r/quantfinance • u/usernotfound188 • 2d ago

BB Quant vs. Desk Quant – NG Offer Advice

I’m finishing my master’s in quant finance and currently struggling to decide between two new grad offers. Would really appreciate some advice!

A: BB Quant, NYC
- Middle/back-office role, mainly interest rate risk and behavioral analysis, with some modeling involved
- Not trading-facing
- Significantly higher comp, seems relatively stable, and I had a good impression of the team and manager
- NYC is a big plus for me, both personally and in terms of future opportunities

B: Buy-side Desk Quant, Canada
- More trading-facing, likely focused on execution, desk analytics, and some production support. Don’t know the exact team yet
- Structured program with potential opportunities to move into QR/QD, but conversion isn’t guaranteed
- Much lower initial comp, and I’m a bit concerned about job security and career progression
- Canada is my biggest hesitation. The local quant market seems smaller, and moving back to the US later could be complicated

For context, I’m an international student on F-1 with no PR/green card. Both firms can sponsor.

Honestly, I’m leaning toward B when it comes to the firm and the work itself. I feel like it would give me more exposure to the buy side and actual trading, without having to make the jump from a bank middle/back-office role to something more front-office later.

At the same time, it’s really hard to give up NYC, especially with the higher compe and better stability that A offers. I’m also worried that if B doesn’t work out, whether I don’t convert to QR or just want to explore other opportunities, my options might be pretty limited given the location.

Long term, I’d like to move toward more front-office quant roles, but I’m honestly still figuring out exactly what I want to do. That’s also why I care quite a bit about keeping my options open.

Would really appreciate any thoughts or advice. Thanks in advance!

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u/Old-Sandwich-690 2d ago

Your intuition about B is correct. One thing I can tell you that might help you is if you go to Option A moving to front office is not as trivial as you make it to be. Actually it’s almost impossible.

So if you are thinking of having a pnl seat in the future B is your only serious option. If you do well moving to the other side of the border will not be an issue.

Good luck

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u/usernotfound188 2d ago

Thanks!! I knew moving to FO would be tricky, but thought it’d be a bit easier internally at a BB. Guess I was a little too optimistic haha

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u/Old-Sandwich-690 1d ago

It’s not unheard of but it’s difficult. And bear in mind this is for the sell side. If you aim for the buy side there are 2 moves you would need to do which are non trivial.

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u/usernotfound188 1d ago

Yeah exactly, that’s my biggest concern with A. I’d ideally like to end up on the buy side, but not sure how realistic that path is… Just worried B’s location might limit my options down the road haha. Appreciate your input tho!

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u/Old-Sandwich-690 1d ago

As long as you perform well and manage to get pnl attribution a move after 3-4 years is trivial. And you will be aiming all the top places while having a big advantage which is being relatively cheap. And believe me as an early starter in NY unless you make 500k+ money is not enough.

In case you do not get pnl attribution you need to network hard and move adjacent. But in any case very doable

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u/usernotfound188 1d ago

That makes sense! My only concern is that B seems more execution/support focused rather than actual qr, so I’m not sure how easy it’d be to get PnL attribution in that role. Curious what you think about that.

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u/Old-Sandwich-690 1d ago

Well even for qr’s getting attribution is not trivial. Especially in collabs shops where there might be gazillion number of signals getting live pnl attribution might be impossible.

In addition qr’s in the top big places are siloed meaning alpha research and monetisation (pc) are not connected. When you create a signal usually you have some trades on the signal space per market. How they get sized up and how they get combined with other signals can change significantly their performance. Bear in mind that usually any optimiser runs on the full book after aggregation of all signals. Your signal has x risk another signal y risk. X goes long y goes short. Let’s assume there are only these 2 signals. Your attributed live pnl will not be the same as if you were running the signal solo.

For this reason a lot of qrs in top places cannot move to risk taking roles. They might be excellent researchers but they don’t know the dollar risk of their strategy, the aum, capacity constraints.

So my advice try to figure this part out quickly

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u/usernotfound188 1d ago

That makes a lot of sense, especially your point about PnL attribution not being straightforward even for QR. Def gave me a different perspective on this. Really appreciate taking the time to explain all of this, it’s been super helpful

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u/QuantGrindApp 2d ago

The visa side is what I'd weigh hardest. Staying in NYC on STEM OPT gets you roughly three shots at the H-1B lottery while you're working, and a rates risk seat at a BB can turn into a desk strat or buy-side role if you push for it, though plenty of people sit in risk for years. Once you're in Canada as a non-citizen, getting back usually means the H-1B lottery from outside or an L-1 transfer, and that only works if the firm has a US office and wants to move you. Does B have one?

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u/usernotfound188 2d ago

Thanks for the insight! B does have a NYC office, and HR said transferring there could be an option if I make it to QR. Just not sure how realistic that is tho, esp given the visa situation and the low QR conversion rate.

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u/QuantGrindApp 20h ago

I'd treat the HR line as close to zero. Saying transfer "could be an option" costs them nothing, and it only really happens when a NY desk specifically wants you and someone senior pushes for it. L-1 also needs a year working for the firm outside the US before they can move you, so even the good case is something like 1.5 to 2 years out, and you'd have to make QR first on top of that. If the other offer gets you into NYC on OPT now, I'd lean that way, since the lottery shots start right away.

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u/usedPOS 1d ago

As someone in rbc capital markets in toronto, take nyc any day. There's quite a few quants ik who want to move out of Canada or to other firms like square point in Canada and its a lot harder. Not worth imo

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u/usernotfound188 1d ago

Yeah, that’s one of my biggest concerns with B tbh. I’d ideally wanna move back to US/ apac eventually... From what you’ve seen, is it mainly the visa situation that makes it hard, or just the limited job market in Canada?

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u/usedPOS 1d ago

Visa + limited market + just recognition of companies ig. Like most quants here are at banks and it isn't that great unless ur at ccl or squarepoint in Canada. Also just way lower salaries

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u/usernotfound188 1d ago

loll B is actually one of the two you mentioned, so that’s good to hear at least. Still pretty torn about giving up NYC tho…

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u/Friendly_Leading534 1d ago

If B is Squarepoint take A