Quant: 2B HF vs Sales&Trading at Goldman Sachs

I graduated with a math phd one year ago, after graduation I worked as a derivative pricing quant at a 2B+ AUM hedge fund at Chicago.
Now My friend at GS refer me to a associate-level position at Sales&Trading department at Goldman Sachs (NYC), the position is regarding HFT. I got the interview directly with the quant head at GS.

What is the pros/cons between these two positions?

Thanks a lot for all advices!

7 Comments
 

Is this part of GSAM or S&T?

GSAM, probably go for it, but you could do better with a DE Shaw, Kepos, Citadel, or 2Sig. Not to mention Jump or Getco- both local firms to you.

S&T, I really don't know. I don't know how well your current fund is doing, and I don't know exactly what kind of job this is. GS is one of the smarter banks, but wall street has never understood quants quite as well as Chicago does.

 
Best Response
IlliniProgrammer

Is this part of GSAM or S&T?

GSAM, probably go for it, but you could do better with a DE Shaw, Kepos, Citadel, or 2Sig. Not to mention Jump or Getco- both local firms to you.

S&T, I really don't know. I don't know how well your current fund is doing, and I don't know exactly what kind of job this is. GS is one of the smarter banks, but wall street has never understood quants quite as well as Chicago does.

I second everything Mr. IlliniProgrammer says. I would also add one more company - Teza Technologies. In fact, I know someone who used to work at Goldman's high frequency trading desk, got tired of it and is now making a killing at Teza.

 
Thanks guys! Could you guys explain a little bit more about GSAM? I thought it was more like a mutual fund as compared to Citadel or SAC.

Pretty sure GSAM is an "all of the above" sort of place but I don't know all of the details. I know they hire a lot of Finance PhDs and MFEs and that the work is similar. Admittedly I guess with firms like AQR going all AM, there is a large and growing gray area between HF and AM.

Some friends told me that in terms of long-term career development, no quant would jump from a HF to BB, is that true?

Usually doesn't happen but not always the case. I don't think you'd see someone jump from DE Shaw to GS S&T. At a smaller fund, for a recent hire, maybe. There are worse names to have on your resume than Goldman Sachs. (Then again I said that about Lehman when I joined them in 2007)

And do you guys think HFT is the best career choice for a quant?
I have no idea. Maybe you can find out and tell us.
 

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