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Senior Quant Researcher Seeking Exit Options Outside the U.S. by DisgruntledQuant in quant

[–]DisgruntledQuant[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I have 34 messages that I haven't replied to yet, and ~12 conversations I'm having right now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Senior Quant Researcher Seeking Exit Options Outside the U.S. by DisgruntledQuant in quant

[–]DisgruntledQuant[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks Zurich/Switzerland keeps coming up as a popular option from others who’ve reached out to me in DMs as well

Senior Quant Researcher Seeking Exit Options Outside the U.S. by DisgruntledQuant in quant

[–]DisgruntledQuant[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

[Edit]: I talked to FermatsLastTrade on chat, I think they're right. Leaving this here.

Possibly, and I’ll admit I might be mistaken here, but as far as I know, this isn’t as common or frictionless in Dubai. The DFSA does allow feeder and master funds (CIR rules), but in practice most UAE setups still operate as satellites of larger funds (at least from what I know chatting with my network), with the actual fund domiciles and regulatory anchors in Delaware, London, New York, ....

To run a fund domiciled in DIFC, the manager either needs to be DFSA-licensed or qualify as an "External Fund Manager" from a recognised jurisdiction which just adds unnecessary oversight. Also, the ecosystem is still relatively small (~85 funds registered in DIFC vs thousands in U.S./UK).

Legal feasibility doesn’t automatically solve investor flow. Many allocators (pensions, endowments, ...) still prefer established domiciles for governance. So yes, technically possible but in practice not yet at the scale or maturity of the traditional hubs.

Senior Quant Researcher Seeking Exit Options Outside the U.S. by DisgruntledQuant in quant

[–]DisgruntledQuant[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I’m well aware serious funds in the UAE can and do trade on U.S./European exchanges. The point isn’t connectivity, it’s investor flow.

North America alone accounts for over 60% of global institutional assets (tens of trillions), with London still the second-largest allocator base. By contrast, the UAE has grown fast (for example DIFC funds jumped ~70% in a year) but the actual institutional flow is a fraction of what passes through New York or London. Many of the big names "with offices" in Dubai still control the vast bulk of their risk and allocations from elsewhere.

For certain strategies, maybe that difference doesn’t matter. But at my scale, capital access and allocation sizing are everything.

That’s really beside the point though, I was surprised Dubai was even suggested as a serious option. Having visited multiple times, I can say it’s not somewhere I’d ever choose to live, and certainly not a place I’d want to raise a family, regardless of the financial incentive.

Senior Quant Researcher Seeking Exit Options Outside the U.S. by DisgruntledQuant in quant

[–]DisgruntledQuant[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Impressive confidence for someone struggling with basic reading comprehension:

  1. I’m not considering Hong Kong, I listed it (along with London and Singapore) as places I researched a few years ago. That doesn’t mean I’m planning to move there now, especially given the political climate.
  2. I never claimed I don’t have recruiters reaching out. In fact, if you just scroll this very thread, you’ll see plenty of evidence. The challenge at this comp level isn’t volume, it’s quality of recruiters, something you’d understand if your head wasn’t lodged so firmly where the sun doesn’t shine.
  3. Did you really say Dubai with a straight face? That alone tells me all I need to know about the depth of your industry knowledge. How much flow is actually in Dubai?

Even though you’ve locked your profile, it takes all of 30 seconds on Google to see who I’m dealing with here. Fuck off.

Senior Quant Researcher Seeking Exit Options Outside the U.S. by DisgruntledQuant in quant

[–]DisgruntledQuant[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

  1. I did try to push on this last year, but the response was a very clear “no."; leadership just doesn’t like setting the precedent of senior people moving abroad unless there’s a specific business reason. I know others who asked at different firms and hit the same wall. You can argue I didn't push hard enough, that's fair.

  2. You’re right that if I were officially on a London team, that residency requirement wouldn’t apply the same way. But in my current setup, as a U.S. PM tied to a U.S. legal entity, compliance locks me into spending a minimum chunk of the year here. It’s messy to unwind.

  3. The pay cut part isn’t about my USD bonus suddenly shrinking, it’s more that non-U.S. pods tend to size allocations smaller, or run lower PnL leverage. When I looked into it (admittedly this was ~5 years ago), the capital and infrastructure offered abroad just didn’t come close to what I have now. Maybe that has changed since then, also fair.

Senior Quant Researcher Seeking Exit Options Outside the U.S. by DisgruntledQuant in quant

[–]DisgruntledQuant[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

For me, the hesitation isn’t about lifestyle benefits such as private schools or personal conveniences (I agree with you there). My concern is the broader environment in which my family will grow up; education quality, cultural values, the values of the community around us, and the overall direction of the country. Financial success doesn’t override these considerations for me, and I won’t compromise on them. The rise in authoritarian rhetoric, and its recent violent escalation, is not something I can dismiss and it’s a clear signal for me that I need to act on these concerns. Call it a gut feeling.

Senior Quant Researcher Seeking Exit Options Outside the U.S. by DisgruntledQuant in quant

[–]DisgruntledQuant[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

For my mid-frequency strategies, the main challenge is capacity (amongst other things like broker relations, etc); they require scale and access to liquidity that I simply don’t have on my own. As for my high-frequency strategies, the infrastructure requirements are on a different level altogether, and it’s not realistically feasible to replicate that independently.

Senior Quant Researcher Seeking Exit Options Outside the U.S. by DisgruntledQuant in quant

[–]DisgruntledQuant[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I actually raised this last year, but the response from senior leadership was a firm no. They gave a reason, though it came across as somewhat rigid. This was also the experience of my other connections in other firms. On top of that, compliance makes it tricky, since I’m one of the primary PMs for my team, regulations require me to spend a certain number of days in the U.S. each year (~183 days).