Quant Firm Salary Index 2026.1
Annual total compensation, base salary plus expected performance bonus, for every function these firms genuinely hire - research and trading desks, engineering, data and AI, infrastructure, and the risk, compliance, finance and operations teams around them.
KnowQuant research deskUpdated 1 September 202618 roles across 5 job families and 17 marketsMethod 2026.1
How much do quant firms pay?
Quant firms pay well above the wider market across every function they hire, not only on the desks. In New York, modelled total compensation runs from roughly $95,000 for an entry-level trading operations analyst to over $1,000,000 for senior researchers, traders and portfolio managers, with engineering, data and infrastructure seats commonly between $175,000 and $600,000. London runs roughly 10-15% below New York on like-for-like seniority.
Choose a function, a market and a level of seniority. Every figure re-prices into the selected market's local currency; the filters are held in the page address, so a filtered view can be shared or bookmarked.
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Showing 2 of 18 benchmarked roles · priced in London · All levels
Infrastructure. Networks, hardware, colocation and reliability. Small teams, high consequence, and compensation that rewards production ownership rather than headcount. Read the infrastructure pay page.
Prefer to read by function? Browse all 5 job families.
Every benchmarked role against every market we price, in local currency. The figure shown is the modelled reference estimate for the role, not an observed median and not the midpoint of the range.
| Role | New YorkUSD | LondonGBP | ChicagoUSD | SingaporeSGD | Hong KongHKD | AmsterdamEUR | San FranciscoUSD | ParisEUR | Zurich / GenevaCHF | Dubai / Abu DhabiAED | BostonUSD | AustinUSD | Greenwich / StamfordUSD | SydneyAUD | TorontoCAD | MumbaiINR | ShanghaiCNY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site Reliability EngineerInfrastructure | $280k | £188k | $272k | S$308k | HK$1.9m | €191k | $266k | €175k | CHF 222k | AED 904k | $241k | $246k | $272k | A$306k | C$269k | ₹5.1m | ¥1.1m |
| Network and Infrastructure EngineerInfrastructure | $250k | £168k | $263k | S$275k | HK$1.7m | €196k | $238k | €156k | CHF 198k | AED 807k | $215k | $220k | $243k | A$274k | C$240k | ₹4.6m | ¥976k |
Modelled reference estimate · local currency · September 2026
KnowQuantIndex 2026.1 · Updated September 2026
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How the ranges are built
Every band shows its sample size and its source: employer-stated where the advert says so, modelled and labelled where it does not.
Short, sourced answers to the questions that bring people to this index.
No. Quant firms are the employer, not the job title. This index prices 18 roles across 5 job families, including software engineering, data and machine learning, infrastructure and networks, security, trading operations, risk, compliance, finance and talent. Every one of those functions is a genuine, recruitable seat at the firms we track.
New York sets the global benchmark: $230k – $2.5m in total compensation for the reference research role. London runs roughly 10 to 15% below it on like-for-like seniority, and Amsterdam and Paris lower again, though tax treatment and cost of living change the net picture materially.
On average yes, but the gap narrows sharply with proximity to the trading path. A senior engineer owning production trading systems is typically paid well above a general technology equivalent, and low-latency specialists overlap the research bands. The distinction that matters is attributable profit and loss, not the job family on the offer letter.
Yes. Every figure is annual total compensation, meaning base salary plus expected performance bonus. Sign-on payments, deferred equity and carried interest are excluded, because they are negotiated case by case and would distort the band.
The index is reviewed continuously and versioned: the live figures carry method 2026.1, last reviewed September 2026. Each quarter the whole table is frozen and published as a dated edition that never changes afterwards, so a citation stays valid.
Employer-stated pay is taken verbatim from the advert and labelled as stated. Everything else is a modelled market band built from publicly reported compensation data, published market guides and role benchmarking, and it is always labelled as modelled.
Portfolio managers are usually paid a formulaic share of the profit they generate rather than a discretionary bonus. The band therefore describes a distribution of outcomes across a book, not a salary range an employer would offer.
Yes, with attribution and a link. Cite the dated edition rather than the live page if you need the number to stay stable: KnowQuant Quant Compensation Benchmark, Q3 2026 edition, method 2026.1. https://www.know-quant.com/benchmarks/2026-q3
KnowQuant Quant Compensation Benchmark, Q3 2026 edition, method 2026.1. https://www.know-quant.com/salary
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.
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Research desk
Ask what a firm really pays, how a desk hires, or where your profile sits. One reply from the research desk, in confidence, no obligation.
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.
Funds and banks use KnowQuant pay data to set bands before they brief the market. Talk to the research desk about team-level benchmarking.
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.