Quant Researcher TC @Citadel
I got an offer for Quantitative Researcher at Citadel and I'm considering if it's worth to go to finance for the long-term (I'm a SWE in a tech company now). Does someone know what's the median TC for someone with 5-10 yoe as quant researcher (especially at Citadel)? Also I heard Citadel fires people super easily. Is that much more than e.g. Facebook SWE?
The median tenure for a quant at a HF is ~ 2-3 yrs. They either get fired or poached by another firm. Try asking for a 2 yr guarantee for slightly less TC if you are worried about stability.
Woah, I didn't know that was a thing. You mean a 2 year guarantee of not getting fired? Is that easy to get?
The dispersion in TC is huge. The holy grail is to get to a point where you manage some capital and get paid a percentage of your PnL.
No one is going to be able to give you an accurate range - unlike tech, QR will pay solely based on your performance so the variability in comp is huge. Expect something in the range on 500k-5m, can’t really say more exact than that.
Which org though? Reading your wording seems like it’s not for an alpha quant role. Probably somewhere in risk modeling or analytics? I’m not sure if Citadel can give front office sexy alpha quant position to a random SWE...
I think finance in general is more fire-happy, if you care about a stable job. Even at banks (which are supposed to be stable employers), there are tons of layoffs compared to big tech. Good thing about Citadel is the base salary is good, making the noncompete better if you do get laid off.
Base salary is like 20% more than in tech. My main concern are the layoffs :/ Do you have a rough idea of the percentage of people fired in their first 2 years as quant researcher (esp Citadel)?