Data scientist vs quant researcher reddit salary I love math but I don’t want to make it my career. I have a PhD in data science and 1. Though I can see Finance leading to very senior and executive positions in a company (e. Working in quantitative finance, as a quant analyst, quant dev, quant researcher, or trader Working anywhere besides quant finance, as a data scientist. Best case is several million to potentially 8 digits. Get the Reddit app Scan this QR code to download the app now quantitative research and development yoe: 7 Fundamental Long Only Equity Quant Yoe: 5yrs Salary Some people call any software work at a trading firm 'quant,' while others mean specifically portfolio management/trading/research scientist (this is where the real money is, and it's a totally different ladder than generic software engineering). No signing bonus No other bonus to date Total comp 190k Someone who’s a masters in data science doesn’t have that hurdle, so as of 2021, I’d go as far as to say that for trading, data science > statistics but for research, statistics > data science. I have an interview for the position of Data Scientist - ESG Quant Strategy at Bloomberg in London. com Jul 8, 2020 · Glassdoor lists the average salary of a quantitative analyst at $109,437 and that of a data scientist at $115,512. Data Scientist: Someone with extensive experience in data science, preferably in the banking or fintech industry. See full list on resources. I’d imagine it’d be the same for Internships as well. Quant research is probably the toughest to get into because there are only a small number of positions and the pay is much better. Usually, they don't sound that different from a data scientist role, except focused on time series. Title; looking to move into quant and I’ve seen postings for quant analyst and also quant risk analyst. edit: what u/dancforever and u/ParadigmaticThinker say is also very true. I also don’t want to sit at my desk 8-12 hours a day staring at math problems or doing research so I’d be a bad PhD candidate, quant, software engineer, data scientist, whatever. As for normal data science jobs I honestly wouldn't know about the UK, but tears start rolling out my eyes when I see US salaries. Quant Researcher/Trader: $400k - $5M Quant PM: $1M - $20M. sign on depends how much they want you. ). 2 to 1. Yeah this is really crucial difference. But there's so few jobs, where they pay you so little, and who knows if you even have a voice in these organizations. In both my quant group and DS group, I collect data, build models using statistics and machine learning, and write production software. ) in a quantitative field such as Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, Computer Science, Financial Engineering, or Quantitative Finance. 6 Crores with foreign HFTs giving as high as 4 Crores IN BHAARATA. new grads are usually in the 200-250k range. The explicit barriers to entry are highest for actuaries because of the exams but I think quant research and data science attract better students. Only a few select firms like JSC recruit out of undergrad for Quant Research. Is that really all the difference between the two? Is a quant researcher just a data scientist working with financial and time series data? If not, what exactly does a quant researcher do? The data science team at my firm (quant hedge fund) focuses on data platforms, data engineering, sourcing data, and processing data, all in collaboration with the quant research teams who use the data to actually do their research and come up with or refine strategies. If I'm understanding correctly, it seems to be similar to the dynamic in the Data Science field. Data scientist is too vague. There aren't a lot of quant firms or banks hiring quants compared to all the big tech companies and tech startups. In many ways the jobs are more similar than I thought. Incredibly difficult I imagine. Dec 6, 2023 · Education: A quant typically holds an advanced degree (Master’s or Ph. That said the most popular for this stuff is python from what I’ve seen in job listings and talking to other AMs. expected bonus should be somewhere in the ball park of base pay for new grad. These established HFTs provide a CTC of 1. Also, 200k base salary is very high. Probably quant trader and quant analyst as well but I haven't seen the offers for those. Quant research roles are primarily for advanced degrees like Masters and PhD’s. 5k and £117k respectively. Trading is higher volatility and higher upside. On the sell side, those figures are £112. Amazing, thanks for the answer. Classical "Data Scientist" has now become "Applied Scientist" or "Research Scientist" or even "ML Engineer" in some companies. I would say no, an actuary can't do the job of a data scientist and a data scientist could not do the job of an actuary (without training). quant is a lot more specialized so u can get pigeonholed and if ur specialization is no longer a hot sub field, then ur kind of SOL. Obviously if you have an offer to go and be say a quant on the pricing team at an options firm, there’s a bunch of stuff you should go and look at Salary will be higher on the Data Science side for sure, especially starting