Discrepancy between salaries reported here and on Glassdoor
There is such a big difference between the salaries reported here and the salaries out there in the real world? If you go to Glassdoor or talk to any of the people in the HF space nobody is making that much.
I've been in the HF space for a while. What I can tell from 1st hand experience the salaries reported here compared to real world salaries (in London) are very inflated. At best they represent some best case scenario. It's a bit like a random walk - sure @ t=T it could be at +200 but the current expected value is say 50. I've had a year or two when I did receive a 6-figure total comp of the likes reported here. This was a rare occurrence and is far from what I could claim as a regular/expected compensation.
At least this is how things look in the systematic HF space.
Glassdoor reporters salaries in the HF space are incredibly off (at least in the USA). Even if you go to the top funds, the people that report and the staleness of the data makes it completely unreliable. Then you have the problem that in certain surveys or aggregations, you get “funds” that are really just a few people trying to make something work with tiny AUM so the comp numbers are low.
That being said the numbers you see here are for the top places, and so definitely skewed.
As someone who has worked in the HF space for a while (including “good” places) not getting 6 figure comp is pretty bad (unheard of at top funds), in the US the standard for first years (non PhD) is in the ~200-250k range. But again, these are top funds (and HFs are volatile and that may change).
there's been a lot of comp compression. But even for PhD 1st year 200-250k is not low. I would say that's fairly usual for a 1st year PhD quant. There are exceptions like Citadel securities where you get a guaranteed bonus in 1st year (also DE Shaw) but after that comp is completely discretionary.
> I've had a year or two when I did receive a 6-figure total comp of the likes reported here. This was a rare occurrence and is far from what I could claim as a regular/expected compensation.
This sounds strange unless you work for old-school CTA funds (Winton and likes). But if you work for a tech-deiven trading firm (Citadel/XTX/Quadrature/GR/JS/HRT/Jump/...) even the base is 6-figure, especially for PhD people.
If you have your strategies -- you make base + 0 or base + 6+ figures.
I meant my base is 6 figures but it's £1xx,000. Nothing like the 200,000 - 300,000 reported here + bonus. Bonuses these days seem to be an idea more than a reality. I've worked in CTAs - not exactly traditional CTAs but sure - mostly momentum/trend following futures shops. Having said that, there are plenty of momentum/trend following places making a killing and even the poor-er ones have a good year once every 2-3 years.
I know a reputable fund in London that is paying a risk quant about 40K (with bonus).
I personally never seen 200-300 GBP base in London (buy side). I think people just submit TC number here and do not care to separate bonus and base.
Most people are talking total comp, so when I listed 200-250 that is all in first year.
Senior people will get higher bases (and depends on fund, most PnL facing roles won’t be high base).
Most are wildly incorrect, both sites
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