BNP Paribas Tokyo (Equity Structuring) vs. Société Générale NYC (Quant Commodities) – Best Path to Hedge Funds?
I’m a French student with a strong mathematical background, and initially, my goal was to break into quant roles at hedge funds.
I made it to the final rounds at Citadel and Squarepoint, but unfortunately didn’t land offers there. I just have now these two opportunities :
The first opportunity is in Equity Derivatives Structuring at BNP in Tokyo, focusing on pricing exotics and structured products - great FO experience but potentially limiting geographically. The second is a Quant Commodities Strategist role in NYC developing trading signals with Python/ML - more directly relevant to HF work but in a niche asset class.
Which path would provide better exit opportunities to hedge funds? Does the FO prestige and derivatives expertise from structuring outweigh the direct quant experience in NYC? I'm particularly concerned about whether commodities would be too specialized compared to the broader applications of equity derivatives. Would appreciate insights from anyone who's made similar transitions or works in HF recruiting.
quant commodities for sure, still seeing job adverts across physicals/power from time to time. Exotics aren’t great to transition to HF, altho the work itself could be more intellectually stimulating.
For me, a structuring role would be far more engaging. Do you see solid sell-side opportunities after structuring? Medium-term, I’m not targeting HFs directly; I’d prefer to build depth on the sell-side first (trading, structuring, or even desk quant)
Within sellside? Ppl move around all the time, I’ve seen fixed income ppl hop over to equities and clean up, vice versa. Generally it’s a good idea to have some more structural complexity. But if you are still young I think you should preserve more optionality for HFs eventually.
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