Rank #7 · Strong opportunity
Where quant finance overlaps with frontier machine learning and digital assets.
What is the quant market like in San Francisco?
Where quant finance overlaps with frontier machine learning and digital assets. Main demand is in ai/ml-heavy quant research, crypto, data and engineering, and compensation sits at roughly 95% of the New York benchmark for the equivalent role and seniority.
KnowQuant research deskUpdated 1 September 20261 live vacancies in San Francisco from 1 employersMethod 2026.1
Counted from employer career pages, not job boards. These figures move as desks open and close roles, so the split below reflects the employers we track in San Francisco rather than the whole market or an annual survey.
Live vacancies
1
Every open role we track in San Francisco
Quant-index roles
0
Roles that meet our quant classification rules
Employers hiring
1
Distinct firms with an open seat here
No employer on our tracked list has an open San Francisco vacancy at this moment. Set an alert and we will tell you the day that changes.
Read live from each employer's own career page. Last full refresh September 2026. Compensation figures on this page are modelled and dated separately from these counts.
Modelled total compensation quoted in USD. The range spans every seniority we model for the role. The reference estimate is a separately configured modelled figure for the role, not the middle of that range and not an observed median.
| Role | Range | Modelled reference estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Quant Researcher | $219k – $2.4m | $451k |
| Quant Trader | $190k – $2.9m | $428k |
| Quant Developer | $171k – $1.1m | $323k |
| Quant Analyst | $119k – $665k | $219k |
| HFT / Low-Latency Engineer | $190k – $1.3m | $366k |
| Systematic Portfolio Manager | $475k – $14m | $1.2m |
| Software Engineer | $166k – $903k | $290k |
| Machine Learning Engineer | $200k – $1.5m | $390k |
| Data Engineer | $157k – $808k | $271k |
| Data Scientist | $143k – $589k | $233k |
| Site Reliability Engineer | $157k – $760k | $266k |
| Network and Infrastructure Engineer | $143k – $665k | $238k |
| Security Engineer | $152k – $760k | $261k |
| Trading Operations Analyst | $90k – $475k | $166k |
| Risk Manager | $124k – $713k | $228k |
| Compliance Officer | $105k – $618k | $195k |
| Fund Finance and Accounting | $95k – $713k | $190k |
| Technical Recruiter | $90k – $570k | $176k |
Rankings, compensation and hiring firms for each discipline traded in San Francisco.
Direct answers, each one tied to the San Francisco figures on this page.
Modelled total compensation for a quantitative researcher in San Francisco runs $219k – $2.4m across the seniorities we model (USD), which is about 95% of the New York benchmark for the same role and seniority. Every other role is priced in the table above.
3 of the firms we track run a San Francisco desk, including Citadel / Citadel Securities, Hudson River Trading, Two Sigma. Each firm profile lists the desks it staffs locally and the disciplines it recruits for.
AI/ML-heavy quant research, crypto, data and engineering. The strategies concentrated here are ml-driven alpha, crypto / digital assets, statistical arbitrage, which shapes both the skills desks screen for and the pay dispersion between them.
San Francisco is one of the 17 hub markets we price, and on the roles we currently track it shows strong advertised demand. That is our own editorial read of tracked vacancies, not a global ranking of opportunity. Compare the pay index of 95 against local tax and cost of living, and check current official guidance on visas and tax, before treating a headline number as an improvement.
Live roles are read from employer career pages and refreshed continuously. The pay bands carry method 2026.1, last reviewed September 2026, and are frozen each quarter as a dated edition you can cite.
Both, and they are labelled. Where an advert states pay we use the stated figure. Where it does not, the band is modelled from publicly reported compensation data and role benchmarking, and shown as a range rather than a single number.
Each one is a standalone page with the working shown, kept in step with the figures above.
San Francisco ranks #7 of 17 in our quant hiring index, rated strong for opportunity, with a quant researcher median of $451k.
In San Francisco our desk tracks hiring at citadel, jane-street, two-sigma, hrt, across ml-driven alpha, crypto / digital assets, statistical arbitrage.
Pay, tax drag and hiring depth for San Francisco set against the markets it is most often weighed against.
KnowQuant Quant Compensation Benchmark, Q3 2026 edition, method 2026.1. https://www.know-quant.com/markets/san-francisco
Free to quote and republish with attribution and a link to the source page, under our terms. Method 2026.1, last reviewed 1 September 2026. The methodology sets out how each band is built and what it excludes.
Speak to the desk
Step 1 of 1Book a call with a quant specialist for the live read on San Francisco: who is hiring, what desks are paying, and how deep the candidate pool runs.
Request a slot in the next two weeks. The desk comes back to you to confirm it. No obligation.
Candidates
Step 1 of 2Three answers, and the desk returns your band in local currency plus a read on where that market is heading. No account, no recruiter call unless you ask.
Free. Your band appears on screen straight away and the desk keeps your request on file.
Stay ahead
Step 2 of 2Email alerts are not switched on yet. You can note the segment you follow here, and in the meantime save a search on the jobs page to come straight back to an up-to-date list on screen.
Nothing is sent to your inbox. If you want to speak to someone, use the enquiry form instead.
Weekly market movements
The dated market call: which desks opened seats, where pay shifted, and which markets tightened. Written by the research desk, sent Monday, and nothing else.
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.
KnowQuantIndex 2026.1 · Updated September 2026
Modelled bands describe the market, not an individual offer. Where an employer states pay, the stated figure is used and labelled as such.
San Francisco market report · KnowQuant 2026.1