Axial Search
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Quantitative Data Scientist (ML)

New York, NY · Hybrid

Financial ServicesData Science & Analytics, AI/ML Engineering$165k – $310k
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Axial Search builds long-term talent networks for AI, data, and transformation leaders across the United States, and applying for this role indicates your interest in positions like this one as your next move. This particular position isn't tied to a specific client today, but we actively place people with your background — apply and we'll be in touch when a matching role opens with one of our clients. In the meantime, please make use of our free tools to help with your job search, including our live job market dashboard with salary, skills, and hiring-trend data from thousands of AI transformation roles.

Job market data

New York's buy-side and sell-side firms are the single largest concentration of quantitative and ML-focused data science roles we track — and the hiring bar is notoriously selective. Compensation at senior-IC level is typically packaged as base plus bonus plus carry, with base alone generally in a $165K–$280K range and all-in compensation significantly higher at the top firms. The strongest quantitative data scientists we place bring deep time-series modeling experience, the discipline to validate carefully, and the ability to go from research notebook to production-grade code.

Key responsibilities

  • Research, build, and deploy ML models for signal generation, risk, or execution

  • Own the full research lifecycle — data, feature engineering, modeling, backtesting, and deployment

  • Partner with quantitative researchers, engineers, and trading or portfolio teams

  • Contribute to the firm's core research infrastructure and shared tooling

  • Continuously monitor live models and refine as market regimes shift

  • Communicate research findings clearly to senior stakeholders, including portfolio managers and risk committees

  • Challenge your own results ruthlessly — backtest quality matters more than headline performance

  • Collaborate with non-quant engineers on low-latency production integration where required

Candidate requirements

  • 4+ years in quantitative research, quantitative development, or applied ML in financial services

  • Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in a quantitative field, or equivalent applied experience

  • Strong Python and production-grade code practices

  • Deep statistical and ML foundation — particularly time-series and non-stationary data

  • Experience with backtesting, simulation, and careful model validation

  • Strong written and verbal communication