What quants earn at the top firms: base, bonus, and why the numbers disagree

Search "Jane Street salary" and you will find numbers from $300k to $2.7m, all of them technically true. One is a published base salary, one is a candidate's first-year package, one is a company-wide average that includes veterans and partners. Mixing them up is how candidates end up anchoring a negotiation on the wrong figure, or turning down a good offer because a forum said everyone gets double.

This guide separates the layers. Every figure carries its year, location, and source type: official (a firm's job posting or a government filing), reported (press coverage of company accounts or insiders), or self-reported (Levels.fyi, Blind, forums). Where sources disagree, we show the range.

Last reviewed 2026-10-04. Pay moves quickly and UK accounts surface many months after the year they cover, so use it as a map of the evidence and check current figures before you negotiate.

Layer 1: published base salaries (official)

Many firms now print a base salary or range on their US job ads. These are the hardest numbers available, but they cover base only.

Two things stand out. $300,000 has become a common top-of-market base for new quant hires, and bands are narrow: Jane Street's posting gives a single figure. The Jump row is an experienced-hire posting, a reminder that base salaries climb far less steeply than total pay.

Government filings back this up. US employers sponsoring H-1B workers file the offered wage with the Department of Labor. In 2025 filings indexed by h1bdata.info, all 13 Jane Street "Trader" filings in New York list exactly $300,000 (official, US DOL disclosure data). Citadel Securities' 43 "Quantitative Researcher" filings in 2025 range from $200,000 to $330,000, with a median of $250,000, split between New York and Miami (official, US DOL data).

On bonuses the ads say little. Jane Street: base "is only one part of Jane Street total compensation, which includes an annual discretionary bonus." Two Sigma: the "discretionary bonus can be a significant portion of total compensation." D.E. Shaw is the most specific: its package includes "a year-end bonus, guaranteed in the first year of hire, a sign-on bonus, a relocation bonus." None of them publish bonus amounts.

Layer 2: what candidates report for total first-year pay (self-reported)

Total pay lives mostly in self-reported data: useful, but noisy.

• Citadel (quant researcher, US): Levels.fyi shows 29 submissions, with entry level (L1) at $386K total ($252K base, $132K bonus) and L3 at $650K ($346K base, $304K bonus). The overall median is $625K. (Self-reported, Levels.fyi, page updated 2026-10-04.)
• Hudson River Trading (software engineer): Levels.fyi shows a $500K median, ranging from $467K at L1 to $723K at L3. (Self-reported, Levels.fyi, 2026-10-04.)
• Jane Street (new grad, 2020): a Blind user reported $200k base, a $100k minimum bonus, and a $75k sign-on, $375k in year one. (Self-reported, Blind, October 2020; the role is not stated.)

Press coverage of the 2026 market suggests packages have kept climbing. The Independent (summarising Wall Street Journal reporting) put standard baseline packages at top trading shops at $350,000 to $500,000; one recruiter, Kevin Cassata, said he had seen entry-level offers reach $1.5 million. (Reported, July 2026.) eFinancialCareers reported that 29 of IMC's 55 US interns in 2025 were allegedly brought back full time on up to $425k packages. (Reported, March 2026.)

The highest figures come from insiders. In September 2026, eFinancialCareers reported that HRT was offering 2026 summer interns returning full time in 2027 a first-year package of $1m, with a sign-on of up to $400k as the largest component, and that $850k packages were the most common for Jane Street's 2027 graduates. The same piece put Jump's average 2027 graduate offer closer to $750k. These rest on anonymous sources, roles and locations are not specified, and most firms did not comment. (Reported, eFinancialCareers, September 2026.) They describe the very top of the market; a typical offer sits well below them.

Layer 3: what the average employee costs (reported, from accounts)

Company accounts and press reports give averages across the whole payroll. They measure what a firm spends per head, which says little about what a new hire earns.

