Senior Researcher

Syzygy Asset Management; Newport Beach (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Education assistance

Social activities

Flexible time off

Six-week sabbatical

Daily meals in office

Job summary

Syzygy Asset Management seeks a Senior Quantitative Researcher to design, build, and evolve equity and multi-asset investment strategies. You will develop signals spanning fundamental, valuation, and behavioral factors and translate them into robust portfolio construction.

The role emphasizes strong Python skills, production-level code, and collaboration within a research team. Expect publication of ideas and close interaction with investment leadership.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in quantitative equity research, ideally with direct experience in long/short or market-neutral strategies at a hedge fund, asset manager, or similar institutional platform.
• Master's degree or Ph.D. level in finance, economics, statistics, computer science, mathematics, or equivalent field.
• Demonstrated track record building and deploying alpha signals used in live portfolios, with understanding of in-sample vs realized returns.
• Strong programming skills in Python, with hands-on experience writing production level code.
• Solid grounding in portfolio construction and risk management: factor-risk models, optimization, exposure and beta neutrality, drawdown, and variance analysis.
• Strong econometrics and statistics background including time-series analysis, regression-based evaluation, and hypothesis testing.
• Collaborative, entrepreneurial mindset suited to a small, fast-moving team.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end alpha research for quantitative investment strategies: idea generation, data sourcing, signal construction, back testing, and live implementation
• Design and refine existing investment processes and strategies
• Maintain rigor on model overfitting, look-ahead bias, and transaction cost realism
• Assist in daily operations and trading of the firm’s investment strategies
• Evolve portfolio construction and optimization methodology, including exposure controls, factor neutrality, and risk budgeting
• Partner with portfolio management on sizing, hedging, and day-to-day implementation of strategy signals and risk targets
• Evaluate and integrate new data sources to expand the strategy’s research edge
• Document research methodology and present findings to senior leadership and allocators
• Author articles for firm or journal publication

Skills

Quantitative research

Python

Time-series analysis

Regression analysis

Risk management

Collaboration

Education

Master's or PhD (Finance, Economics, Statistics, CS, Mathematics)

Job description

We are seeking a Senior Quantitative Researcher to help design, build, and evolve our long-only and long/short investment strategies. As a member of the research team, you will contribute to both our equity and multi-asset strategies, although the ideal candidate will have significant experience in equity investing.

You will work closely with investment leadership to develop signals spanning fundamental, valuation, and behavioral factors and translate them into robust portfolio construction. Our research team is also responsible for evolving our Python-based investment research engine, which supports both research simulations and production portfolios. Accordingly, the successful candidate must possess strong Python skills, be comfortable working within a large existing codebase, and follow established coding standards and practices.

Our senior researchers are also expected to communicate research ideas and results effectively, including through published research.

The ideal candidate will have a passion for building quantitative investment strategies, a willingness to trade and operate those strategies, the ability to write robust and efficient code, and a genuine commitment to the team’s collective success. We value individual excellence, but believe the strongest results are achieved through collaboration.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead end-to-end alpha research for quantitative investment strategies: idea generation, data sourcing, signal construction, back testing, and live implementation
• Design and refine existing investment processes and strategies
• Maintain rigorous attention to model overfitting, look-ahead bias, and transaction cost realism
• Assist in daily operations and trading of the firm’s investment strategies
• Evolve portfolio construction and optimization methodology, including exposure controls, factor neutrality, and risk budgeting
• Partner with portfolio management on sizing, hedging, and day-to-day implementation of the strategy's signals and risk targets
• Evaluate and integrate new data sources (fundamental, market, alternative) to expand the strategy's research edge
• Document research methodology and present findings to senior investment leadership and, as needed, to prospective allocators
• Author articles for firm or journal publication

EDUCATION, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• 8+ years of experience in quantitative equity research, ideally with direct experience in long/short or market-neutral strategies at a hedge fund, asset manager, or similar institutional platform
• Master's degree or Ph.D. level of training in finance, Economics, Statistics, Computer Science, Mathematics, or an equivalent field
• Demonstrated track record building and deploying alpha signals that have been used in live portfolios, with a clear understanding of what separates in-sample back test performance from realized returns
• Strong programming skills in Python, with hands-on experience writing production level code
• Solid grounding in portfolio construction and risk management: factor-risk models, optimization techniques, exposure and beta neutrality, drawdown, and variance analysis
• Strong econometrics and statistics background, including time-series analysis, regression-based signal evaluation, and robust hypothesis testing
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial mindset suited to a small, fast-moving team

What We Provide:

• Education assistance and tuition reimbursement program.
• Company sponsored social and recreational activities.
• Flexible time off.
• Six-week sabbatical after 7 years of continuous employment.
• Company sponsored daily in-office meals.

Salary Range: $cc + eligible for a discretionary bonus. Base pay will be assessed taking into consideration such factors as location, qualifications, skills, and experience. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future.