Hedge fund Bridgewater Associates hires Goldman Sachs MD
Bridgewater Associates is a hedge fund that places great emphasis on people. One of its newest hires is ex-Goldman Sachs managing director, Yuriy Podoshev.
Podoshev spent the last 15 years working for Goldman Sachs, where he was latterly global head for loans engineering. He joined GS as a senior developer for interest rates derivatives in late 2006 and rose to become New York head of interest rates operations and trade processing technology in early 2010. A year later, he was made global head of money markets trading and sales technology. He made MD and global head of loans engineering in 2020.
Podoshev arrives at Bridgewater at a moment of transition. Historically known for its ethos of “radical transparency” and unique/weird working environment, it's softening its culture following the exit of founder Ray Dalio. Co-CEO, Nir Bar Dea is reportedly amending the controversial dot system that encourages real time feedback to make the culture less harsh. "The hunger is different, the energy is different," Dea said of the new Bridgewater earlier this month.
Just because Podoshev is coming from a position of prestige at Goldman doesn't mean he'll have it easy at Bridgewater. Even as the Bridgewater way is softened, some idiosyncrasies are likely to remain. For example, it has long been a rule at the company that if you talk about an employee behind their back three times you will be fired, a far cry from the often-distant relationship between upper management and employees within banks.
It will also be interesting to see what impact the departure of Dalio has upon the culture of the company. Is Podoshev one of a new wave of people that will overhaul the way things are done, or is the hedge fund looking for people that will reinforce Dalio’s vision? Time will tell, and given that 30% of employees have historically left Bridgewater within 18 months, it is likely that it will do so sooner rather than later.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: alex.mcmurray@efinancialcareers.com in the first instance.
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.)
