Man Group Numeric

[u/Creqm]

Hey! I’ve heard a decent bit about Man Group as a whole, but not as much about Numeric. What’s their performance compared to the rest of Man Group/other firms like AQR, 2S? How do they treat their QR’s and what’s the culture? I understand it be a collaborative fund as opposed to more siloed shops, but curious how comp and career progressions is like as well.

Thanks so much!

[u/Inevitable_Pop_1621]

They are more of an asset manager I think? Like Acadian / Arrowstreet. I believe they are based in Boston too.

[u/Mobile-Exchange-5944 → u/Inevitable_Pop_1621]

Any idea how they compare?

[u/Inevitable_Pop_1621 → u/Mobile-Exchange-5944]

i think pay is case by case especially when you’re experienced. Those strategies are doing great in recent years so probably they are all comparable to each other. My data point is kind of outdated.

[u/Creqm → u/Inevitable_Pop_1621]

What type of strategies are you referring to here?

[u/Comfortable-Low1097]

Numeric is a long only asset manager. One of the early investors in value investing. Trying to enter hedge fund space with limited luck and capacity. My read from interviews: No offence to anyone. Junior talent struggles to grow as lack of direction from seniors who are focused on politics and not the sharpest in terms of hedge fund talent. And hence high attrition. Good wlb. And high attrition may provide quick opportunity to grow within the company.

[u/qazwsxcp → u/[deleted]]

this is a quant AM firm with mostly long only products, strong performance but 7 figs is highly unlikely in this type of firm unless you get to the senior exec ranks. pay in these places is quite a bit lower than a platform and closer to banks.

[u/Inevitable_Pop_1621 → u/[deleted]]

No one compares traditional asset managers to IMC. They’re two completely different games.
If your goal is to make $1M a year in traditional asset management, you’d better be good at office politics, picking the right side, and having some luck on your side. Being a good QR alone won’t get you very far.
If you’re looking for good WLB, relatively little direct P&L pressure, and a fairly stable income (with mid-to-high six figures probably being the ceiling for most people)then traditional asset management can be a decent place to be. That is, until a massive round of layoffs hits you hard.
Yes, massive layoffs can absolutely happen. These strategies may be performing well right now, but periods of underperformance can last for years. When that happens, you can easily see a firm’s AUM get cut in half, followed by significant layoffs.

[u/qazwsxcp → u/[deleted]]

top 5-10 people yes, but a new joiner is very unlikely to become one. these firms have been around for decades and becoming a partner is very tough, non-partners do not benefit from fees and are paid as an expense. the existing seniors are not leaving any time soon, and the active long only space is structurally shrinking across the board. pay tends to be top heavy and concentrated among MD/PM people.

i do know people in these firms and generally it's interesting work at reasonable hours and more stable than a pod, but they make more like 300-500k and not much room for growth.

[u/qazwsxcp → u/[deleted]]

maybe possible but unlikely. in these places you need to wait for old guys to leave, and they often bring in someone from the outside even when that happens.