Your hedge fund recruitment specialists
A hedge fund is only as strong as the people behind its strategies, and Nexus IT Group’s specialized hedge fund recruiters connect funds with the investment, technology and operations professionals who keep capital working and the business running. Competition for this talent is intense because a single strong hire can change a fund’s trajectory, and the best people are almost never on the open job market. They are contacted constantly by headhunters and have learned to tune out the noise. Nexus takes a different approach to hedge fund staffing and executive search by building genuine relationships first, so that when we bring an opportunity to a candidate they already trust it has been weighed carefully against their goals.
The challenges of hedge fund recruitment
Hiring for a hedge fund is unlike hiring almost anywhere else. The stakes are high, the searches are often confidential and the people you want are usually performing well somewhere else. Funds need portfolio managers and analysts who can generate returns, quantitative and technology professionals who can build the infrastructure behind them and operations, risk and compliance specialists who keep the firm sound and within the rules. Each of these searches carries its own nuances around strategy, asset class and culture, and a generic recruiting process tends to miss on all of them. In-house teams at funds are usually lean and do not have the time or the specialized network to run these searches well. Our staffing and executive search services connect you with vetted talent across investment, quantitative, technology, operations, risk and compliance functions.
Partner with Nexus for your next hedge fund search
Whether you are a hiring manager with a difficult hedge fund role to fill or an investment professional considering a career shift, we would love to chat about your needs and how Nexus can help. Similar to roles across the financial industry, the hedge fund sector is evolving quickly, and having an experienced professional on your side can help you successfully navigate this changing landscape. Even if you just want some insights into how our recruiters help connect talent with hedge fund opportunities, we hope you will reach out so we can share our expertise and help your company or career continue to move forward.
Join the many companies that staff their roles with our hedge fund talent
Nexus IT Group will quickly staff your open hedge fund roles with high-quality committed candidates
81%
of our successful candidates are submitted within one week
92%
of our candidates will accept your offer
96%
of our candidates are employed with your firm after 12 months
Four ways hedge funds hire technology talent discreetly and on the fund's timetable
Executive Search (Retained)
We run retained searches for the technology leadership inside a fund, including CTO, Head of Technology, Head of Infrastructure and the engineering leads who sit alongside a portfolio management team. Discretion is the whole game here, since a fund rarely wants a search known to its counterparties or its current staff. Our retained placements hold a 96% candidate retention rate.
Direct Hire
Engineers who have worked inside a fund are a small population, and almost none of them are looking. Our recruiters work outbound into funds, prop shops and the vendors that serve them, and we deliver a vetted shortlist within 4 days of taking the requirement. We screen on the environments a candidate has actually worked in, since the difference between a fund, a bank and a startup shows up immediately in how someone handles production.
Contract Staffing
Build-outs, platform migrations and data projects often need capacity for a defined stretch rather than a permanent seat on a lean team. We act as both the recruiter and the W2 employer for the contract term, which removes co-employment risk and gives you a clean conversion route later. Our contract placements hold a 94.3% quality of hire ratio.
Recruitment as a Service
Funds standing up a technology function from a small base need several hires close together and very little noise while doing it. Our Recruitment as a Service subscription handles candidate marketing, sourcing, screening and delivery under a monthly fee. We generate an engaged pipeline for a named role in under 7 days.
The fund disciplines we recruit across
A fund hires across investment, technology and operations at the same time, and the same search process does not work for all three.
Investment and research
Quantitative and trading
Operations and fund accounting
Risk, compliance and investor relations
Technology
What our hedge fund clients have said about working with Nexus IT Group
The great thing about nexus IT group is that it has a smaller family feel, but they are able to deliver IT candidates better than the largest IT staffing suppliers that we work with. They have delivered high quality cybersecurity professionals for several years to our firm.
I’ve been in Talent Acquisition for 15 years and have used many IT staffing firms over the years. I highly recommend Nick and nexus IT group over any other IT staffing services. nexus’ commitment to quality and delivery is top tier. They take the time to understand your needs, provide thorough screening, and make sure that candidates have a positive on-boarding experience.
Working with nexus IT group has made my job much easier. Having a recruiting firm who specializes in IT and within my industry, and who understands our specific culture and hiring needs has been instrumental in our talent acquisition talent strategy.
Capital One has used nexus IT group’s recruitment services for a number of IT positions at varying levels, over the past 4 years. We’ve had a high success rate working with nexus IT group which is a testament to the caliber of their work and their internal sourcing and vetting practices.
I’ve dealt with a lot of hiring firms in my 18 years in the investment banking profession, and the majority of them have been awful to mediocre at best. Dealing with Nexus IT Group, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air. After only one one opening, I was blown away by the quality and quantity of resumes I received. Nexus IT Group pays close attention to my demands and requirements. As a result, the individuals who were referred to me were excellent fits for our open positions. I appreciate the personal and professional expertise you offer to the process.
