Senior Quant vs Quant PM offer choice
Helping my brother to ask an offer choice question (Since he doesn't use the platform.)
He previously worked at a smaller quant fund for 4 years and was quite successful with 2 to 3 mature quant strategies produced by him. But that fund does not have good compensation, so he decided to interview for larger fund. He recently got an offer from a multimanager platform as a quant PM.(Think of Millenium or Balyasny,) Another offer is a senior quant position from a quant firm (Think of Citadel Securities or DE Shaw).
Both offers have roughly the same package. But each has pros and cons:
1. The PM offer can initially offer him 1 Headcount, and if he is successful, headcounts can expand to around 7-8. In that way, he has a group of quants working for him and certainly has a faster cycle for producing new strategies. However, if he cannot produce solid PnL within one year or two, then potentially he will be fired. And past good performance does not necessarily indicate the future, so there is such a possibility that strategies are not working for the one year period. There is much pressure but also large upside.
2. The Senior QR offer can allow him to participate in quite different projects, and may have wider asset class exposure. He can also collaborate with much more senior quants to hone up the skillsets. If he generate PnL, he will also be compensated accordingly. And even if no PnL in first or second year, likely he will not be fired easily. However, there is no such a concept of having a group working for him in such a scenario. So even if he did well, he will be working on his own and producing strategies on his own. The cycle of producing strategies can be slower.
He has thought of the pros and cons, but still hesitating. Given such scenario, what will you choose and why? Much appreciated!
Bump
Bump
The first one will likely come with a guarantee to compensate for some of the risk in porting the strategies he owns to the new fund.The fact that the comp guarantee for that role is "similar" to the offer at the second firm to me seems like taking the second job is a no-brainer. Good comp, clear economics if he does produce PL (assuming there's some defined payout as you describe), and better quant talent/non-siloed structure where he can learn from others. The only reason to take the first offer is if he really doesn't want to deal with a corporate structure/reporting/management and wants to be left alone as a "business head".
That makes sense! Thanks. Though there is a downside of not having juniors supporting you.
Option 2 appears to be a stronger long-term play. Option 1 (joining a multi-strat) will always be there, and he can easily revisit that choice with considerably more favorable terms once he has more experience/has honed his skills as you mentioned.
Thanks! Agreed with you on this.
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