2022 Q4 Market Report
Last quarter I described the factors behind the post-Covid tech hiring bubble. So now what? Tech Talent Is Flooding the Job Market - Harvard Business Review - does an excellent job describing where the market now stands and what lies ahead. Quoting the article, “The tech sector was not prepared for such a sudden increase in interest rates, which dramatically reduced the valuations of companies whose profits would arrive in the distant future.” The ensuing reduction in staffs at many tech firms has led to opportunities for traditional firms:
Firms that were priced out of the market for top tech talent now have an opportunity to hire outstanding talent coming from Big Tech, startups, etc.
“A year ago, an aspiring, young, software engineer would probably be more inclined to join a crypto exchange than the e-commerce division of a bricks-and-mortar retailer. Now, with technology companies reducing staff, ... any company with sound fundamentals that has yet to completely modernize, can now outcompete tech companies in hiring the talent it needs.” We have seen many examples of this phenomenon.
The talent influx will bring modern technology experience and allow these firms to move forward with modernization efforts that were slowed by a lack of talent.
Our clients have told us that they are not reducing salaries for incoming hires. However, they are being more highly selective given the amount of talent that is available. As always, the market or top people remains strong. However, the next tier will need to lower compensation expectations, as they rely on firms that never paid the high salaries that Big Tech normalized in recent years.
RTO
RTO = Return to Office. As labor dynamics have changed, companies have felt more comfortable insisting on workers returning to the office. For tech workers in particular, the hybrid model will likely remain, but the landscape continues to shift towards the office. A year ago companies were amenable to granting fully-remote requests to close candidates - no longer.
Remote fans weren’t helped by Citadel, which ran circles around the competition this year. Said Ken Griffin, “One of our key competitive advantages is my entire team is back at work and the communication and collaboration that goes with an in-office work force is a really powerful competitive advantage when a lot of our competitors are still working remotely.” I spoke to someone at Millennium today who said they are back to 5 days in the office. No official memo was circulated, but it’s been made clear that people are expected in the office. And Another buy side firm commented today that people are now in the office 4-5 days/week.
And finally, there’s Twitter, which ended all remote work under the new regime.
Front and Center
One challenge investment banks face when competing for talent with tech firms is the fact that technology is not the product, and developers often feel like they are not a part of the front-office. Creating Strats organizations in which developer and quants work side by side was an attempt to promote technology’s direct involvement with the trading desks. Now Marco Argenti, CIO of Goldman (former Amazon) has a plan to move engineers directly into the business process. Per the WSJ, “the bank is involved in a sweeping reorganization and is rewriting processes so that developers are more engaged with business goals from the beginning of projects.”
Layoffs
Goldman’s layoffs were certainly no secret. My news feeds have been talking about it since November. The cuts go beyond the usual trimming as new business initiatives are being pruned. Morgan Stanley made cuts in December, and Barclays and Citigroup made cuts in November. And Credit Suisse continues to pare staff. For those who remain, bonuses are down significantly.
No Transparency
The NYC salary transparency law went into effect late last year. Job postings must include a salary range. But this is typical:
“Base pay: $125,000 - $300,000. Base pay does not include other forms of compensation such as discretionary bonus, etc.”
Crypto Regulation?
The Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act didn’t generate much mainstream news, but it could be a huge impediment to public blockchains, Bitcoin, et al. I don’t support or refute the referenced article, but I think it’s a good overview of the intention of this legislation and highlights the potential impact.
Current Priorities
We are syncing up with our clients to understand their priorities for 2023. Unlike the 2 previous years, hiring did not continue strongly through the turn of the year. We’ll know significantly more about hiring plans over the next few weeks.
Buy Side
Most in Demand: C++, Python, QuantDev, prior-financial experience
Electronic Trading Product Manager - Equities
Mid-Senior C++ w/ Buy Side Experience
Quant Systems Build and Release Engineer
Quant Systems Software Developer
Application Development Hands-on Lead - Python/C++
Systems: Cloud Engineer
QuantDev C++
Low Latency C++ Engineer
Senior Delta One Quant Researcher
C++ Software Engineer
Senior C++ Software Engineer
Data Engineer
Senior Data Engineer
QuantDev Systematic Strategies – Python + C++/Java
Senior QuantDev Systematic Strategies
HF Algo C++ Dev
QuantDev Central Research Team
C++ Developer with Equity Execution Experience
C++ Developer – Summit, NJ
QuantDev – Python/C++ - Greenwich, CT
Mid-Senior C++ Development – Execution Team
HFT QuantDev
SRE – Data platforms
Web Developer – Dallas
QuantDev – Mortgages
Sell Side
Most in Demand: Limited opportunities at this time of year – stay tuned!
Web Developer – Equities front-office
Java Developer - Equities eTrading
C++ Developer - Equities eTrading
C# Developer – Delta One trading desk
Product & Delivery Manager – ED – Data Lineage
Data Discovery and Lineage Architect/Delivery Manager
UI Dev/Architect - JavaScript/React – Enterprise Knowledge Graph
Data Engineer – Enterprise Knowledge Graph – Big Data, Python, Pipelines