Here's how much hedge funds like Citadel pay their technologists

Should you be applying for a technology job with a hedge fund? Probably - if you want to get paid. While banks are generally considered to pay less than big tech companies, hedge funds like Citadel Investment Group seem to be very generous with their engineers.

How generous? Citadel didn't respond to a request to comment on its technology pay for this article, but financial community site Wall Street Oasis has 10 pay submissions for Citadel technologists and puts the average salary for engineers and quants there at $152k, plus an average bonus of $65k.

With total average compensation of $217k, Citadel's quants and technologists are paid more than its investment analysts whose pay averages $215k.

Ten entries aren't a lot, but WSO's pay figures for Citadel tally with those from Glassdoor, which says Citadel's technology salaries are anything from a low of $127k for an associate, to $215k for a senior developer.

Citadel's compensation for technologists seems higher than other hedge funds' and higher than most banks'. Goldman Sachs increased salaries for its entry-level engineers to $100k in 2017 and began offering total compensation (salaries plus bonuses) of $128k to new technology analysts with Masters qualifications earlier this year. If Glassdoor and WSO are right, Goldman might want to hike tech pay again.

High pay may not be Citadel's only lure for technology staff. Employees' submissions on Glassdoor suggest the fund also offers engineers the opportunity to be unusually innovative.

"No Project Managers! Developers are free to chat with Business users directly, brainstorm new ideas and create innovative solutions," says one submission, which is validated by others. However, there are also complaints of overwork and teams producing nothing but 'vaporware' that is never released.

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