Do Quantamental roles really exist?
Hi everyone. I'm an undergrad currently studying Math and Finance at a target school for both. While looking into different hedge fund roles, I've come across the term "quantamental," but I haven't been able to get a clear picture of what an analyst at places like Coatue or D.E. Shaw actually does day-to-day, or if those groups are even truly hybrid.
I love deep research into math theorems and programming, but I also enjoy breaking down a company's fundamental business model and projecting its long-term performance. I'm currently interning at a small "old-school" small L/S fund that's deeply fundamental, and I don't really enjoy it as much.
Does a role actually exist that genuinely combines these two fields at the junior level? Or do you ultimately have to pick one side over the other?
Appreciate any insights.
Not really no. I did one of these roles and can confirm they do not really exist. The reason is basically the two skill sets are non-overlapping and the minimal superset is very quant heavy (eg a quant can do a fundamental persons job just poorly but a fundamental person cannot at all do a quants job). But keep in mind that to create a job you need to hire people with a real bundle of skills but my point is this bundle does not exist anywhere. Eg there’s no entry level role that creates both sets of skills. In practice some quants develop fundamental knowledge in some narrow facet, and this is the real way this exists to some extent. A small number of prop firms do have these roles (which is where I did this role) but keep in mind you will have essentially no exit opportunities since the very few roles like this that exist are extremely unique. I do think this will become more common in the future because it’s easier to write small scripts with ai but realistically you do have to choose. If you like doing math, go try to work for a prop firm and hope you eventually can do it in equities where this can matter. You’d be surprised but a lot of prop firms do actually use some fundamental knowledge to an extent that would be surprising to most traditional hf analysts.
Thanks for the reply. Is the role you're referring to a fundamental equity analyst at a prop shop? Do you mind elaborating on your day-to-day, why you think it wasn't for you, and what you're doing now? Additionally, are you familiar with the fundamental research position at DE Shaw? I've heard that's the gold standard of something "quantamental," but I'm not exactly sure how.
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They do and there are a lot of
Do you mind elaborating on specific examples? eg, role names, day-to-day etc.
I work in this type of role at a larger hf platform, so yes, they do exist but the word “quantamental” isn’t used in practice by anyone serious, the roles are very uncommon relative to traditional seats, and rarely would they hire entry level IPs that would have a steeper learning curve. Team is a mix of true quant PhD backgrounds and fundamental L/S backgrounds.
Not going to go into our specific approach but my guess is you’ll start to see similar strategies become more prevalent with the rise of new technologies & data sources, and due to the underperformance of many old school discretionary stock pickers. Some of what you’ll see out there is purely marketing and others that I meet are actually implementing some pretty unique approaches.
So if I'm looking to break into a role like this, what would you say is the best path for me? What sort of roles should I be applying for internships?
Quantamental exists at the firm or strategy level. Doesn’t exist at the individual level. Skillsets don’t overlap at all, per above
Source: I work fundamentals within a “quantamental” strategy
Thanks for the reply! Do you mind talking about your day-to-day, the level of math you're doing (if any at all), and how your fundamental position at a "quantamental" strategy is different than one at a pure L/S?
Interested as i believe i'll be a good fit for this type of role and there isn't lots info about this online. My current role is sell-side M&A so my practical skillset is closer to l/s fundamentals than pure quant. But i truly believe that market today is driven my structure vs. corporate fundamentals. I spent some free time i have learning about systems and theories (less proof bc i won't understand stochastic processes LMAO) and spent time learning the quant approach and these ideas just click with my brain. I think there's a great use case combining these two seemingly uncorrelated fields, especially with AI lowering the friction. I would love to learn more about making the switch or honestly just talk to more people in the industry and exchange ideas (my current job bores me yet it takes up so much time).
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