Head of Quant and Trading
Location: Remote
Type: Full time, Permanent
The opportunity
I’m hiring a Head of Quant and Trading to build and run a first systematic trading book, from back-test to live capital, within 12 months.
You own the alpha. You design, test and run the strategies, set risk limits with executive management, and hire the quant and trading team that follows. Entity, capital, ops, settlement and controls are handled for you, so you can focus on P&L.
The desk will run as its own proprietary business line. It starts small and scales on results.
The book
- Short term: crypto. Spot and perps across CEX and DeFi venues. This is where the book starts and earns its first returns.
- Long term: African markets. Expand into African FX, USDT corridors and local markets, then build new trading products on the continent.
- Style: Stat arb, cross-venue arbitrage, market making and funding-rate trades. Not low-latency HFT. Local market plumbing does not reward it.
- Capital: A pilot at 10% of target size, then step-ups as agreed KPIs are met.
Key responsibilities
Strategy and research
- Bring, build and back-test a set of crypto strategies with clear, written logic and capacity limits
- Run each strategy through shadow trading before it gets live capital
- Keep a research pipeline so the book does not rely on one trade
- From year 2, lead research into African markets and help design new trading products and strategies
Trading and risk
- Run the live book day to day across venues and counterparties
- Set and stick to risk limits: max drawdown, gross and net exposure, venue and counterparty caps, stop rules
- Report daily P&L, risk and limit use to executive management
- Escalate any breach the same day
Tech and execution
- Own the strategy code, execution logic and back-testing stack
- Work with the in-house tech team to wire strategies into the group trade book, so every trade is tagged and reconciled
Team
- Hire and lead the next quants and traders as capital scales
- Document strategies and controls so the desk can scale
KPIs
Agreed in writing before start:
- Net P&L against the agreed target for each phase
- Sharpe ratio and max drawdown inside agreed limits
- Zero unreported limit breaches
- Live results within an agreed band of back-test results
Requirements
Must have
- 5+ years running live systematic strategies with your own P&L at a prop firm, hedge fund or market maker
- A verifiable track record: monthly returns, Sharpe, max drawdown and capacity, backed by references
- Strong Python and data skills. You can build and debug your own back-tests and execution code
- Deep risk discipline. You have sized, limited and cut positions under stress
Nice to have
- Digital asset market making or arbitrage across CEX and DeFi venues
- EM FX experience, ideally African pairs or USDT corridors
- Experience building a desk from zero, including the first hires
- A degree in maths, physics, computer science, engineering or finance
Hiring and verification process
The track record is verified before any offer. Each stage must pass before the next starts.
- Intro call. Strategy, style and fit. 45 minutes.
- Track record pack. Monthly returns, risk stats and broker or exchange statements, under NDA.
- Reference checks with past employers.
- Independent back-test. Your core strategy is run on in-house data against your stated results.
- Final round with executive management. Risk limits, KPIs and pay agreed in writing.
- Shadow trading after start, then the pilot at 10% of target capital.
Compensation and terms
Pay is weighted to results. A fair base covers living costs. The upside comes from net P&L.
- Base salary: Fixed, paid monthly. Range to be agreed
- Performance share: A % of net trading P&L after costs, paid on a high-water mark
- Deferral: Part of each payout deferred 12 months, subject to clawback for losses
- Scale-up: Capital and share step up as KPIs are met
- Notice: 6 months, with garden leave at the employer’s option
This search is run exclusively through Albert Bow.
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