This is how much Two Sigma pays its CTOs in NYC

If you're thinking of getting a technology job at a hedge fund, you've probably contemplated Two Sigma, the quant hedge fund with $60bn under management that prides itself on "building great technology", that says it's been "pushing the frontiers of Big Data since before it was a buzzword," and that espouses "vegan meals on the trading floor." 

Two Sigma is certainly hiring. The fund currently has 115 vacancies, including 41 engineering openings, and 19 data science jobs. It boasts of, "best of breed technologies in the front end, open source and public cloud," which is more than many banks can currently offer. 

Two Sigma already has a chief technology officer. Alfred Spector, a former vice president of research and special initiatives at Google, joined in 2015 and runs the fund's team of 600 engineers. However, it seems that Two Sigma has multiple chief technology officers (CTOs) - at least it's just requested a new H1B visa for another one.

Two Sigma declined to comment for this article, but we understand that the H1B visa that's being issued on 13 January 2020 for a 'chief technology officer securities' at the fund does not belong to Spector. Nor does it belong to a new hire: it's a new visa for an existing employee who's name has not been made public.

The H1B visa database complies companies to divulge how much they're paying visa-holders in salary. We know, therefore, that Two Sigma's new/old 'CTO securities' is on a salary of $300k which makes him or her the best-paid technologist hired on an H1B Visa at the firm this year. The $300k salary will be topped up with a bonus, but this is not stated.

Who could the visa holder be? A likely candidate would seem to be Ashish Thakkar, a former Goldman Sachs vice president who joined Two Sigma as a managing director in January 2014 and who is now CTO of the securities business. If it is Thakkar, he's likely earning less than his ex-colleagues at Goldman in salary, but a lot more in bonus.

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com in the first instance. Whatsapp/Signal/Telegram also available.

Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libelous (in which case it won’t.)

Photo by Taylor Vick on Unsplash