Durlston Partners

If the idea of your code running on autonomous systems in the field excites you (not unnerves you), keep reading. A well-funded defence AI startup (backed by one of the world's top venture firms, behind the likes of Anthropic, Wiz, Figma, Revolut) is scaling hard. 47 people today, 20 more engineers by year-end. Three hiring tracks: - Software Engineers (Backend, Frontend, Full Stack), C++, Rust, Python, Java or TypeScript/React. 2-5+ years. Up to £120k base + equity. - Deployed Engineers, same stack, plus networking and hardware exposure. You'll be out at customer sites, sometimes in the field. Up to £120k base + equity. - Lead Engineers, still hands-on, starting to lead. Split between coding and mentoring. Up to £150k base + equity. SC clearance required (or willingness to undergo vetting). Right to work in the UK essential. This isn't another SaaS dashboard. The work is hard, the team is serious, and the mission is real. Drop me a message if this is the kind of thing you'd get out of bed for. karolis@durlstonpartners.com

Are you in the right role? This week, my most urgent software engineering roles ranged from £120k to $500k+: • Macro Hedge Fund - Java Developer (London) £120k • Deep-Tech Start-up - Software Engineer (London) £120k + equity • Crypto Market Maker - C++ (London) £300-400k TC • Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund - QD C++ (London) £300-400k TC • Systematic Prop Firm - C++ (UAE/Singapore) $300-400k • HFT - C++ (Singapore) SGD 400k • Commodities Hedge Fund - Python (NYC) $400-500k If you've been thinking about making a move, the weekend is the perfect time to explore what's out there before Monday comes around. Drop me a message.

Live roles on the desk: 🔹 Quant Researcher - a leading systematic hedge fund, New York (Up to $500k TC) 🔹 Research Engineer - a fast-growing prop trading firm, Hong Kong (Up to $800k usd TC) 🔹 Head of AI Engineering - a leading global market maker, APAC (7 figure salary) 🔹 Systems Engineer - a global alternative investment manager, London 🔹 Junior Quant Developer - a newly launched multi-strategy fund, New York 🔹 Software Engineer (Multiple hires) - a deep tech start-up, London If any of these sound like a fit (or you know someone who'd be a good fit), reach out for a confidential chat 🤙 hamish@durlstonpartners.com

The quant hiring market is not slowing down. My live book just crossed 60 seats. What I'm seeing right now: → AI leadership comp has gone vertical. I'm carrying multiple Head of AI mandates. One at $2M-$5M. → Every major platform wants stat-arb researchers. I count 20+ open teams. → UAE demand keeps compounding: trading, engineering, AI, and now C-suite. → San Fran continues to compete for top AI hub and hedge funds are starting to be able to grab more talent → Frontier-lab researchers are the most fought-over profile in finance. Full anonymized rundown in the deck. 𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤. Fair warning: recent hand surgery week means I'm typing with a few fingers and a wince. Replies are coming slowly, and with typos I've decided to own. If you're reaching out fresh, make the message count! matt@durlstonpartners.com

I'm working with a London based defence technology company that's hiring for some engineers. - 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 (backend, frontend or full stack) - C++, Java, Rust or Python for backend, TypeScript/JavaScript with React or Angular for frontend paying up to £𝟏𝟐𝟎𝐤 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 + 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐲. - 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 - same core stack, plus strong customer facing communication skills as this role embeds with customers on site paying up to £𝟏𝟐𝟎𝐤 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 + 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐲. - 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 - hands on coding combined with mentoring and technical ownership for engineers ready to step into leadership paying up to £𝟏𝟓𝟎𝐤 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 + 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐲. All roles are London based and require existing right to work in the UK, along with willingness to undergo security clearance vetting. If this sounds relevant to you or someone you know, drop me a message or send your CV over. 𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤. mo@durlstonpartners.com

Why wait for a bonus when the right opportunity might be worth far more? One of the most common reasons I hear from candidates is: "I'd love to explore, but I don't want to lose my bonus." This is a valid concern, but it doesn't always have to be a dealbreaker. I am currently partnering with several leading quant trading and HFT firms across Singapore, UAE, London, and Amsterdam, hiring for positions such as Quant Traders, Quant Researchers, and Low-Latency C++ Engineers. While every situation is unique, some firms are open to structuring compensation, occasionally including a guaranteed or sign-on bonus, to help offset forfeited bonuses for exceptional candidates. This is not the norm and depends on the role, timing, and candidate profile, but it is certainly a conversation worth having. Many of these opportunities are not publicly advertised, and every discussion is strictly confidential with no obligation - just a chance to understand what is available before deciding to wait another year. If you are even slightly curious about what is happening in the market, feel free to send me a DM - Jaynair@Durlstonpartners.com

