Quant Recruiter NYC: Best Hedge Fund & Quant Recruiting Firms in New York (2026)

By Recruiting from Scratch · Updated monthly · Last updated September 2026

Data: live job postings tracked by Recruiting from Scratch + U.S. Department of Labor H-1B wage filings (FY2025–FY2026). All pay figures are base salary; bonus and equity are paid on top.

New York is the center of quantitative finance hiring in the U.S. Hedge funds, proprietary trading firms and systematic managers compete for the same few thousand engineers who can build low-latency trading systems, research infrastructure and alpha pipelines — and in 2026 they are also competing with AI labs that now recruit in New York too.

Recruiting from Scratch is a technical recruiting firm that places software engineers, quant developers and ML engineers. We track every engineering posting at the top funds and AI labs, and the wages they file with the Department of Labor, so we can tell hiring managers what the market actually pays — and move quickly when the right engineer is on the market.

Who is hiring quant and engineering talent in New York right now

Across the hedge funds and trading firms we track, there are 195 distinct engineering and quant roles open to New York candidates, 153 of them New York-only (internships and campus programs excluded). The most active New York hirers this month:

What this means: Point72, Jane Street and Two Sigma lead New York fund hiring by open engineering and quant roles, with Tower Research Capital, Jump Trading, DRW and WorldQuant rounding out the most active firms. Smaller, highly selective shops hire fewer people but compete for the same senior engineers.

AI labs add another 194 roles open to New York candidates, but only 19 are New York-only. Anthropic lists 133 roles that New York engineers can apply for, almost all of them multi-city (New York alongside San Francisco and Seattle). OpenAI has 10 New York-only roles, and Scale AI lists 38 roles with New York as an option. Funds still own New York-dedicated engineering hiring; AI labs are recruiting New York talent into roles that could sit anywhere.

In our data, that signals a shift for hiring managers: the engineer you are competing for is no longer choosing only between one fund and another. They are also weighing a remote-friendly AI-lab offer at a higher base.

What New York quant and engineering roles pay (base salary)

From Department of Labor H-1B filings for New York worksites, FY2025–FY2026 (median filed range; many filings state a low and high end):

Live postings tell the same story. The median posted range for New York fund engineering roles is $175K–$225K; for AI-lab roles open to New York it is $320K–$405K.

Why posted base understates fund pay. At hedge funds and prop shops, base is the floor. Discretionary bonus — often guaranteed in year one for experienced hires — is typically the larger part of total compensation, and many funds post a single legal-minimum figure rather than a real band. AI labs lean the other way: higher base plus equity. Big tech sits in between with RSUs and refreshers. When you compare offers, compare the structure, not the base.

Funds vs AI labs in New York: the 2026 trade-off

• Funds offer New York-based roles, the highest cash upside through bonus, and problems where latency and correctness are measured in money every day.
• AI labs now recruit New York engineers — mostly for roles that can sit in several cities — at a higher posted base, with equity as the upside.
• Big tech remains the largest employer of New York engineers by volume, at a lower base.

For hiring managers at funds, this means the candidate you want is often also talking to an AI lab. Winning them takes speed, a clear comp story, and a recruiter who knows both markets.

What candidates should know about New York fund offers

If you are a candidate weighing a New York fund against an AI lab or big tech:

• Compare total compensation, not base. A fund's base with a guaranteed first-year bonus can out-earn a higher AI-lab base in year one — and underperform it in year four if the lab's equity compounds. Ask each firm for the full structure in writing.
• Ask about non-competes. Many New York funds use paid garden leave; know the length before you sign, because it shapes your next move.
• Know the posting is a floor. New York pay-transparency law requires a range, and many funds post the legal minimum. The H-1B filings above are a better guide to what the firm actually pays.
• Negotiate the guarantee. The year-one bonus guarantee is usually the most negotiable number in a fund offer.

Before you start a search: a hiring readiness checklist for NYC funds

Before you engage any recruiter, get these five things settled — they decide how fast you can close:

• A pay band that clears the market. Check your band against the filed ranges above; a band set against big-tech numbers will lose candidates to funds and AI labs.
• A decision-maker in every interview loop. Long, multi-week loops are where funds lose candidates to faster offers.
• A clear answer on location. AI labs are offering New York candidates multi-city flexibility; decide what you can match.
• Your non-compete and garden-leave policy, in writing.
• A reason to join beyond pay — the specific systems problem the hire will own.

The roles we recruit for New York funds and trading firms

• Low-latency C++ and systems engineers
• Trading infrastructure and exchange connectivity
• Quant developers and research engineers
• Machine learning engineers and research scientists
• Data engineering for research platforms
• Platform, SRE and security engineering in regulated environments

Top quant & hedge fund recruiting firms in New York (2026)

Specialist quant firms are strongest for researcher, trader and PM seats. If your hire is an engineer — low-latency, infrastructure, ML or quant developer — choose a firm that recruits engineers every day and knows what AI labs are offering the same people.

How to choose a quant recruiting firm in New York

What to ask any recruiter: How many engineers have you placed in the last year? What is your time to hire? Do you know what the AI labs are offering my candidates? Can you show me pay data for this role in New York?

Why hiring managers work with Recruiting from Scratch

• 300+ engineering placements and 150+ companies served
• 29-day average time to hire, versus a 49-day industry benchmark
• A network of 2M+ candidates and 1M+ job postings tracked for live pay data
• Pay benchmarks for every major New York fund, trading firm and AI lab, refreshed from postings and federal filings

Hiring quant or low-latency engineers in New York? Book a call with our team or tell us about the role.

An engineer looking at funds and AI labs? See open roles and share your resume.

More: Hedge Funds vs AI Labs vs Big Tech: Engineer Pay in NYC, SF & Chicago · San Francisco guide · Chicago guide

Methodology

• Job postings: active engineering and quant postings at the firms named on this page, collected from their public job boards. Each role is counted once per firm and title; roles listing several cities are counted separately from New York-only roles. Internships, campus programs and non-quant analyst roles are excluded.
• Pay: U.S. Department of Labor H-1B Labor Condition Application filings for New York worksites, fiscal years 2025–2026, certified, annual wages. We report the median of the filed low and high ends. Cells with fewer than 5 filings are not shown. Fund filings are concentrated among the largest filers (Citadel entities account for roughly two in five New York fund software-engineer filings).
• What's not included: bonus, equity and benefits. Named firms appear as market data only; their inclusion does not mean they are Recruiting from Scratch clients.
• Refresh: monthly.

FAQ

Who is the best recruiting firm for hedge fund engineers in New York?
For engineering, quant developer and ML roles at funds and trading firms, look for a firm that tracks live NYC pay data, knows the AI-lab competition for the same candidates, and can show its time to hire. Recruiting from Scratch averages 29 days to hire across 300+ engineering placements.

How much do quant researchers make in New York?
H-1B filings for New York hedge funds and trading firms (FY2025–FY2026) show a median filed base of $215K–$250K, with the 90th percentile at $300K. Bonus is paid on top and is often the larger part of total pay.

Do AI labs pay more than hedge funds in New York?
On base salary, yes: AI-lab engineering filings for New York show a median of $300K–$320K versus $210K–$260K at funds. Funds typically close the gap with discretionary bonus, while AI labs add equity.

Which funds are hiring the most engineers in New York?
In our current tracking: Point72, Jane Street, Two Sigma, Tower Research Capital and Jump Trading have the most open New York engineering and quant roles.