Everyone wants to join this UBS electronic trading team. Nobody wants to leave
Working in the electronic trading team of a big bank is a prestigious role, but often a stepping stone to bigger things at a hedge fund or prop trading firm. This doesn't appear to be the case for UBS' front office quant development team; it's inundated with applicants, but none of its members want to leave.
UBS' principal algo quant development team is led by a London-based duo, Rupert Dudley and Christian James, who joined from State Street and Credit Suisse (pre-merger), respectively. The team had ~55 global members in 2021 according to Dudley's LinkedIn, but now has more than 70. Insiders have alleged that the team has lost no members since its inception, and that the team is particularly popular among graduates and technologists who are looking to internally transition teams.
The excitement around the team stems from the opportunity to work on cutting edge areas like low-latency trading systems. A UBS spokesperson said the team works on "FX spot and derivatives, rates, credit, equities cash and derivatives," and that the team has "expanded over time" as those markets continue their electronification.
The team also engages in electronic market making, an area banks are losing ground on to the major prop firms. Morgan Stanley, for example, sold an options market making business to Citadel Securities earlier this year.
The team is thought to make markets in burgeoning areas like commodity derivatives. It's a sector other banks are looking to grow their presence in; JPMorgan has an open listing in London for an executive director in base metals trading who will work with quant and technology teams to "grow [its] electronic capabilities."
Then there's the pay. The team is supposedly split into pods, with pod leaders earning appealing compensation packages. A job listing earlier this year offered a salary of up to $240k to a quant developer in New York with minimum five years of experience. Good luck getting in.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: Telegram: @AlexMcMurray, Signal: @AlexMcMurrayEFC.88 Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com.
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 libellous (in which case it won’t.)
