China ‘quant’ jobs pay $300K

Chinese hedge funds are giving Wall Street firms a run for their money.

So-called quant funds in China are ramping up pay to attract junior analysts, according to Bloomberg.

Quant funds are hedge funds that use quantitative analysis, like mathematical modeling, to choose investments.

Top hedge funds in China including Ubiquant, Lingjun Investment, Shanghai Minghong Investment Co., and Perseverance are now offering first-year analysts as much as $300,000 in base pay.

That’s substantially more than a typical first-year compensation package at a hedge fund, according to John Breault, founder and president of headhunting firm Breault & Smith. An entry-level analyst at a hedge fund can expect to bring home around $120,000 in total compensation, he told The Post.

Meanwhile, the steep pay being offered by the Chinese funds is nearly three times what white-shoe firms in the US are paying recent graduates. Over the summer, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley bumped up pay to at least six figures for first-year bankers.

But Chinese hedge funds are taking a more aggressive approach — trying to compete on a global stage.

And they can afford to pay up. Quant funds are raking in cash — managing upward of $1 trillion yuan or $155 billion — 10 times more money than they managed four years ago, Bloomberg reported.

At the same time, locking in the best employees is getting harder. Chinese funds are competing with homegrown tech companies like Alibaba and ByteDance as well as global financial firms like Bridgewater and Citadel for top talent.

It’s unclear if Chinese firms could look to recruit young American bankers.

In recent months, banks have scrambled to keep young talent from fleeing amid a dizzying workload from a spike in deals. In March, a leaked slideshow by 13 junior Goldman Sachs analysts detailed complaints about 100-hour workweeks and shifts as long as 20 hours leaving them little time to eat, sleep or shower, a grind damaging to their physical and mental health.

Meanwhile, at the same time the banks are raising salaries, they’re also increasing bonuses.