Quantitative Strategist - Associate, Municipal Markets

Job Description

Join a quantitative team supporting a large municipal bond market-making desk. We work alongside traders across electronic and voice trading, bond origination, specialized lending, and bespoke derivative products.

Our team uses mathematics, statistics, machine learning, and software to solve practical trading problems. We analyze trading strategies, build electronic trading algorithms, model the financial risks associated with the desk’s inventory, and conduct detailed analysis of trading profits and losses.

Municipal markets offer particularly interesting quantitative challenges. Many securities trade infrequently, bonds differ across numerous structural features, and available market data can be incomplete. We develop mathematical models that connect observable market variables to bond prices, helping the trading desk estimate value, identify relative-value opportunities, manage risk, and make better trading decisions.

The Role

As a Quantitative Strategist, you will work directly with traders, quantitative researchers, and engineers. You will use data and statistical analysis to identify potential trading strategies, assist with complex trades and hedging decisions, and improve the models and systems used to price securities and monitor risk.

You will also help organize and maintain the team’s quantitative research environment, including its modeling software, research archive, Python packages, Linux environment, containers and testing. The role includes both immediate desk-facing analysis and longer-term research into trading strategies and market behavior.

Responsibilities

• Research and test quantitative trading strategies.
• Help traders evaluate complex transactions, hedge selection, position sizing, and execution timing.
• Develop pricing and risk models for municipal bonds, bond derivatives, and related products.
• Analyze inventory risk, trading activity, and profit-and-loss performance.
• Apply statistics and machine learning to trading, pricing, and risk-management problems.
• Help move machine-learning and AI models into production.
• Organize and maintain quantitative models, research code, and development environments.
• Communicate analytical findings clearly to traders and other stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mathematics.
• Masters degree in STEM, preferably Applied Math, MFE, Operations Research, Statistics, Physics, Engineering.
• Strong knowledge of probability, statistics, numerical methods, and mathematical modeling.
• Good programming skills, preferably in Python.
• Familiarity with, or an interest in learning, Linux, Git, package management, containers, pandas, and NumPy.
• Strong interest in trading and financial markets.
• The ability to take ownership of software, models, and research processes.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and communication skills.
• A collaborative personality and an interest in working closely with PEOPLE on  trading desk.
• Ability to stay calm under pressure
• Positive, can do, extrovert personality
• Experience with fixed income, derivatives, bond mathematics, JavaScript, kdb+/q, machine learning, or production model deployment is helpful but not required.
• Recent graduates and candidates with up to three years of relevant experience are encouraged to apply. Prior municipal bond experience is not required.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients – helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated – and we’ve done that for 90 years.  Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

To learn more about our offices across the globe, please copy and paste https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/global-offices​ into your browser.

Expected base pay rates for the role will be between $110,000 and $125,000 per year at the commencement of employment for Analyst or $150,000 - $200,000 per year for Associate. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background.  Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.

For more information, please visit: https://www.morganstanley.com/people-opportunities/eeo.