out. Sep 4, 2020 · Still, despite the difference in names, in reality Quants and data scientists are mostly doing the same jobs, and have a similar set of required skills and qualifications. Depends on where you are (e. Career path: Quant vs Data scientist. I am quite old (23), but would like to become a data scientist or a quant . Please help me by comparing the two lines, I need a few data points. You’ll be lucky to make over 100K. Because data science is a catch all term that means f*ck all these days. financial analyst is different from a BI analyst, etc. true. But the culture is not for everyone. However, pretty much all the information I've got about it comes from people in the US (also it feels everyone over at r/quant works in the US). There is a lot of overlap between quant trader and quant researcher though, and where exactly the roles differ changes a bit from firm to firm. And it's extremely unlikely to go directly from undergrad to a IC3 in DS for a FAANG, unless you had internships at those places and are a top university. I am a bit of confused whether I should pursue Data Scientist or Quantitative Analyst as my future career plan. A subreddit for the quantitative finance: discussions, resources and research. Putting the brand names aside, I want to know which field has a better long-term situation, I have heard people talking about DS going downward as AI blooms and Quant has higher salaries (maybe these infos are not accurate). I was a trader but also worked very closely with the quant team. A "data scientist" can be a simple data analyst using SQL to extract data, loosely use Python, make a power bi or tableau dashboard. this candidate had a competing offer from citadel HF. Most of the positions are either quant researcher, quant dev or just software engineer. Ds in computer science or statistics, etc. CFO), whereas Data Science would peak at something like a chief of insights/analytics for a company. They will be responsible for setting the technical direction, leading projects, and mentoring team members. For instance, I've heard many say that in order to be a good Data Scientist one needs to not only be good at the math/stats/programming, but to also have a strong domain knowledge about the field in which they work (pharma, finance, sales, etc. Like 6 months professional + couple months internship. as for OP’s question it depends on the relative brand name of the two programs. That makes perfect sense. All quant colleagues I've had are either right out of undergrad, post phd or MFE. I’m currently working as a Data Scientist at a large bank in Canada and know I have the technical, theoretical and business acumen to be a successful Data Scientist, however I’m eventually hoping to break into the US market and noticed that there seems to be a dreaded barrier to entry, a Masters degree. As for quant trading, landing a first interview is honestly not that hard like IB (However, the difficulty of the interview process is on a whole another level). This is perfect for quant developer and quant trader roles. The skillset isn't straightforward swap. A minor in Computer Science or Business Analytics would complement the major well. Education BG is I graduated from USC (~top 15 in the US) with an MS in Financial Engineering. It can also be someone who does actual statistics, NLP, regression, neural networks, etc. They often have Ph. hedge and prop firms) and I can give you some insights i gained. I've only seen Jane Street offer 200k base for new grads. MS in data science the only reputable program I’d recommend is at UPenn (because they have a stellar CS department). They’re seeking to use it to outpace competitors, especially with the rise of AI and advanced analytics techniques. #1 is my very first option and what I would like to do and #2 is more so of a backup. If a data scientist has an advanced degree in a related field, they may need to consider additional coursework or certifications in finance. I've been trying to get into the quant industry (espc. 21 votes, 20 comments. i don't 2012 - Lead UX Researcher at consultancy: $116k salary 2016 - Sr UX Researcher at a MAANG: $160 base + $25k RSUs per year + $50k signing bonus 2021 - Promoted to Principal UX Researcher: $197k base + $150k RSUs per year + $50k bonus 2023 - Joined a startup as Principal UX Researcher: $215k salary Also known as a front office quantitative analyst, sell-side quantitative analyst, or quantitative pricing analyst Found in investment banks Requires an MSc, but PhDs are preferable Annual Total Compensation: $250,000+ Medium Stability Medium-Poor WLB High Stress High Prestige High competition and low demand The whole idea that quant is the most intellectually stimulating role in the world, is also bogus, from the standpoint that I’ve also talked to real data scientists, (who this subreddit likes to clown repeatedly), where their work is actually data science, and they do more modeling than some of the quants I’ve talked to. I am debating whether to take up that offer or not? I am not interested in this for any monetary gains. Whilst Data Science seems more statistics, python, SQL. I am aware of PMs getting paid +$50M in the most