With demand for quantitative fixed income traders surging as banks, hedge funds, and market makers vye for recruits from a limited pool of talent, systematic fixed income specialists will be some of the most sought-after in finance, according to a report by eFinancial Careers.
The report cites recruitment experts as predicting a busy year ahead for hiring in this niche with one London-based headhunter noting that fixed income quant traders at banks are increasingly making the jump to trading firms, often with a 20% pay bump to start. Over time, the potential for significantly higher earnings draws top talent to these firms.
“Trading firms don’t need to overpay initially,” the headhunter explains. “Professionals know that success in these roles can lead to substantial compensation down the line.”
Major players like Jane Street and Citadel Securities are spearheading this shift, with the former, a leader in bond ETF market-making for years under Matt Berger, planning to expand its government bond and currency trading operations significantly in 2025, according to the Financial Times.
Citadel Securities, meanwhile, has been building its fixed income team under Shyam Rajan, hiring top talent like Michael De Pass from Bank of America in 2016 and, more recently, Luca Macchiaroli, a former credit quant researcher from BNP Paribas.
Other firms, including XTX Markets, IMC Trading, and Jump Trading, are also ramping up their fixed income capabilities, from currency options to European treasury markets.
Systematic fixed income strategies are gaining momentum at hedge funds, too, according to Russell Clarke of Mantis Partners in London, who attributes the surge to a “post-Covid phenomenon.” Before 2020, there were fewer systematic credit trading candidates, but now funds like AQR Capital Management and DCI, which BlackRock acquired in 2021, have created a skilled talent pool that everyone is chasing.
