We’re working with a technology-first hedge fund where technology is the core of the business. The company’s key assets include: • Trading infrastructure for both crypto and traditional markets • AI models and research pipelinesused directly in trading decision-making • Next-generation computing systems, including experiments with novel hardware and performance-critical software The company builds trading systems at the intersection of financial markets, AI, and frontier technologies. The fund operates its own AI research lab, has stable long-term funding, and access to experimental hardware. At the current stage, the team is entering a phase where research is being reinforced by engineering and trading, including the development of high-frequency trading (HFT) systems with strict latency and reliability requirements.
About the Role:
As Head of Research, you will build companys's research function as a scalable system rather than run it as a single team. The fund’s model relies on small, autonomous research units, and your mandate is to design the system around them: the one that keeps independent teams aligned with company goals and accountable for measurable outcomes. This is a leadership role for someone who combines quantitative research experience, managerial discipline, and organizational design, and who is energized by building a research machine rather than simply leading a group of smart people.
What You'll Do:
Build the research function as a scalable system, designing the structure that lets small, autonomous research teams operate independently while staying aligned with company goals.
Define how each team owns its research direction, hypothesis, dataset, or scientific problem, and set clear interfaces between units.
Establish the standards and processes that govern how ideas are generated, how tasks are selected, and how experiments are designed.
Create the evaluation frameworks and feedback loops that make research output measurable and comparable across teams.
Own how research priorities shift over time, including when teams are added, restructured, or wound down.
Translate successful research into real, measurable impact on the business.
Combine quantitative research depth, managerial discipline, and organizational design to build a research machine.
You might thrive in this role if you have:
Proven experience leading quantitative research, trading research, systematic strategy, or data-driven investment teams.
Deep understanding of trading, alpha research, portfolio construction, execution, risk, market microstructure, and the lifecycle of a trading idea from hypothesis to live deployment.
Ability to structure autonomous research units, define their ownership areas, set clear interfaces between teams, and create objective ways to evaluate progress and output.
Excellent managerial skills, including hiring, onboarding, mentoring, performance management, compensation input, and resolving conflicts between teams or priorities.
Experience setting research priorities at the portfolio level rather than micromanaging individual tasks.
Ability to design dashboards, metrics, review rituals, and decision-making processes that make research output visible and comparable across teams.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to create alignment between researchers, engineers, data teams, risk, and senior stakeholders.
Location & Format:
Base location: Amsterdam / Montreal / Dubai
Full relocation support provided
Why this role is interesting?
Long-term work at the intersection of trading, AI, and frontier technologies