successful teams Quant Developers: $300k - 1M Over the past few years, comps have increased substantially due to the increased market volatility. Jan 9, 2021 · The researcher will use some set of data to find signals, run backtests, and if a strategy is put into production, then a trader could be simply executing and monitoring it (if it's particularly systematic) or might be making active decisions to adjust certain strategy parameters and hedge the book against certain events / etc. Hi! I'm a data scientist at Vanguard. Others reference highly specialized infrastructure work. In general, a QR will build models modelling the market, economics, individual assets, trading strategies and pricing derivatives etc. top 5-10 MFE is the only masters really relevant for quant career - and widely represented in the industry. For trading worst case 0 dollars. You are looking for data science position which are not the same. and I don't know if this is true but it seems like tech jobs that have similar skillset as quant such as programming/data science and have similar pay are also less competitive to break in as well. Thanks for any input Google L4 research scientist (new grad PhD) is USD ~300K/year (includes annual RSUs, which is basically cash). Academia, social science research on longitudinal data (government funds) undergrad in psychology, certification in big data for social science focused in R + sql certification on datacamp which is totally useless in academia but i wanted extra skills to open up doors for later. D. Not the headquarters but still has a few hundred employees and a very big quant team. Quant Research/Data Science Salary at hedge fund I am 27M with MFE from top US program - think Baruch, Columbia etc. However since I came from an analytics background, I'm always interested in mathematics and machine learning. Don’t even try healthcare or government. I strongly recommend applying there. OP is asking about ML researcher which is either a research scientist position or a ML Engineer position at Meta. They are both giving me the same base salary but I am curious about what others think of the opportunities and potential career path (especially the Quantitative Analyst path/seniority levels). ), but product analysts often have product intuition and domain knowledge that data scientists typically don't. I feel like for quant research, you need much more math than typical data scientist to be successful though. Curious about your experiences or observations of what the difference is in these two roles, be it hours worked, how interesting the work is, difference in pay, difference in respect at the firm, etc. So far my idea has been for a long time to study Data Science, but recently I've been reading about Quantitative Analysis, and I've started to become more interested on that. highest guaranteed 1st year JS offer for a new grad i've seen was 900k in 2021 (expect lower for 2022+), which included sign on. Reinforced learning, autonomous car driving research, facebook's core data science group, etc belong to this category. Of course, these are only averages, and there's potential to make much more than this in either sector. As others have mentioned quant researcher is a more statistically advanced role and does need masters + research experience or a PHD. Preference: Math, Statistics, Operational research, computer science, (edge profile) Engineering Capital Quant A capital quant works on modelling the bank’s credit exposures and capital requirements. In Europe, it seems to me Hi all, I’m in a pickle. Sep 27, 2024 · Data scientists with 1-3 years experience earn a TC of up to £120k in a hedge fund, while quant researchers earn £144k. Others are centered around delivering curated analytics and "selling" models to PMs or Traders. Members Online A snapshot of current quant job listings across Europe, APAC and North America Data scientist 1/2 year of tenure 190k salary Remote, US Small tech company Masters in data science 2 years of prior experience as a data scientist. Junior quant researcher at a buy-side finance firm pays ~400K+/year for new grads (includes guaranteed year-end bonus). . Do quants actually earn a lot ? data science typically means people who can do all that analysts can do I see what you're getting at, but phrased this way it's incorrect. I've seen quant research jobs for a lot of finance companies. Quant Research rarely hires undergrads. Dev is lower (peaks at a couple mill once you get high enough) but much more stable and unless your team gets cut you’ll be making mid to high 6 figures even in down market. Title: Data scientist Tenure length: 8 months Office Location: NYC Remote: 2 days remote per week, 3 days in office Salary: $150k Company/Industry: Advertising Education: Master's in data science, Bachelor's in a life science Prior Experience: Some analytical research in undergrad Internship: At my current company Co-op: I have mostly known HFTs to hire only from top IITs, traditionally for Software-infra & Quantitative Researcher and nowadays, for Data Analytics roles. Companies are no longer just collecting data. Citadel made 28B gross last year, and returned investors 16B net of fees. noodle. It’s