Senior Quantitative Developer / Research & Data Engineer

Job description:

Quantitative Developer / Senior Research & Data Engineer Systematic Trading (New York OR London)

A systematic investment firm is going through a once-in-a-generation moment. After years of operating as the quantitative arm of a globally recognized hedge fund with over four decades of history, this team is spinning out into a fully independent firm. They already manage over $6 billion, have been hiring aggressively, and there is a real chance this becomes one of the largest spinouts of its kind potentially exceeding the current record.

The people who join before that transition completes will have shaped the platform that everything runs on going forward.

This is not a startup. The capital, the infrastructure, the leadership, and the track record already exist. But the engineering culture operates like one small teams, high trust, fast decisions, and an expectation that senior people own large pieces of the architecture. The CTO personally reviews candidates and expects exceptional communication and technical standards.

They are hiring senior engineers who can be the kind of person the CTO delegates major initiatives to. Not staff-level engineers who manage from a distance, but senior technical leaders who can take ownership of critical systems research infrastructure, data platforms, market data, simulation, execution and drive them forward.

What the work covers depending on placement:

• Designing and operating the systems that deliver real-time market data to trading infrastructure, where speed and reliability are fundamental requirements
• Building the integrated environments where quantitative researchers develop, test, and deploy predictive models from feature engineering through execution
• Architecting cloud-based simulation and experimentation platforms that support large-scale quantitative research without becoming a bottleneck
• Standing up toolchains for new asset classes or trading strategies the kind of foundational work where you're defining what needs to exist
• Working across the boundary of research and production ensuring that what quants build in notebooks can actually run reliably at scale

The technology is primarily Python, with C++ where performance demands it. The infrastructure runs across both on-premises systems and cloud. ML is used as one tool among many this is a systematic shop, not an AI-first fund. The emphasis is on engineering quality, quantitative judgment, and the ability to build durable systems.
Qualifications:

What actually matters:

• You have real buy-side experience or experience in an environment with similar standards. You've worked at a systematic fund, a quant trading firm, or you've transitioned from a top tech company and proven yourself in a trading environment. People from firms like the ones you'd expect are what they're looking for.
• You are a strong Python engineer. C++ is a plus, especially for performance-critical work. You're not a "script writer" you build frameworks, infrastructure, and systems.
• You have quantitative judgment. You don't need to be a PhD researcher, but you understand how data, models, and trading systems interact. You can work productively with quants and understand what they need from the engineering side.
• You are senior enough to take ownership. The CTO wants people he can hand large initiatives to and trust the output. Think 615+ years of relevant experience, with meaningful time in high-standards environments.
• Your communication skills are excellent both written and verbal. The bar for this is genuinely high. If you can't articulate your thinking clearly, this isn't the right place regardless of technical strength.
• You've achieved things. Don't let years of experience be the only metric if you're 5 years out of Oxford and already operating at a level most people reach at 12, that works too.

Education: Bachelor's degree or higher in a quantitative or technical field from a strong program.
Why is This a Great Opportunity:

This is about timing.

The firm already has the capital, the leadership, the talent, and the track record. What makes this moment special is that the spin-out has not completed yet. The people joining now are building the independent platform from the inside. Once the separation is done and the story becomes obvious to everyone, the best seats will be taken and the leverage will be different.

If the spinout reaches the scale they're targeting, every single person who was part of it will carry that on their resume for the rest of their career. That is not a hypothetical this is already being discussed as potentially the largest spinout of its kind in the industry.

The leadership team came from some of the most respected systematic firms in the world. The CTO is someone that exceptional engineers want to work for high standards, high trust, no bureaucracy. The culture is technical, fast-moving, and genuinely kind. People here describe it as the happiest they've been professionally.

Base salary in New York ranges from $175K$225K+, but the real number is total comp. Year 1 bonus is guaranteed, and for senior hires, total compensation ranges from $750K to well over $1M depending on experience and impact. The firm does not have rigid comp bands if they see the value, they pay for it.

The office is in downtown Manhattan (Astor Place), four days in-office with Mondays remote. They recently signed for additional space. It's a genuinely great environment

Salary Type : Annual Salary

Salary Min : $ 400000

Salary Max : $ 1000000

Currency Type : USD

Nigel


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