SAIC provides government services to several federal agencies across the US. We needed to recruit several new cybersecurity talent for our growing practice area. Travis quickly understood our business and the requirements of each cybersecurity need. nexus IT group showed patience, flexibility, and expertise in the search process. If you’re looking for good cybersecurity recruiters then you can’t go wrong with nexus IT group.
It is hard to put into words what nexus IT group has done for our organization. nexus IT group knows exactly what we look for and they get the right candidates 99% of the time. Anyone looking to hire tech talent would be lucky to have nexus IT group on their side. They have great work ethic, responsive, and a wide array of market knowledge.
We’ve enlisted the help of a number of IT recruiting firms in the past. Nexus IT Group has contributed to the success of many great hires by working professionally, diligently, and efficiently. We contacted Nexus IT Group after being introduced to them, and we were instantly impressed by their promptness and ability to focus on our needs. We received 3 resumes the same day and 3 more the next day, and we were able to hire four people in less than a week. We added an additional individual through Nexus IT Group a few weeks later as a result of vast network, service and professionalism. I highly recommend working with Nexus IT Group.
Our most recent hedge fund blog posts
Our hedge fund staffing skills keep our clients coming back
Portfolio Manager
manager who was leaving to start his own shop. The fund needed someone who could step into an established book without disrupting performance, and the search had to stay quiet to protect both the fund and its investors. Our recruiters ran a discreet process, reaching candidates directly rather than through any public posting. We sourced 168 candidates, submitted 5 and the client hired one portfolio manager who transitioned the book smoothly.
Chief Compliance Officer
A multi strategy fund preparing for a period of rapid asset growth asked Nexus IT Group to find a Chief Compliance Officer who could scale the firm’s compliance program ahead of heightened regulatory scrutiny. This was a senior search where regulatory depth and cultural fit both mattered a great deal. Our recruiters used an executive search approach, sourced 134 candidates and submitted 6. The client interviewed 4 and hired one CCO who has since built out the function considerably.
Quantitative Analyst
A systematic fund needed a quantitative analyst to support a team of researchers and help take signals from idea to production. The fund had struggled to find candidates who paired strong statistics with real engineering ability. Our hedge fund recruiters built a targeted campaign aimed at this narrow profile, screened 226 candidates and submitted 5. The client made 2 hires from that shortlist.
Chief Operating Officer
An emerging manager spinning out of a larger platform tasked our recruiters with hiring a Chief Operating Officer who could stand up the operational backbone of a brand new fund. The role demanded someone comfortable building from nothing while also reassuring early investors. Our recruiters ran a confidential executive search, sourced 119 candidates and presented our top 6. The client extended an offer roughly four weeks after the search began.
Nexus IT Group recruits nationwide including these cities
Frequently asked questions about hedge fund recruiting
To nexus IT group, placement is an art that requires the proper alignment of talent with opportunity, experience with need, personality with environment and aspirations with value. The hedge fund hiring space is a fast-paced, highly competitive recruiting environment that offers big opportunities for investment, technology and operations candidates. Our full-cycle recruiting system is a 51 step touchpoint process from start to finish. Our engagement process starts with a discovery call to understand the needs of the role. With this series of questions our hedge fund recruiters are able to build a sales cadence that we will use to deploy a multi-touch recruiting campaign precisely and accurately to hundreds of candidates who fit the expectations of the role. Once our targeted search is underway, we spend a series of 3 calls getting to know each candidate’s needs, wants and future career interests. Once we have created a shortlist of qualified and fully vetted candidates, we will deliver our top 3 to 4 candidates to the hedge fund hiring manager. Once the interview process starts we work with the candidate and the hiring team to make sure communication is responsive and transparent. Once a candidate is placed, we stay in touch with the placed candidate for 2 years just to see how things are going.
Our candidate sourcing can be described in 3 words: Identify. Engage. Toolstack. Typically, the best job prospects are the ones who are passive. This indicates that they are not actively seeking employment. As a result, they are not surfing the internet in search of online job postings. Because they are not viewing online job postings, we have developed a robust and 100% outbound recruiting strategy. We begin our sourcing strategy by creating a candidate persona. Once we have successfully created the candidate persona, we then create a content strategy that will attract top talent in the hedge fund space. Once we have developed our cadence we use a number of sources to scour the web and get our message in front of the right candidates. Strategies include searching our database, sourcing for referrals, sourcing from specific organizations, LinkedIn, industry associations, alumni networks, conferences and many other specialized financial communities. We craft highly personalized messages that drive above industry reply rates. Our recruiting strategy is to begin conversations with passive candidates to learn about their future career interests, needs and wants, then align those needs with current and future openings through a high-touch approach.
Quality of Hire is very important for nexus IT group and our hedge fund recruiting team. Currently our hedge fund specific recruiters hold a 95.96% quality of hire ratio. This is measured by any contractor who successfully completes their contract, or a direct placement candidate who is at our client for at least 6 months of duration.
Currently our 1 year retention rate with our hedge fund clients is running right at 96.58%.