Trading firms

• Jane Street: Bloomberg reported a $9.38 billion compensation pool for 2025, "more than double the amount in 2024," or about $2.68 million per employee if split evenly. (Reported, Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, May 2026.) Its London partnership's 2025 accounts show 790 employees on average sharing $1.48 billion in salaries and benefits, about $1.9 million each, up from about $1.1 million across 688 staff in 2024. (Official, Companies House, filed September 2026.)
• Citadel Securities: in September 2025 eFinancialCareers reported the firm set aside $1.81 billion for pay in the first half of 2025; using its own estimate of "circa 1,800" employees (not a company figure), it projected about $2 million per head for the year. A March 2026 eFinancialCareers headline said the firm "did indeed seem to pay its people $2m each on average last year." (Reported, September 2025 and March 2026.) Its European services entity averaged $1.1m in 2024 including deferred pay from earlier years, or $750k counting 2024 pay alone, across 244 staff of whom 54 were front office. (Reported, September 2025.)
• Hudson River Trading: its UK entities paid 165 staff an average of £820k in 2025, from £550k at the services entity to £1.69m at HRT Research. (Reported, eFinancialCareers, September 2026.)
• XTX Markets: the main UK employer paid 127 staff an average of £457k ($606k) in 2025, up about 5%. (Reported, eFinancialCareers, April 2026.) Separately, its partnership, XTX Research LLP, reported £1.73bn of profit for 2025 shared among an average of 24 members, with £895m going to the highest-paid member alone. (Official, Companies House, filed August 2026.)
• Optiver: Optiver UK averaged £591.5k ($792k) per head across 148 staff in 2025, up from 133 staff, with profit-share spending up 46.6%. Its Australian entity averaged AUD1.4m ($996k) across 443 employees. (Reported, eFinancialCareers, September 2026.)
• Jump Trading: Jump Trading International, its UK entity, paid 336 staff an average of $1.07m (£809k) in "salaries and wages" in 2025, up 55% from $687k in 2024, excluding director pay. (Reported, eFinancialCareers, September 2026.)

Hedge funds

• Citadel (the hedge fund): eFinancialCareers headlined an average of $1.2m in London for 2025. Per entity, the investment-staff entity paid about $2m a head and the support entity nearly $600k. Its 24 London partners shared $337m, about $14m each, down from an average of $21m in 2024. (Reported, eFinancialCareers, September 2026.)
• D.E. Shaw: its UK LLP paid 78 staff an average of £801k ($1.08m) in the year to March 2025. (Reported, eFinancialCareers, January 2026.)
• Millennium: its London employees averaged £671k ($892k) in 2025, down from £717k in 2024 and £1.1m in 2022, while partners averaged £8.1m ($10.8m). Investment staff fell from around 55% to around 47% of headcount over four years. (Reported, eFinancialCareers, October 2026.)

Why the numbers never agree

A $300k base, a $386k self-reported L1 package and a $2.68m average can all be true at once, because they measure different things. The main distortions, each visible above:

1. Averages include partners and veterans. XTX is the clearest case: employees at its main entity averaged £457k while a separate partnership of about 24 members shared £1.73bn. Citadel's London partners (about $14m each in 2025) tell the same story. A firm-wide average blends a first-year hire with people who own part of the business.

2. Averages also include non-quants. Only 54 of Citadel Securities' 244 European staff were front office. Millennium's London average fell partly as its mix shifted toward support staff (investment staff are now around 47% of headcount). Some entities are mostly engineers and support staff, others mostly traders, which is why HRT's UK entities ranged from £550k to £1.69m in the same year.

3. Deferred pay shifts money between years. Citadel Securities' European average was $1.1m with deferred pay included and $750k without it. D.E. Shaw's UK accounts show £20.9m deferred that year and £19.7m paid out from earlier years. A single year's average can over- or under-state what was earned that year.

4. Year one is padded. Sign-on bonuses and guaranteed first-year bonuses (D.E. Shaw's posting promises both) inflate year one. They do not repeat. A large first-year number can be followed by a smaller year two if the discretionary bonus comes in below the guarantee.

5. Self-reported data is thin and self-selected. Levels.fyi's Citadel quant researcher median rests on 29 submissions. People with strong offers are more likely to post them, and people who left after a weak bonus rarely update. Levels.fyi also files quant roles under broad categories (Citadel's quant researchers sit under "Data Scientist"), so a firm's headline median can mix very different jobs. Even pay structure is disputed: in one 2022 Blind thread, a commenter said HRT's bonuses vest quarterly, and an HRT-badged user replied that the deferred-comp structure described was "nowhere near correct." (Self-reported, Blind, November 2022.)

6. Location and currency. London averages come from UK filings in sterling; US ads are in dollars and cover base only. Even within one firm, offices differ: Optiver's 2025 Australian average (AUD1.4m, about $996k) was well above its UK average (£591.5k, about $792k).

7. The market moves fast. Jane Street's "Trader" H-1B filings in New York went from $200,000 (all 5 filings, 2020) to $300,000 (all 13, 2025). Treat older figures as a floor.

How to use this as a candidate

• Compare base to base. Published bases and H-1B filings are the most reliable numbers.
• Ask which parts repeat. Separate the sign-on, any guaranteed first-year bonus, and the expected discretionary bonus. Year-two pay is the better guide to the job.
• Ignore firm-wide averages for offers. They reflect how profitable a firm has been and say little about what you should be paid.
• Get the offer first. All of this only matters once you pass the interviews. The Jane Street, Citadel, and Hudson River Trading guides cover what those processes test, and how Jane Street interviews goes deeper on one of them.

Compensation figures are for general information only and are not financial or tax advice. QuantReady is an independent prep platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any firm named here. All trademarks belong to their respective owners. If you have a more recent or better-sourced figure, tell us via /contact and we will review it against our sourcing standard.

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