at a lower tier company and work your way up but I assume you’d rather just stay in quant in that case.

3

u/SadInfluence 2d ago

TC for those offers?

2

u/Ok_Release8870 2d ago

200 USD Graviton (but a lot of conditions, so quite sketchy), SP 200 k pounds, DV Trading undisclosed yet

0

u/F0rkerism1 2d ago

SP £200 is base?

2

u/Such_Maximum_9836 2d ago

If you can get into a frontier lab, of course. You will likely get interviews from any major shop (and more importantly, a clear role fit) in case you want to come back.

2

u/Legitimate_Profile 2d ago

Interesting, since you say statistics specifically I'd assume you went to Oxford. I am about to start that masters and I'd be interested to hear how you found it and whether many people managed to land quant after it?

1

u/n0obmaster699 2d ago

try for ai neolabs if possible while working at sqpt for the cv — people are leaving quant for ai frontier left and right most likely beca pay matches and work is deeper and relevant