The hedge fund hiring environment is very fast-paced, so our team of hedge fund recruiters are trained to work quickly and accurately. The time required to send qualified candidates to the hedge fund hiring manager varies based on the position you are seeking to fill and the challenges we will face, such as lower than market compensation, bonus or carry concerns, slow feedback and onsite expectations. We can deliver applicants on the day of contract signing, within a few days or within a few weeks.
We have spent a great deal of time recruiting in the hedge fund space and have had the distinct pleasure of collaborating with a number of impressive funds, from emerging managers to established names. From our perspective, the most rewarding part is the weight each hire carries. On a lean team a single placement can shape performance, culture and the trajectory of the firm, and helping a fund get that hire right is what makes this work satisfying.
Hedge fund recruiters specialize in a specific market sector. Every day, our hedge fund recruiters contact a specialized set of investment, quantitative, technology and operations candidates. When starting a new search, our team has a pool of personally known candidates to call immediately. The point is that specialized hedge fund recruiters sprint out of the gate more effectively than staffing firms that go back to the drawing board for each search.
When employers receive a resume from a hedge fund recruiting firm, there is a high probability that they are already familiar with the individual. Our clients trust that we have thoroughly screened the candidate over a series of multiple conversations, and that the candidate will be worth the hiring manager’s time to interview.
Another benefit of using a specialized hedge fund recruiting and executive search firm is that you will experience less of a “resume broker” relationship and more of a “sector expert” relationship. We spend countless hours every day conversing with hedge fund prospects and hedge fund hiring managers, which keeps us in the know about the space. Hedge fund recruiters can provide insight into the landscape of employment, carry and equity, compensation and the most recent candidate hiring and retention challenges. Ultimately, hedge fund recruiters have access to a concentrated pool of candidates, which results in increased efficiency during the hiring process and the ability to establish long-lasting relationships with the industry’s top talent.
Though we have several different practice areas such as government IT staffing, devops staffing, cloud staffing, digital marketing staffing, data science staffing, private equity and software development staffing, our hedge fund recruiters are hyper focused on clients in the hedge fund space. Our hedge fund recruiting and executive search team has successfully worked with clients ranging from emerging managers launching their first fund to large established multi strategy firms.
Whether you are recruiting for a Portfolio Manager, Investment Analyst or Quantitative Researcher, our recruiting solutions have you covered. Our hires range across just about anything a fund would need, including senior leadership roles like Chief Investment Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, all with a niche focus in hedge fund staffing and executive search.
Our hedge fund recruiters use a series of stages to make sure we minimize candidate fall out during the recruiting cycle. Our recruiters perform an in depth conversation where they work to uncover the needs, wants and desires of a candidate’s next career move. We ask candidates specific skillset questions. If the team feels that there is a fit, then another person from our team will speak with the candidate. If the 2 nexus reps feel that there is a good fit, then we ask the candidate to complete a 4 question feedback form so we can better understand whether the role is a good or a great fit. Once we receive the candidate’s feedback, we perform a “Lockdown” conversation where we ask a series of questions around counteroffers, interview stages, target compensation expectations and much more. If this goes well, then we will submit the candidate for client review.
First, it is incredibly difficult for hedge fund hiring managers with little time to receive responses to job ads. Second, an increasing number of professionals do not respond to recruiters, particularly in the hedge fund field. They prefer to hear directly from the fund’s hiring manager, which brings us to the third challenge: recruitment is a full-time, highly specialized profession that hedge fund hiring managers do not have time for.First, it is incredibly difficult for hedge fund hiring managers with little time to receive responses to job ads. Second, an increasing number of professionals do not respond to recruiters, particularly in the hedge fund field. They prefer to hear directly from the fund’s hiring manager, which brings us to the third challenge: recruitment is a full-time, highly specialized profession that hedge fund hiring managers do not have time for.
Our hedge fund recruiting fee is 22% to 25% of the candidate’s first year base salary. We do our best to find a payment structure that works best for your team.
Our hedge fund recruiters are paid by the companies for which they place candidates. Your hedge fund recruiter does earn a commission if you are hired, but the commission is paid by the company that hires you. Our recruiting fee is not taken out of your salary, and it does not lower the salary that you would be offered. Another misconception is that if you are presented by a recruiter and another candidate is not, you would be at a disadvantage because you have a fee associated with you getting the role. In our experience companies are seeking the best person for the job, and they are not concerned about a fee being paid at that point. Candidates who work with recruiters actually tend to make more than those who job hunt alone.
Our executive search covers SaaS, financial services, healthcare, government, PE-backed growth companies, and more nationwide, with deep networks in Silicon Valley, New York, Chicago, Seattle, and emerging technology markets.
Yes. Join our Confidential Leadership Network to receive curated opportunities for IT executive roles aligned with your career roadmap, compensation targets, and leadership development goals.
We maintain ongoing relationships with placed executives. If there’s a role misalignment, we’ll conduct a strategic career review and tap into our succession planning network to secure a more fitting leadership position.