Quant researcher after finance phd

Hi all,

I'm midway through my phd in finance at a top3 school and a few internal recruiters at funds like DE, citadel, twosigma, aqr etc have been reaching out for "informational" interviews.

how good are those roles? anything like a normal analyst does at a HF in terms of potential to become PM one day or I'd just be a glorified back office monkey?

5 Comments
 
Most Helpful

If they are for research roles those are all excellent firms/roles. The potential to become a PM is definitely there though quant firms don't have formal PMs as much. You'll just become a more senior researcher. Most quant firms have legacy strategies that they have been running for a while that you will simply be iterating on. You might get the title of "portfolio manager" at one firm that really just means "senior researcher" if that makes sense.

 

That makes sense, thanks. Do you know if its possible to transition to more standard trader/analyst roles down the road when starting as a quant researcher? I don't really want to be writing code forever...

 

By standard trader/analyst do you mean a fundamental trader/analyst role? Probably not. But if you don't want to be writing code you can probably do something like product strategy. AQR and firms like it will have people who will work with clients to formulate an investment solution that fits a specific objective. A product strategist would work with researchers/technology as well as clients and other folks to develop and implement the strategy. An example of this might be a new type of smart beta product or it could be related to ESG. Usually it relates to some portfolio construction thing.

 

Repellat ratione omnis voluptatem vel explicabo cupiditate aut. Id voluptates rerum voluptatem quis dignissimos vitae eum.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • Millennium Partners 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Blackstone Group 96.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 95.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.1%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.2%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.3%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (86) $288
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $192
  • Analysts (240) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (28) $146
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (282) $96
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”