Quant Position or a PhD Offer?
Have secured two offers in a large european country, 23M, International Student, relatively poor home country, Masters in Applied Math from one the best tech schools in the european country.
1) PhD position, employed as a researcher at the university offering 60k EUR gross, a very solid offer for Europe and works out to about 3k/mo net. Rents with 1-2 flatmates can be around 600-800, thus can save about 40% of my net salary with ease. Solid reseach group reputatation, expected duration 4 years.
2) Quant Analyst positon at a large european bank's regional headquarters, on the equity derivatives desk. Pay is about 80k + bonus, putting me in the top 5% of my country's new grads. Works out to 4-4.5k net, so lots of disposable income and about a 50% savings rate is very doable. Role is more quant dev than quant research, basically I'd be buildiing tools for traders, improving internal models, integrating our systems to the global bank's, and automating processes, but still quite removed from PnL.
While I have the technical aptitude to be a good researcher and a quant, I think long term I do not want to be a developer, regardless of my salary. I also do not wish to stay in academia after a PhD. Ultimately, I want to end up in a more strategy/advisory based role, even if it leans technical, perhaps in government advisory or company boards. The European Central Bank as an end-career destination also sounds very interesting.
Factors I've been considering:
1. Salary: Salary is excellent at either place, but of course the quant offer provides a living standard that few people my age would have. But I am not a big spender, and would likely save most of my money. The only thing I can imagine spending on is travel, but the kind of travel I enjoy is also not too expensive (No fancy hotels, business class etc.).
2. Savings: Savings rate is higher in the second offer, but my parents have saved enough in my home countru that I have a solid safety net if I need it, so my savings during ages 24-28 is not the biggest worry.
3. Mobility: The bank has a large presence in UK and Asia, and I would be interested in the possibility of changing countries down the line. I cannot imagine spending the rest of my life only in the country I am in right now, even after I get citizenship here (due in the next year).
4. Flexibility: I've interned as a quant at this bank before, and expected hours are about 8 AM - 6:30 PM with no overtime pay. During big market events, (the US Election for example), the team works from 3 AM onwards, and it would likely be hard to use the generous vacation days offered during these times and remote work out of the EU is impossible. (30 days paid time off). My family is getting sicker in my home country, so the flexibility of a PhD researcher position is attractive in case I need to head home for a week in an emergency.
5. Title/Prestige: My parents are academics, and I am attracted to the Dr. Title. It likely still carries weight in my current country to prove technical legitimacy, perhaps even more if I want to move into strategic roles. The opportunity cost of four years (will graduate at 28) not working is also a factor though.
How should I reasonably go about this decision?