Data Scientist – Quantitative Research (New Grad) – Citadel
Citadel is one of the world's most successful quantitative investment firms with $63B+ in assets under management, operating global strategies across equities, fixed income, commodities, and credit. Founded by Kenneth Griffin in Chicago in 1990, Citadel is renowned for attracting the world's top mathematical and scientific talent to develop systematic trading strategies powered by cutting-edge data science. Citadel's quantitative research teams apply statistical inference, machine learning, and massive alternative datasets to generate alpha across all major asset classes. We are hiring New Grad Data Scientists for Citadel's Quantitative Research division to develop the next generation of systematic investment models.
Responsibilities
- Research and develop predictive models for equity price movements using fundamental data, market microstructure signals, and alternative data sources
- Build and validate factor models decomposing asset returns into systematic risk factors and idiosyncratic alpha components
- Apply advanced ML techniques — deep learning, ensemble methods, reinforcement learning — to financial forecasting problems with rigorous out-of-sample validation
- Analyze tick-level market data, options flow, corporate event calendars, and NLP-extracted earnings signals to develop trading alpha
- Conduct statistical hypothesis testing to distinguish genuine predictive signals from spurious correlations in financial datasets
- Collaborate with Citadel's portfolio managers and execution teams to deploy research findings into production trading systems
Requirements
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Finance, or a quantitative discipline (exceptional academic record)
- Deep quantitative skills: probability theory, statistical inference, time-series analysis, optimization
- Python and R proficiency for statistical modeling and financial data analysis
- Experience with ML model development, quantitative finance concepts, or large-scale data analysis
- Extreme attention to detail, rigorous scientific mindset, and high tolerance for ambiguity in noisy financial data
Benefits
- Top-of-market compensation: highly competitive base salary, significant annual bonus, and profit sharing
- Work with the world's best quantitative researchers at the most successful hedge fund of its generation
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits
- 401(k) with Citadel contribution
- Chicago headquarters and Citadel's legendary performance-driven culture