super varied, every firm has their own flavour on the role and on the kinds of models, techniques and assumption that are in play. A lot of companies muddle the difference between the two, and some companies (esp FAANG) actually removed the term "Data Analyst" and replaced it with "Data Scientist". Oct 16, 2012 · I currently work in data science/machine learning at a tech unicorn, so have tried both the tech data science and finance jobs. Title: Data Scientist Compensation (net): €25k Education level: BSc Experience: 5 years Industry/vertical: Consulting Mentioned net salary, as 5 years ago our politicians changed how salary is calculated, so that companies do not pay any additional tax, all taxes (workplace and personal) are included into gross income. I don't personally believe that "data science ML methods will eventually replace Operations Research methods" because they are differing things. The ML engineers are real data scientists doing hard AI work but most data scientists do data manipulation in SQL and run a quick regression using a pre built python package. As Jim said, it really depends on the country and company size. Having been in analytics for 5 years doing ETL, BI, Data Transformation work, I’ve learned that a lot of DS work is bullshit. Recently I received offer for part-time QR Consultant at WorldQuant. g. My initial interest in switching to a data analyst/data science/data career sort of revolved around sports analytics. I have been working as quant researcher for about 3 years at one of the top 20 hedge funds in US (not quant hedge fund). There is currently a perceived magic about the work data scientists do, and a shortage of people with the right qualifications. 20% of Citadel's investors are employees, possibly more (and the amount invested in the fund grows disproportionately with seniority/role), so in total citadel staff and board made 12B fees + 20% of 16B ≈ 15B. But data scientists do have an advantage. The third level is the people who can be called either data scientists or machine learning engineering who research and develop new algorithms. In my experience (2 actuarial internships + 3 passed exams and ~2 yrs work experience as a data scientist), actuaries are doing very specific math, while data scientists are more likely to use generalized 300k base pay is for experienced hires. I have had interviews for quant positions and they are mostly brain teasers, IQ tests, the required knowledge is C++, stochastic calculus, algorithms. 100K or whatever it costs is utterly immaterial vs say 200K starting comp not to mention 1mil later career. However, these individuals are not data scientists, they're operations research analysts with development ability (not on par with a software engineer). QTs take this A subreddit for the quantitative finance: discussions, resources and research. Jane Street and Citadel, Which are based in London for the EMEA area though, I thought that visa issues allowed them to keep an economic moat and not match salaries across locations. Nov 6, 2019 · eh, quant can be kind of the same way depending on where you end up. Personally, I always found Quant work more interesting because there is a stronger appreciation for stats/math. b. Hi people, I am currently working as a software engineer in FAANG, and am contemplating moving to the quant research careers in the trading industry via a Masters in Financial Engineering / Computational Finance. I completed my PhD in quantum tech, but not computing specifically, recently and received many offers from startups in Europe and Singapore for quantum software roles. For a career in quant or data science, a major in either Finance or Economics (with a focus on data analysis or mathematical economics) would be beneficial. MM firms are quite different to quant hedge funds like DE Shaw or Two Sigma but still pay obscene amounts and the overall goal is still to make as much money as possible. Members Online UChicago: GPT better than humans at predicting earnings In my experience Quant roles are definitely more varied, you have some shops that are more like dedicated applied data-science orgs. I am currently working as a full-time data scientist (for more than a year) and I want to pivot to a quantitative researcher(QR)/ Quantitative trader role. Hi I'm now working at a fintech in NYC as software engineer. a good data science program could be better for breaking into quant than a lower ranked MFE program. but yes I call them the data scientist and analyst, before the term was coined, it is essentially portfolio optimization and inefficiency finder. 5 years of… I think the UK is attractive for quant research jobs, those have a competitive salary compared to the US. Here is a bit about the companies: Company A: Role: Data scientist $10,000 signing bonus (repaid if leaving the company after 2 years) Skill sets between data science and quant finance do overlap, but there are also differences, like C++ & stochastic calculus for certain areas in quant finance. I honestly wouldn’t recommend anything reading wise. In terms of preparing for a generic role as a quant. fwfxdygdspwhpyfokgswdfjbpdgjlhnbkwwowoozpelqhrmmbxdslhqcjuljqyocacpteypawwft