What are the career growth options for back office in HFs?

I spent 10+ years at tech building specialized skillsets that happens to be quite valuable for finance companies. Everything big data, massive scale, ML/data science, low latency user logic, etc. Coding, architecture, and managing large teams. 

I end up on the radar for a lot of the alts data teams at hedge funds. I am curious what the career progression looks like for a back office role, like the engineers who build out all the internal data. 

The starting comp seems to match quite well with tech. But how does it grow beyond that? Would one be building out a team for alts data, or pairing with a particular desk / pod and getting carry ? What ways do HFs incentivize their top engs to stick around?

All the literature I found online seems more applicable to traders. 

1 Comments
 

Sed aliquam cumque aperiam voluptatem vel impedit debitis. Voluptas error quia laboriosam nisi. Omnis iusto in tempora magni. Voluptatem qui eum sapiente repellendus voluptatibus. Qui architecto aut eaque autem qui. Dignissimos autem voluptas corporis quis accusantium. Odio voluptatem et autem voluptatem ullam minus sint.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Millennium Partners 95.0%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

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

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 (77) $191
  • Analysts (242) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • 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

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...”