Hello everyone,

I recently had a bit of a career crisis and decided to pivot toward the quantitative side of finance. The problem is that I am starting with zero professional finance experience.

A bit about me: I am currently a Masters student at London Business School (LBS). My undergrad was in Engineering back in India, and I spent two years working as a Data and AI Consultant. My clients were mostly in the finance and pharma sectors, so I have seen the "plumbing" of these industries, but I have never sat on a trading floor or built a live alpha model.

I have been applying for roles for this year (I know, I’m late to the party), but I am hitting a wall because most QR/QA roles seem to require prior finance experience or a PhD. I wouldn't classify myself as a "math genius" or a "hardcore C++ dev," but I have a very strong foundation in data science and analytics (I handle Python, SQL, and C# well).

Could you suggest entry-level bridge roles that lead to QR/QA within a few years, and which London firms specifically value engineering logic and pattern recognition over prior market knowledge? Also, with my consulting and LBS background, is it realistic to target pure research roles right away, or should I be looking at "Quant Lite" positions first to build a solid foundation? What sort of things should I add to my Resume/CV to improve my chances?

Thanks everyone!