Principal Quant Analyst - AI-Driven Index Innovation

Morningstar; Illinois; On-site; USD 152,000 - 233,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k match

Health benefits

Sabbatical program

Parental leave

Disability insurance

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Morningstar is seeking a principal quantitative analyst for its Chicago office to build and launch new index products. You will partner across research, product, and technology teams to move bold ideas to market, using AI-first methods, advanced analytics, and scalable tooling.

The role emphasizes strong communication, rigorous back-testing, and transparent methodology while delivering client-ready insights and dashboards. This is a hands-on leadership position in a fast-moving, global team.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in indexes, asset management, fintech, or related investment tech.
• Strong quant toolkit for research, back-testing, risk analytics, and design.
• Proficiency with Python, R, SQL, MATLAB or similar for prototyping and automation.
• Experience with AI-first tools and workflow automation platforms.
• Ability to translate complex quant/AI concepts into clear documents and client materials.

Responsibilities

• Build and launch new benchmark, thematic, factor, and multi-asset indexes from concept to market.
• Lead full product innovation cycle: spot opportunities, test signals, and ensure launch-readiness.
• Apply quantitative techniques, ML, portfolio construction, and risk analytics to investment ideas.
• Promote AI-assisted research, coding agents, and scalable automation in workflows.
• Create tools, dashboards, and client-ready narratives to communicate complex ideas.

Skills

Quant toolkit

Python

R

SQL

MATLAB

AI interest

Communication

Risk analytics

Portfolio construction

Tools

GitHub Copilot

Claude Code

Gemini

ChatGPT

RAG

Job description

Morningstar is seeking a principal quantitative analyst for its Chicago office to build and launch new index products. You will partner across research, product, and technology teams to move bold ideas to market, using AI-first methods, advanced analytics, and scalable tooling.

The role emphasizes strong communication, rigorous back-testing, and transparent methodology while delivering client-ready insights and dashboards. This is a hands-on leadership position in a fast-moving, global team.