Not even home working is making quants stay in their jobs after poor bonuses

If you're a financial services quant and unhappy with your last bonus, you're not alone. A recent salary report from recruitment firm Albert Bow suggests that most quants are looking for an exit opportunity, in spite of other perks on offer.

Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here

The salary report, which surveyed 200+ quants primarily in hedge funds or prop trading firms, said that 57.7% were actively looking for a new role, while an additional 21.2% were considering doing so. 

These candidates rated their latest bonus just 5.5 out of ten on average compared to their expectations, with 13% rating it a one out of ten. 21.6% received no bonus at all, which might sway the average, but less than 30% of candidates rated their bonus an eight or above.

That's not to say quants weren't capable of getting massive bonuses. The survey said that 23.1% of candidates received a bonus equal to 150% or more of their salary. The most common bonus size, however, was just 10-50% of salary. 

Interestingly, despite broad efforts to bring staff back to the office in financial services, quants seem to have pretty good arrangements. 32.7% of respondents said they worked hybrid, while 28.8% worked fully remote.  This hasn't stopped them wanting to leave, apparently.

Where are all these quants looking to move, then? Maybe AI; firms like OpenAI have been actively pursuing HFT quants with pay packages of up to $3m. The lack of enthusiasm is probably exacerbated by the quant industry's broad struggles, as top firms like Cubist and Qube post underwhelming returns. Maybe quant careers aren't the top prize any more.

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: Telegram: @AlexMcMurray, Signal: @AlexMcMurrayEFC.88 Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com.

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 libellous (in which case it won’t.)