PM@Quant AM vs. Quant HF

Seek some advice regarding new industry opportunities.

Experience: MS. (quitted PhD) from top stats. & econ. program and went into buy side. Started career in a medium quant equity group working on systematic equity signals with 6Yoe and promoted to PM. The group had a few difficult years but my strategies had decent years - medium freq smaller size L/S & larger LO.

Recently recruited and offered a few positions, mostly into 2 categories.

a) Similar quant equity shops (acadian & man group in boston & panagora & gsam & blk sae & qma) - pm & vp, oddly lower comp ranging 300k-350k

b) MM hf to join pod teams, as sub-pm or senior research role, comp varying by performance, generally 200k+ plus 150% to 250%.

a) seems to have much better w/l balance but comp rather limited - usually topped at 400-500k if next 3-4 yrs. b) definitely offers more imagination & upper side. tho current market could put drawdown at risk, any opinions?

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Current market is actually as good as its been the last few years for neutral HF strategies, particularly in the quant space, so not sure where that impression is coming from. People have been shitting on the HF model for years because "I can do better with passive index funds," and that's likely no longer the case, at least in the interim.

Either option is fine, there is nothing wrong with trading upside for 40 hours a week and free weekends, but know that if you go with a) you will almost certainly never be perceived as a viable option for b). My inbox is littered with resumes of candidates from geode, man group, etc... and hardly any of them make viable HF QRs.

 

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