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These are Citadel's salaries for technologists vs. investment staff

In investment banks it's a common complaint that people in the technology function are underpaid relative to people working in traditional front office jobs like sales and trading. In big hedge funds like Citadel, this doesn't seem to be the case, at least in terms of salaries in the mid-ranks.

We highlighted the comparatively generous pay for Citadel's engineers a few months ago. Now, new data from the H1B salary database seems to confirm that - in terms of salary at least - Citadel treats most developers and technology professionals on a par with its investment professionals.  

A representative slice of Citadel's salaries for H1B Visa holders in the U.S. in 2019 is shown in the table below. The salaries mostly apply to New York and Chicago, although Citadel also has technology jobs dotted around Newark, Westlake and New Jersey. These salaries only reflect pay to H1B Visa holders. 

How much does Citadel pay its investment staff?

The H1B visa data suggests that Citadel pays massive ($500k) salaries to its heads of trading. In June, a head of commodities was hired-in on a salary of $500k, while a head of quant trading was hired on $375k.

Less senior quant researchers are paid anything from $145k to $220k. And electronic trading analysts and associates are paid $105k or $150k.

Notably, the H1B figures don't include bonuses and if you're in an investment role and generating alpha, these are likely to be considerable. In many cases, salaries are only a small proportion of total compensation.

Traders at Citadel aren't on very high salaries compared to the rest. This is likely because 'traders' are often simply execution traders, who execute preconceived strategies. 

How much does Citadel pay its technologists?

While some senior investment staff are on half a million dollar salaries, Citadel's salaries for senior technologists seem to top out at $250k. Quants at the fund are seemingly paid higher salaries than technologists, and data scientists are at the top end of pay for software engineers. However, quant researchers (who research new trading strategies) are paid salaries similarly to quant developers (who help convert those strategies into code).

Mere developers and software engineers seem to be hired on salaries between $145k and $200k.

Citadel declined to comment.  

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com in the first instance. Whatsapp/Signal/Telegram 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 Sawyer Bengtson on Unsplash

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AUTHORSarah Butcher Global Editor

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