Which hedge funds are hiring PhDs, where talent is coming from, and what fields of study are in demand
– AMObserver, August 6, 2026
Florida hedge funds continued hiring recently graduated science and math PhD quantitative analysts and researchers, extending a trend begun more than three years ago, according to a 2026 year-to-date analysis by talent-analytics firm The Kronor Group (TKG).
WorldQuant, the Connecticut-headquartered quantitative investment firm originally spun out of Millennium Management, hired Jacky Yip as an AI scientist in July, shortly after he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a PhD in theoretical physics — one of academia’s most abstract and mathematically demanding fields.
The firm also relocated Janka Möller-Wilhelmy, a senior AI scientist, from its Switzerland office to Florida earlier this year. She earned her PhD in mathematics, with a focus on machine learning in mathematical finance, from the University of Vienna in 2024 and was promoted to the senior AI scientist role upon relocating to Florida.
Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, the New York-based multi-strategy fund, brought on Willie McClinton as a quantitative researcher in May. McClinton had just finished his PhD in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, where he also conducted research at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He had interned at Schonfeld prior to receiving his full-time offer.
Voloridge Investment Management, based in Jupiter, Florida, added Georgios Fanaras as a research analyst in January, after he completed his PhD in theoretical physics and quantum cosmology at Tufts University. Fanaras had interned at Voloridge in the summer of 2025.
And in February, Cubist Systematic Strategies — the quantitative trading arm of Point72 Asset Management — hired research analyst Mriganka Basu Roy Chowdhury, who recently earned a PhD in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley. Chowdhury had interned in 2025 at Citadel Securities, the Miami-headquartered market-maker.
These recruits reflect a broader trend among Florida hedge funds, which are onboarding early-career professionals—typically those who graduated within the last three years—into front-office and operating roles, particularly candidates with directly relevant internship experience. According to TKG’s most recent report, early-career professionals accounted for roughly 20% of Florida hedge fund hires in 2023, a share that grew to about 30% in 2025.
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