Some of the world’s largest multi-strategy hedge funds including Citadel, DE Shaw, and Point72 are offering summer internships with base salaries and bonuses that can reach six figures, as competition intensifies for top quantitative and machine learning talent, according to a report by Financial News London.
The funds are paying PhD-level interns tens of thousands of dollars per month, along with signing bonuses and housing allowances, to secure highly specialised talent early in their careers.
Seán Sweeney, managing director at hedge fund recruitment firm CW Talent Solutions, explained that these interns “aren’t average students—they’re Olympiad medallists, machine learning prodigies, and PhDs.”
Citadel’s US-based quantitative research interns can earn up to $5,800 per week, plus significant signing bonuses and premium housing or a $15,000 housing stipend, whichever they prefer, while DE Shaw offers $25,000 per month, a $25,000 signing bonus, a $10,000 housing allowance, and $4,000 for personal technology equipment. Point72 pays up to $16,700 per month with an additional signing bonus, and Brevan Howard offers systematic trading technology interns up to $13,300 per month.
These internships are highly selective, with acceptance rates far below even top universities. Citadel, for example, admitted only 0.4% of applicants in 2025, compared with Harvard’s 4.2%. “Getting into a multi-strategy hedge fund as an intern is like being drafted into the NFL,” Sweeney said.
The high pay reflects a broader talent war in the hedge fund industry. By securing exceptional young professionals early, firms can avoid paying inflated salaries later when these individuals reach senior positions. The investment in interns, while significant, is modest compared with compensation packages for senior portfolio managers, which can exceed $100m, such as Millennium Management’s hire of Steve Schurr from Balyasny Asset Management in 2025.
