Goldman Sachs Strategies Group

I was recently selected to interview with Goldman Sachs Strategies Group (Strats group as they called it). I am not exactly sure what this is. The person who emailed me was from the investment bank, but the only thing I can think of is if this is a Quant role. My resume was selected (from where I do not know b/c I have not applied for anything yet), but my resume does not scream Quant. I am an undergrad student if that makes any difference. Am I missing something? Does anyone have an idea of what the group does? Thanks for the help guys.

 

A strategist at GS is a pseudo-quant. I say "pseudo" because the specific nature of the role depends greatly on the group you're in and your academic background. They hire undergrads and grad students alike. I was asked to interview to be a strategist in fixed income, and the role they described was essentially a quant developer (not surprising given my CS background). I politely turned it down b/c I wanted to be a banker, not a coder.

 
Best Response

OK - There is lot of confusion about strategies groups at GS: As far as I am aware 'strategies' desks are an umbrella term used to label desks which provide front-office support/analysis/quant analytics to the variety of trading desks and IBD desks within GS

The large majority are traditional quant type desks (structuring desks are defined as such and do not come under strategies) completing analytics/pricing and model building tools to trading desks - however the range of work varies massively - I thought that the 'core' strategies groups focussed on technology infrastructure and groups such as 'fundamental strategies' provide fundamental equity/credit based trading strategies to the various desk at the firm

Either way, they definetley seem like well regarded groups and the vast number sit on the trading floor.

 

I just got the informational "Strategists Business Unit" sheet, and a time and date. It came on extremely quick. I am a bit flustered because I am not a "quant" and most of the information on the internet points straight to quant roles, i.e. Desk and Core, Strats. Given my experience I would say IBD is most likely, with Investment Management at a distant second. Securities is not likely.

-Cheers
 

They are quants who develop models and risk tools that the S&T people use. It's definitely front-office and pays reasonably well. However, these types of roles at banks do take a back seat to the actual traders and PMs in that the latter tend to "bully" the former and dictate what type of projects they should be working on. If you want to be a "pure" independent quant at a BB, GSAM's Quantitative Investment Strategies Group is a great gig if you can land it. But by and large, the best quants gravitate to hedge funds or prop trading shops.

 

>> * We are interviewing for the positions of trading-desk strategist=20 >> and market strategist. >> * Our ideal candidates will combine strong technical knowledge and=20 >> skills with a keen interest in our business. >> * Candidates should provide details of top performance in technical=20 >> courses such as mathematics, statistics, computer science, physics,=20 >> and/or finance. Undergraduate and graduate majors in these areas are=20 >> preferred. >> >>Principal Responsibilities >>=B7 Analyzing markets to identify trade opportunities, both studying= =20 >>historical data and assessing risk characteristics of complex derivatives >>=B7 Modeling our clients=92 and traders=92 portfolios >>=B7 Designing and implementing software tools to enable our analyses= =20 >>and models >>=B7 Collaborating extensively with colleagues in sales and trading= as=20 >>well as with other strategists >>=B7 Presenting analyses to clients and working closely with them to= =20 >>understand their objectives and structure optimal transactions

 

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