Also called: Quant Researcher
Uses advanced math and programming to build models that price investments and find trading opportunities.
You test a theory that certain stocks rise after rainy days using 20 years of data, write Python code to check it and present the (probably disappointing) results to your team.
Top quant hedge funds (Citadel, Jane Street, Two Sigma) pay new grads $300k+; banks pay less.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Doctorate (PhD), about 8 years after high school. Often a master's or PhD in math, physics, statistics or computer science.
Ways in: Graduate school, 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, Computer Science, Financial Engineering.
Growing faster than average. Strong demand for quantitative skills.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI writes code and tests ideas faster, so teams stay lean; inventing new models and judging when they break stays human.
Classes: AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Computer Science A, Physics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 15-2041.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.