Hedge Fund Macro Hiring Update (May 2024):
While front-office macro hiring has slowed in 2024 (mostly due to firms overhiring or underperforming last year), there is still a lot of demand for candidates with specific, niche areas of expertise.
At Laz Partners, we are also beginning to see a divergence in macro hiring trends across funds. This is mostly due to a wide range of performance outcomes last year, with some funds suffering losses and others having some of their best years on record.
Trending growth/hiring areas with macro include:
- Directional G10 Rates
- Japan Rates
- G10 Inflation
- STIR
- G10 Rates Options/Rates Vol
- G10 FX Vol
Why is this such a great environment for macro?
- A number of pivotal elections across key developed and emerging markets.
- Central banks are beginning to diverge in terms of interest rate decisions, leading to some exceptional opportunities for alpha generation. One example is Rokos, which racked up profits of more than $1bn this year after a bet on US interest rates paid off.
- A wide range of views/conviction levels across the macro community on inflation and other key macro indicators.
Divergence in Macro Hiring between Hedge Funds: While macro hiring has slowed, some notable exceptions include:
- Point72 has expanded its macro business to over 50 teams since 2020 (and added five more portfolio managers in March).
- Pan Capital Management is hiring macro traders for its new multi-strategy fund, with plans to open a Hong Kong office and hire Macro PMs there by year-end.
- BlueCrest plans to expand trading teams by 10% by the end of the year, capitalizing on recent strong performance.
Compensation vs. Culture: While high and competitive payouts remain important, we have seen a notable shift in candidates being more open to lower payouts but with more relaxed risk limits and a better workplace culture (vs toxic high-pressure environments).
For candidates interested in HF roles: The bar is exceptionally high, and we can unfortunately only help 5%-10% of candidates that approach us for hedge fund roles, so if you approach us and we think the odds of success are low, we will always be transparent.
