Desk·2026-09-15
Jane Street QR still the IC cash seat
Same quant-researcher title. Jane Street prints the cash year. Citadel is the multi-strat book under it. Name the IC seat before the manager loop.
Jane Street typical $650,000 against $550,000 at Citadel.
QR typical
Jane Street typical sits ~1.18× Citadel
Same title. NY shop clears the cash year. Multi-strat clears more pods. Thin samples on both.
How to plan it
Keep the QR IC seat before the multi-strat or manager loop
A mid IC who can still read a paper and ship signal should sit Jane Street and Renaissance before treating a Citadel pod or a first-line manager seat as the default next move. Jane Street prints $650k typical on a cash-first QR book. Citadel prints $550k with more seats and a multi-strat structure. Both compound the year you keep. A pod or an EM loop compounds optionality and headcount, not the floor. If you need a cash year for a house or a family, the shop IC desk is the plan. If you can carry a wider book and want the multi-strat name or people to manage, take that loop — but name the tradeoff. Do not treat a $650k shop QR year and a $550k multi-strat year as the same career move. The title is research; the books are not.
Also: QR shops · Jane Street vs Citadel