US vs UK Hedge Fund Careers: Is the Gap Really That Big?
People often say the US hedge fund market is on a different planet vs the UK in terms of pay, seat quality, and long-term upside.
What I’m really trying to understand:
1. If you start in the UK covering European equities, how boxed in are you later if you want to move to a US fund
2. Does coverage geography matter more than people admit, or is strong fundamental skill genuinely portable
3. If you could choose to start your career in either region, is it THAT much better to start in the United States
Depends on fund, but at an MM if you need to move you can move. But generally it’s because your PM wants to move you (I.e your PM wants to covering US stocks or your PM is in the US). I will be joining a large US pod who have asked if I want to stay in Europe or move to NY, so it does happen.
Other than that, the US market is obviously bigger, career prospects outside of pods are much better because there are more scaled seats that aren’t pod shops. Many people start out covering EU names and then stretch out to the US because they are given more capital etc.
There’s some interesting stuff happening in Europe and more capital being deployed here, but liquidity can be a problem so I’m actually noticing new capital going towards longer-duration teams (see citadel’s new European franchise, the team I’m joining is also longer duration than most pods and will be deploying 2-4bn in EU, so it might be in vogue for a while)
If you could start from zero today with the long-term goal of making it in hedge funds, would you say there’s a big difference between starting in the US vs the UK?
I’m in the fortunate position of being able to choose between the two and want to sanity-check whether starting in the UK is a mistake long term
Choose the US. This isn’t even close if you have equal opportunities to do so…
if you can choose then start in the US. I’m learning towards staying in Europe but that’s largely due to personal circumstances, not professional ones.
This is for L/S. Macro is a different story.
Yes it really is that big of a gap. Next question.
(No other country offers hedge fund opportunities anywhere close to what the US has. Start your HF career in the US if you have the means and ability to.)
If its quant strategies, it doesn't really matter. In all the big HF, quants in UK get paid similar to their US counterparts. Plus you get to live in relatively cheaper country.
I think it really depends on the team. There are some teams at some of the platforms that are very competitive in terms of books size and from my understanding the economics are the same (which, given lower living expenses and arguably higher quality of life can be a great seat). Probably harder to plan ending up in one of these seats given they are limited vs in the US where the market is much deeper
Thanks for responding! Any comments on Asia pods?
I don‘t have a strong insight but seems to me like situation is similar, just even fewer opportunities/good seats vs LDN. One thing I‘d like to add is that it‘s important to cover the sectors that are good (which mainly means many liquid names), so for example fins, industrials, maybe consumer in EU. For example doing tech in LDN will mostly mean covering US tech in which case LDN is clearly inferior to NY (have a disadvantage vs other analysts + best teams will be in US)
I started in London doing L/S European equities many years ago. I made the move to a US TMT seat and it’s been the best career decision easily. No one really gives a shit about what goes on in Europe when you’re in the US. The best money making opportunity is in the US. Im not saying you can’t be successful in London. If you have a fantastic seat in London, then obviously stay. But like for like on average, NYC is the right move.
Hey! Are you at an SM or an MM? I have some questions regarding my career options. If you don't mind, could you DM me pls?
Del
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