There's a version of 'quant developer' most firms don't actually offer... This is that version I'm working exclusively on this one: a hedge fund hiring a Junior Quantitative Developer (1-3 years, equities background) to help build the tech, data infrastructure, and portfolio tools behind their systematic equities platform. Software engineering.. Quant analysis.. Data engineering.. Markets.. One seat, not four separate hires. Strong maths. From a top university (Top 100) Most candidates are strong in one or two of these and hoping nobody checks the rest. This firm is looking for the one who isn't. Off market. Exclusive to us. Message me if that's you daniel@durlstonpartners.com

The best AI lab in London might be a hedge fund. Ten years ago, the smartest engineers wanted FAANG. Five years ago, they wanted OpenAI or DeepMind. This year, an increasing number of them are ending up somewhere less expected: quant funds. Look at what the top firms are actually building. Citadel now employs 265 PhDs. That is a headcount most university departments would envy, and it is deployed against one problem: markets. Point72 has opened R&D centres in India, London and Poland. Man Group is expanding in Bulgaria. These are not back office moves. They are research hubs, structured the way tech companies structure them. The hiring emphasis has shifted towards foundational software engineering. High performance systems, real-time data processing, infrastructure design. The exact skill set that big tech spent a decade competing for. And the economics work. A strong C++ engineer in systematic trading clears £300k+ all-in in London. Quant researchers with the right background clear £700k+. Compensation for PhD-level talent has surged industry-wide, because a researcher who improves a signal by a few basis points pays for themselves many times over. The interesting part is what this means culturally. The org chart of a top fund now looks more like DeepMind than Goldman. Research teams, infrastructure teams, ML platforms. Publication grade problems with production grade consequences, and a P&L that tells you within weeks whether your work was any good. If you are an engineer or researcher who has been circling the AI labs and wondering where else your skills price properly, systematic finance should be on your list. Always happy to have that conversation. jake@durlstonpartners.com

Exciting opportunities for AI Engineers and AI Researchers in the UAE! I am currently working with a quantitative trading firm that is committed to enhancing its AI capabilities. This firm is serious about foundational models, focusing on not just utilizing them but also training and innovating with them. With a flat structure, you will have direct exposure to leadership and access to the resources expected from a firm that prioritizes AI as a core aspect of its business. AI Researcher - Research and develop AI-driven trading strategies using LLMs, transformers, and deep learning. - MSc or PhD in a quantitative field is required. - A strong background in ML/AI applied to large datasets is essential. - Finance experience is not required, but a genuine interest in markets is important. AI Engineer - Build the frameworks and platforms that power research on foundational models. - Strong Python skills in Linux environments are necessary. - Direct experience with multi-GPU model training is required, Agentic Harness is key. - Performance tuning and parallel computing experience is valued. Mandarin speaking is preferred for both roles, but not essential. Both positions are based in the UAE and come with full relocation support, health coverage for you and your dependents, and a highly competitive package. If you or someone in your network is interested, please drop me a message for more details. jake@durlstonpartners.com

The rest of tech moved to the cloud. HFT firms stayed on bare metal, and someone has to automate it. I'm working with an elite proprietary trading firm on a hands-on automation role: owning their bespoke in-house Linux provisioning platform and automating the management of a bare-metal HFT estate end-to-end. Small, high-trust team, open codebase, real ownership. No finance experience needed. Fits someone from a Systems Engineer / Sysadmin, DevOps, or SRE background who's now focused on infrastructure automation - writing the code that removes the manual work. ⚫ Role: 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 (𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧) ⚫ Client: 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞, 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦 ⚫ Location: 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧 ⚫ Tech stack: 𝐏𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧, 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐱, 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞-𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 & 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ⚫ Compensation: £𝟏𝟐𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 + 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐬 If you are interested, send me a message or reach out to david@durlstonpartners.com for a confidential chat.