An ex-hedge fund quant founded a new systematic trading firm and wants 10 'interns'
If you are a European mathematician, particularly a European mathematician based in France, you will have heard of École polytechnique. You may also have heard of Pierre Andurand, the kickboxing 49-year-old trader who runs commodities hedge fund Andurand Capital Management.
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Adrien Chicot has both polytechnique and Andurand Capital Management on his CV and has founded his own systematic trading firm, Borel Capital.
Borel Capital has an "undisclosed" amount of its own capital and is looking for 10 quantitative research interns to help invest it. "Each new joiner gets six months to build a model on any asset class. At the end of that period, if we are convinced by the model, we allocate capital to it and offer a full-time position," Chicot informs us.
The interns will be paid, but Chicot won't say how much beyond the fact that the pay will be "competitive." The first class of interns, at least will need the right to work in the EU. The next class might be more flexible.
Chicot's interns can be students. They can also be experienced investors with a few years' experience. Applicants need a degree in mathematics, physics, computer science or engineering. They will be taught how to develop a trading strategy and if capital is deployed to their strategy, they will also get paid based upon its performance.
"The real edge is that a junior gets a direct percentage of their own P&L as soon as their model goes live, rather than waiting years for it as they would at a traditional hedge fund," says Chicot.
If models don't perform, though, interns will be out. "The assessment is based on the backtest, possibly a period of paper trading, and we may hold back part of the data to keep a genuine out-of-sample window. If the model does not convince us, the internship ends there," Chicot says.
Every six months, a new cohort of interns will be hired to fill the gap. At least it's honest.
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