Quant hedge fund with new ideas now poaching Barclays veterans
Qube Research and Technologies, the quant hedge fund which spun out of Credit Suisse, is also spinning into America and out of entirely quant-related strategies. As part of the latter rotation, it is hiring equity researchers from Barclays.
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Writing on LinkedIn, Iain Simpson, a sell-side equity research for 18 years who was latterly at Barclays in London, said he's joined Qube as a global consumer staples analyst within fundamental equities. Simpson said he's excited about this "new challenge" and noted that his was the number one ranked consumer team on Extel.
Simpson may or may not be equally excited when receives his first bonus at Qube. Earlier this year, several people there complained to us that their bonuses were poor, heavily deferred and didn't reflect performance. Qube heavily disputed this, however.
Qube has been hiring heavily throughout 2025. Last year, Business Insider reported that it was one of several firms hiring human stock pickers to work alongside quant strategies. In February, Qube hired Stephen Irvine as head of fundamental analyst research, based in London. It was presumably Irvine who hired Simpson.
Irvine has made other hires too. Robert Joynson, another top ranked analyst, this time covering transport and from BNP Paribas, announced he was joining Qube last month.
Qube is also opening in the US, with a commodities office in Houston. Bloomberg reported today that it's also backing 39-year-old Sean Murphy, a long short equities trader who once worked for Citadel to set up a new hedge fund, Jerpoint Capital. Murphy has hired Owain Lewis from Lijaro Asset Management as his COO. Coincidentally or not, Irvine was Lijaro's CIO and founder.
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