Citadel Securities isn't alone in wanting quantitative fixed income traders
It's been a long time coming, but maybe it's about to arrive. As fixed income portfolio trading takes off and old school credit traders disappear, fixed income traders who can operate in electronic markets are poised to become the most sought after people of 2025. And not just by banks.
Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.
Headhunters say next year is likely to be the most active yet for systematic fixed income talent. Hedge funds, banks and from market makers all want the same people.
A good fixed income quant trader in a bank can already usually move to a market making firm for a pay rise of at least 20% says one London headhunter, speaking on condition of anonymity. In most cases, they're more than happy to do so. "Trading firms don't need to pay to attract people on day one, because people understand that if they're successful there they'll make a lot more money over time," he adds.
Both Jane Street and Citadel Securities are pushing into the fixed income space. Jane Street has had a head of fixed income trading in the form of Matt Berger since 2001 and is a leading market maker for bond ETFs, but the Financial Times reported last month that the firm plans to spend 2025 pushing moving deeper into government bond and currency trading. Citadel Securities hired Michael De Pass from BofA for government bond trading in 2016, but has been making a more concerted push into the sector under Shyam Rajan, its global head of fixed income.
Jane Street and Citadel Securities aren't the only trading firms pushing into the fixed income space. XTX has expanded beyond the FX market, IMC, which started out trading equity derivatives, is now trading currency options. Jump Trading has been in the European treasury markets since 2018.
At the same time, headhunters say hedge funds are increasingly pursuing systematic fixed income strategies with greater zeal. "It's a post-COVID thing," says Russell Clarke, a headhunter at Mantis Partners in London. "Before 2020 there wasn't an established pool of systematic credit trading candidates, unless you looked at funds like Winton, for example."
As the market converges on similar skill sets, different players are hiring from different sources. Citadel Securities has built its team with recruits from banks, including - most recently, the likes of Luca Macchiaroli, a former credit quant researcher who joined in October from BNP Paribas. Headhunters say Jane Street is simply repurposing people from its existing ETF business.
"It's an incestuous market, particularly for systematic credit traders," says one insider. "A lot of the best people have worked for AQR or DCI before it was acquired by BlackRock in 2021. Everyone's chasing the same talent."
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, WhatsApp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signal 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 Manny Becerra on Unsplash
