Head to head
Jump Trading vs Hudson River Trading
Jump Trading or Hudson River Trading?
Jump Trading is a proprietary trading headquartered in Chicago; Hudson River Trading is a proprietary trading headquartered in New York. On indicative total compensation Hudson River Trading sits roughly 2 percentage points higher against the market median. The larger difference for most candidates is the work itself: high-frequency trading and latency arbitrage at Jump Trading, versus automated market making and statistical arbitrage at Hudson River Trading.
| Jump Trading | Hudson River Trading | |
|---|---|---|
| Business model | Proprietary trading | Proprietary trading |
| Headquarters | Chicago | New York |
| Founded | 1999 | 2002 |
| Comp vs market median | +20% | +22% |
| Offices | Chicago, New York, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Amsterdam | New York, Chicago, London, Singapore, San Francisco |
| Strategies | High-frequency trading, Latency arbitrage, Crypto, Systematic trading | Automated market making, Statistical arbitrage, High-frequency trading |
| Hires for | HFT / Low-Latency Engineer, Quant Researcher, Quant Trader | Quant Researcher, Quant Developer, HFT / Low-Latency Engineer |
| Interview stages | 3 | 3 |
| Typical backgrounds | Embedded and hardware engineering, Physics PhDs, Network engineering | Competitive programming, Computer science graduates, Systems engineering |
Compensation by role
Indicative mid-level total compensation, US dollars, New York reference market.
| Role | Jump Trading | Hudson River Trading |
|---|---|---|
| Quant Researcher | $500k | $550k |
| Quant Trader | $550k | — |
| Quant Developer | — | $460k |
| HFT / Low-Latency Engineer | $520k | $500k |
A dash means we hold no indicative figure for that role at that firm. It is recorded as unknown rather than estimated.
Jump Trading
Latency-focused firm with a heavy investment in hardware, networking and FPGA. Notably private about its operations, and a leading destination for low-latency specialists.
Interview process
- 1. ScreenTechnical recruiter and background.
- 2. Technical roundsC++ depth, computer architecture and low-level performance reasoning.
- 3. On-siteSystems design, hardware discussion and team fit.
Hudson River Trading
Engineering-first proprietary firm where the distinction between researcher and developer is deliberately blurred. Strong reputation for technical depth and for paying engineers at research levels.
Interview process
- 1. Online assessmentAlgorithmic problems under time limit.
- 2. Technical phone screensTwo rounds of algorithms and systems reasoning.
- 3. On-siteDeep C++ or Python, systems design, and a research or statistics component.
Markets where both compete for talent
Other comparisons
Methodology
Figures are expressed as annual total compensation (base salary plus expected performance bonus) in the reference market's local currency, converted from a US dollar base. They describe typical market ranges rather than any individual offer, and exclude sign-on payments, deferred equity and carried interest. Portfolio-manager figures reflect formulaic profit-share arrangements and are therefore far more dispersed than any other role.
KnowQaunt 2026.1 · Updated September 2026
These are indicative ranges pending first-party verification. They will be replaced by verified submissions as the Quant Salary Index dataset builds.