The right quant makes research tradeable.
Quantitative teams turn data, models and code into investment decisions that hold up in live markets. With the right people in place, research moves into production without losing its edge, execution protects the returns a strategy was built to capture, and risk is allocated with discipline across the book. For leadership, the result is a strategy the firm can scale with confidence.
We specialise in quant recruitment across Singapore, covering portfolio managers, quant researchers, quant traders, quantitative developers and quant data specialists.
Quants recruitment for global banks & investors
Our consultants each specialise in one area. In quants, we track daily how kdb+, Python research stacks and alternative data platforms are reshaping teams, how roles like research engineer and quant data engineer are defined, and how pay is moving, so every brief starts from shared market intelligence. For roles such as Head of Quantitative Research, this extends into executive search.
The strongest hires add value beyond their job description. Alongside technical depth in statistical modelling, machine learning, Python, C++ and kdb+/q, we look for three qualities that build trust on a desk:
- Research integrity: honesty about how results were tested and what did not work.
- Ownership: responsibility for a model, system or book once live.
- Discretion: care with proprietary strategies and data, during the process and after.
Every candidate is screened by a consultant who knows this market, looking beyond job titles to the strategies, asset classes and holding periods they have worked on.
We recruit across the quant investment process, from research through to the portfolio:
- Portfolio Management: portfolio managers and associate portfolio managers across systematic and multi-asset strategies. We explore track record, risk allocation and capacity with each one.
- Quants Research: alpha researchers and signal modellers across intraday, mid-frequency and longer horizons.
- Quants Trading: execution specialists, algorithmic traders and P&L owners across asset classes.
- Quantitative Development: low-latency infrastructure engineers and strategy developers who keep research and production closely aligned.
- Quants Data: alternative data and tick data specialists who build the pipelines and datasets research relies on.
If you’re growing an established team, our conversations focus on how a new hire fits your existing models, governance and desk culture. That includes how they will work with risk, technology and the portfolio managers they support. We’ll also help you decide where a permanent hire makes sense, and where contract support can cover a gap while a longer search runs.
If you’re setting up or expanding a presence in Singapore, the first hires shape the research culture that follows. We can help you sequence the build, for example deciding whether a portfolio manager, a lead researcher or the data and development foundations should come first. Hires at this stage can involve notice periods, garden leave or non-compete terms, and work pass timelines where someone is relocating. We plan around those from the outset.
We offer permanent, contract and executive search hiring. See our permanent recruitment and contract hiring pages for more detail.
We support quant hiring across:
- Global banks: front-office quant, strats and electronic trading teams.
- Hedge funds: systematic, quantitative and multi-strategy funds building or growing Singapore teams.
- Fintech: quant and data teams within the digital trading, banking and wealth platforms of financial institutions.
Quant hiring brings its own considerations: confidential searches, sensitive intellectual property and candidates whose best work cannot always be shown in full. A specialist recruiter can handle that with care at every stage, from the first approach to the offer.
Our consultants explore what candidates have researched, built and traded, and how their results were measured, before anyone reaches your interview stage. We share current insight on total compensation, notice periods and availability, so you can plan with confidence. Our Singapore office has supported hiring in the region since 2014, and we draw on a network of 900,000+ candidates. We recruit across permanent, contract and executive search, and our understanding of how banks, hedge funds and fintech teams differ shapes the brief, the search and the shortlist.
Quants market intelligence
The tools that matter depend on the strategy, the asset class and the holding period. Python, C++, kdb+/q and Linux appear across research, trading and development roles, with cloud-based research environments increasingly part of the picture. CFA, FRM and CQF are recognised alongside advanced degrees in quantitative disciplines.
Our consultants focus on how that experience has been applied. That covers how a candidate built and validated a backtest, how research performed once it went live, which data sources they worked with, and how close they sat to the P&L. For development and data roles, we explore latency, scale and data quality in the systems they have supported. A tool can be learned. The judgement behind a robust research process comes from time spent in live markets, and that is what we explore before anyone reaches your shortlist
Quant compensation in Singapore varies by function, strategy and how closely a role is tied to performance. Trading, research and portfolio management ranges are open-ended at the top, reflecting the weight of performance-linked pay in those roles. Development and data roles sit within more defined bands.
As a guide, annual total compensation for professionals with 4 to 8 years’ experience is:
- Quants Trading: SGD 250,000 - 500,000+
- Quants Research: SGD 240,000 - 440,000+
- Portfolio Management: SGD 220,000 - 400,000+
- Quantitative Development: SGD 180,000 - 300,000
- Quants Data: SGD 140,000 - 235,000
Contract rates do not include a performance bonus, so they do not compare directly with total compensation. For tailored benchmarking by role, seniority and strategy, visit our benchmarking page.
Machine learning has been part of quant research for years. What is changing is how closely firms are expected to govern it. Singapore’s financial regulator has issued guidelines on AI risk management for financial institutions, with expectations phased in over the next two years. They cover oversight, risk assessment and controls across the life of an AI model.
For quant teams, that makes explainability part of the skill set. Researchers who can document how a model was built, show how it was validated and set out how drift will be monitored are well placed for this shift. So are developers who build that monitoring into production. When you’re interviewing, asking candidates how they have evidenced a model’s behaviour to risk or compliance colleagues can tell you a lot.
AI-assisted coding tools are also speeding up routine research and development work. That puts more weight on the parts of the job that need judgement, such as deciding which signals deserve capital and when a model has stopped working.
Singapore has announced three measures to strengthen its position as an asset management centre. They are a proposed tax exemption for profit-related returns from fund management, a programme under which the regulator will invest with hedge fund managers establishing or deepening their presence in Singapore, and a new investment management track under the ONE Pass for senior investment talent. Details are still being developed.
For firms planning a Singapore build, these measures are worth factoring into hiring plans, from the timing of senior appointments to how you approach relocation for portfolio managers and lead researchers. We can share how they are shaping conversations with candidates as further details emerge.
Specialisms
We cover key specialisms within banking & investments that help fuel transformation and growth within business.
Skills
Our specialist recruitment consultants work with key skills areas and niche banking & investment communities, building their knowledge, network and experience to deliver excellent service to candidates and clients.
