Quant finance professionals are known for good compensation, but with the demand for talent having grown even stronger, the bar for substantial salaries has been raised even more.
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Buy side and sell side salaries
An experienced Quants professional on the buy side, those that would constitute as a ‘Senior’, have a base salary ranging approximately from $185,000 to $250,000. However, we have seen an uptick in compensation for junior to mid-level Quantitative Research professionals, with instances of Quants with more than three years’ experience now earning $200,000 base salaries.
While the sell side is more known for having very strict compensation bands, we have seen an uptick in salaries too, between Associate to Director level hires. Across the board there has been an average of 10%-20% increases in base salaries from where they have been historically, inclusive of both the buy and sell side.
Bonuses and benefits
Guaranteed bonuses are typically offered to Quants professionals who are leaving their current employer in Q3-Q4 in order to make them whole on their current year's expected bonus. However, there’s been a normalized approach to paying full-year minimum guaranteed bonus to top talent that joins in Q1and Q2.
In addition to paying out higher base salaries and giving first years guaranteed bonuses, companies are also offering heftier sign-on and relocation packages. Many businesses are offering one time sign-on bonuses subject to a one-year clawback in order to put together more competitive compensation packages, and to entice top talent to join.
Relocation packages have been used as a tool to sweeten deals, so to speak, for professionals that require relocation assistance and are out of state. Looking at the US as an example, since the start of Covid-19 a lot of financial talent, particularly in Quants, have relocated outside of the tri-state area. There has been an increase in the amount of talent returning to New York City, with relocation packages becoming more common to entice professionals to return to New York, as the workplace has been adapting to its new normal.
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