Bridgewater Management Associate Position
Is the Management Support Associate position at Bridgewater Associates any good? Given the title, I would imagine it being a tier below the generic Associate role. What kind of exit opps would there be?
The position offers a 100k+ base salary but I hear that its essentially back office. My other offers include a top management consulting firm and Lazard AM. Any thoughts on what I should pursue (more from a longer-term career perspective)? Thanks!
I don't have an answer for you, but could I bug you about how the interviews were?
Prob Lazard...but 100k for back office is nice
Bridgewater is an awful place to work at, and the job sounds like glorified middle office. The base is obviously great for someone just out of college, but I would take the consulting gig if you want to go to b-school eventually or the lazard job if you really want to do finance.
Bridgewater has a huge headcount, even for their AUM, and a big part of this is because there are tons of really smart people who are in various non-investment roles. I've never met a current or former employee under 30 who could articulate what they did in the investment process.
I would compare it to Google in a way-they're extremely well regarded and a leader in their space, but they're very into their "culture" and they hire a lot of extremely smart people for jobs that are realistically better suited to "smart-enough" process-executors.
x
Bridgewater Management Associate (Originally Posted: 08/30/2011)
I have seen a lot of information on Bridgewater's culture - as well as having read Dalio's 100 page manifesto - but I haven't heard much on what they are looking for in a new hire for their Management Associate job. With the exception of some vagaries about "tomorrow's leaders" and "significant responsibility" there is very little on the Bridgewater website to provide much illumination. Indeed, the description goes so far as to say that a management associate will learn to "manage and develop people."
So, can anyone give a better description of what a Bridgewater Management Associate does? What are the responsibilities and expectations?
Unless you're going to work in Research, my view is to avoid Bridgewater like the plague. There was a great piece somewhere (the Atlantic?, the New Yorker?) on Dalio and the firm. I'm convinced, both from that piece, as well as others, that the only real decisions are made by Dalio and a select few others in Research and that everyone else is basically just window dressing so that the moronic institutional investors actually allocate capital to them (because they care about BS like how many people you have...I bet Dalio could manage the whole firm with 10 or 20 people and generate the same returns, but he sure as hell wouldn't have anywhere near the same AUM).
If you do a search, you should be able to find a few threads on Bridgewater and I believe one of those threads has a link to descriptions from supposed past and current BW employees and their experiences.
If I remember correctly, what I read was similar to what Alex described - that only Dalio and a few others make decisions. Everyone else either just execute trades ("traders") or sit around debating each other.
Other points brought up from prior threads: - High turnover (a lot of people leave within 18 months) - Potentially cult-like culture (drinking the kool-aid on how things are done) - Inefficiency (they have some reports or 'problems' log where people can write their complaints and apparently these can be covered in morning meetings) - Personal privacy breach (apparently those report logs are also stored in libraries, so if someone comments on you, it's on file for future generations to see) - Pay however is suppose to be very attractive
Of course all of this is from a collection of threads by people who claim to work there. You should try and find someone you know who has done so and speak with them directly...
I know someone who interned there, but haven't had a chance to ask them about it yet
Bridgewater -- Management Associate (Originally Posted: 04/04/2012)
Using a throwaway troll account for this :)
http://www.bwater.com/home/careers/college--mba-hires/management-associ…
Does anyone know what this job actually entails or does? It is VERY VERY vague on there... was thinking maybe its account management related or something but they dont really say ANYTHING about the role on the site haha. have an interview coming up...
This is the guy that makes sure no one is talking behind other peoples' backs -- the Bridgewater resident culture enforcer, if you will. You get to administer verbal beatings on a regular basis. Sort of like a kapo in a concentration camp circa 1944.
"We're looking for people who can be the leaders of the company - starting on their very first day."
"Due to Bridgewater's meritocratic and open culture, success is measured completely by one's own ideas, talents and abilities."
Sounds like a good culture, IMO. Do they require experience?
i thot op is brady4mvp
how's the pay at Bridgewater? does it at least pay a premium over the HF average for having that psychopathic culture?
Did you really disagree with Ravenous based on what they website says?
Both the culture and the pay are crazy.
What have you heard about pay? Their base isn't that great, from what i've heard.
pay is really great at all levels (ie kids in their 3rd years make more than typical PE pre-MBAs by a sizable amount); downside is that it's not clear that you really learn very much anything transferable at Bridgewater, so if you're not going to stay there forever you are effectively 'overpaid' for what you know and do.
the culture is definitely wacko - check out dealbreaker's posts on them
I think what you need to understand about the culture is that it's very strong and unique. Dalio values transparency within the firm and encourages employees to question the status quo all the time. Of course there's more to the culture than that but it gives you a general idea of the values and environment.
You may want to read this: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/ray-dalios-former-assistant-tell… It may give you some more insight into the culture and how Dalio runs the place.
In regards to pay, xqtrack pretty much nailed it.
Bridgewater Associates - Management Associate? (Originally Posted: 08/18/2010)
Does anyone on here have any information on this position at Bridgewater (beyond what is available on the website?)
What is the starting salary for a Management Associate?
Well I can tell you that in the next 12 hours they will receive about two dozen applications for this position from WallStreetOasis.com click-throughs.
Starting comp is 100+20 for kids out of school I believe. As far as more details, why don't you ask the 296861 other dudes from Dartmouth who work there.
Are you serious about $100K starting? Or is that only for those who work on the client facing financial work? The Management Associate is General Management/HR in terms of work content.
bump.
Does anyone know about the Management Associate role?
would like to know also!
Bridgewater: management v. investment (Originally Posted: 07/15/2015)
Hey guys,
I'm relatively new to looking at hedge funds, but in terms of Bridgewater Associates, which is the better career track to shoot for: Management Associate or Investment Associate? Both have great starting salaries and benefits so I'm looking more for an analysis of the actual roles.
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