Quant compensation is the most-searched and worst-reported topic in the field: headline numbers mix base with bonus, new-grad with senior, and elite shops with the long tail. Below are the ranges consistently visible in candidate-reported offers as of mid-2026 — read them as calibrated ranges, not quotes.
New-grad total compensation (US/UK, annualized)
| Tier | Examples of tier | QT / QR total comp | Quant dev total comp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elite prop/HFT & top funds | The household HFT names and top multi-strats | $300k–$450k+ (outliers above) | $250k–$400k |
| Strong mid-tier | Established prop shops, large funds | $200k–$300k | $180k–$280k |
| Banks & asset managers | Sell-side strats, traditional AM | $140k–$220k | $130k–$200k |
Structure matters: offers split into base (commonly $125k–$200k), sign-on, and a first-year bonus that is often guaranteed — after year one, the bonus floats with performance and the ranges widen drastically.
Internships
Elite-tier quant internships commonly pay $100–$150/hour (some with housing), i.e. $20k–$35k for a summer — itself a reason the pipelines are so competitive.
Senior compensation: attribution is everything
Past ~3–5 years, comp decouples from tables: traders and PMs move to a share of book PnL (seven figures in good years at good seats, sharply variable), researchers to formula- or discretion-based shares of shipped-signal value, devs to senior-eng ladders ($400k–$800k+ at elite shops). The variance ACROSS seats dwarfs the difference between role titles — seat quality is the real compensation variable.
The caveats every headline hides
- Survivorship: reported numbers skew to accepted offers at famous firms.
- Attrition: elite seats have real washout; expected value ≠ advertised value.
- Geography: London commonly runs 10–25% below equivalent US seats; Amsterdam/Singapore/HK vary by firm.
- Year effects: good/bad firm years move bonuses materially; 2026 ranges reflect a strong period for prop trading.
The pay explains the interview bar. If these numbers are the goal, the path runs through the firm funnels and the prep guide — one offer at the elite tier repays the preparation hundreds of times over.
New-grad pay at named firms (candidate-reported)
Tier ranges hide real spread between named firms. The left column is what the 2026 new-grad intake was offered, as reported to us in September 2026 (base, sign-on and guaranteed first bonus); the right column is the 2025 range from public candidate reports, kept for contrast.
Read the 2026 column carefully. It is a step-up year: firms are bidding against AI labs for the same people, which is why several of these numbers roughly doubled in one cycle. Year one is front-loaded, and years two and three commonly step down before performance pay catches up. And the first-year offer is not a floor for the firm: we know people several years in at these same firms whose total comp has not reached the new-grad figure. Calibration, not quotes.
| Firm | 2026 new-grad offers reported to us (year-one total) | 2025 candidate-reported range |
|---|---|---|
| Jane Street | about $800k | $350k–$450k+; NY postings list a $300k base |
| HRT | about $1M | $300k–$440k |
| Citadel Securities | about $1M | $300k–$450k |
| Jump Trading | $900k–$950k | $300k–$440k |
| Two Sigma | $650k–$750k | $275k–$350k |
| SIG | $600k–$700k | $200k–$350k |
| Optiver | about $600k | $200k–$350k |
| IMC | about $400k | $200k–$350k |
Our firm-level guides break these down by level and office: Jane Street, Citadel, Optiver. If a firm isn't named here, its tier row in the table above is the honest estimate — single-firm anecdotes are noisier than tier ranges.
How pay scales: new grad to senior (candidate-reported)
Most headline guides stop at year one. Later-stage figures are noisier — bonus becomes the dominant term and seat quality drives the spread — but the ranges commonly cited in candidate-reported data as of 2026 look like this:
| Stage | Quant trader | Quant researcher |
|---|---|---|
| New grad (top firms) | $250k–$450k+ | $225k–$400k |
| Years 3–7 | $400k–$800k | $350k–$700k |
| Senior (8+ yrs) | $600k–$1.5M+ (PnL-linked, high variance) | $500k–$1.2M+ (steadier, signal-linked) |
Quant devs follow senior-engineering ladders instead, commonly reaching $400k–$800k+ at elite shops. Two hedges: these ranges skew to survivors at strong firms, so medians across the whole industry sit lower; and forum claims of a "~$600k median five years out" describe outlier seats, not the typical path. See our quant researcher salary guide for level-by-level researcher data.
More career guides
- Citadel Quant Salary (2026): QR, QT & Citadel Securities Comp
- A Day in the Life of a Quant Trader (Pre-Market to Close)
- Becoming a Quant Without a PhD
- Jane Street Salary 2026: $400K–$650K New Grad to $1.5M+ Senior, by Level
- Optiver Salary (2026): Trader Compensation by Office & Level
- Quant Developer Interview Guide: Role, Compensation & the Full Loop
- 8 Quant Finance Portfolio Projects That Impress Interviewers
- Quant Firms by Interview Difficulty
- The Quant Internship Timeline for Summer 2027
- The Quant Trading Interview Process: Every Stage From CV Screen to Superday
- Quant Researcher Salary (2026): New Grad to Senior, With PhD Premium Data
- How to Write a Quant Resume (2026): Templates & Real Bullet Examples
- Quant Trader vs Quant Researcher
- Questions to Ask at the End of a Quant Interview
- The Quant Online Assessment, Explained
- The Quant New-Grad (Full-Time) Timeline for 2027 Starts
- SIG Quant Salary (2026): Trader & Researcher Comp Breakdown
- Two Sigma Quant Salary (2026): Researcher & New Grad Comp
- HRT Quant Salary (2026): Algo Developer & Researcher Comp
- DRW Quant Salary (2026): Trader & Researcher Comp Breakdown
- All guides & explainers
Frequently asked questions
How much do quants make out of college?
At elite prop shops and top funds, new-grad total compensation is commonly reported at $300k–$450k+ (trader/researcher) with base around $125k–$200k plus sign-on and a often-guaranteed first bonus. Mid-tier firms commonly land $200k–$300k; banks $140k–$220k. Update, September 2026: 2026 new-grad offers reported to us at the very top (Jane Street, HRT, Citadel Securities, Jump) ran $800k to $1M in year one, with Two Sigma, SIG and Optiver at $600k to $750k and IMC around $400k; see the named-firm table above and its cautions.
How much do quant interns make?
Elite-tier internships commonly pay $100–$150 per hour, often with housing — roughly $20k–$35k for a summer.
Do quant researchers or traders earn more long-term?
Senior pay tracks attribution, not title: traders/PMs share book PnL (high variance, seven figures possible), researchers share shipped-signal value (steadier). Seat quality drives more variance than the role choice.
Are quant salaries higher in the US or London?
Equivalent seats commonly pay 10–25% less in London than the US, with Amsterdam, Singapore, and Hong Kong varying by firm. The elite-tier gap narrows at the most competitive shops.
Do quants make more than software engineers in big tech?
At the elite tier, yes: candidate-reported new-grad quant total comp ($250k–$450k+) runs well above typical big-tech new-grad SWE packages (roughly $180k–$220k), and public comparisons often cite 1.5x–3x at senior levels. The trade-off is a far narrower funnel and real washout — expected value across all applicants is much closer than the headline gap suggests.
How much do quants make after 5 years?
Candidate-reported mid-level ranges at top firms run roughly $400k–$800k for traders and $350k–$700k for researchers, with bonus as the dominant term. Forum claims of a ~$600k median five years out are skewed by survivorship and the best seats; variance across seats at that stage dwarfs the role-title difference.
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