Quantitative Analyst
Quantitative analysts build the mathematical models that banks, funds and insurers use to price financial products, guide trading strategies and measure risk.
- Median salary*
- $148,200
3.6%vs last year, before tax
- People employed*
- 3,200
0.0%vs last year
- Projected growth*
- +8%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Moderate
- automation risk
- Average hours*
- 42/wk
+2h vs all jobs
- Shortage status*
- Not in shortage
national
Most quantitative analysts, often called 'quants', work in investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers or the risk and treasury functions of large financial firms, in teams that sit alongside traders, software engineers and risk managers. The work is on the research side: building, testing and documenting models rather than making the live trading calls that a quantitative trader makes with them. It suits people who are comfortable in mathematics and code in roughly equal measure, since a model has to survive both a statistical test and a production system.
How much do quantitative analysts earn?
The median full-time salary for a quantitative analyst is $148,200 per annum, before tax, up $31,600 since 2018.
Pay in this field leans heavily on the annual bonus, which for front-office roles can add a substantial amount on top of base salary and is tied to how the desk or fund performs. Hedge funds and proprietary trading firms generally pay above the major banks, and a postgraduate qualification in mathematics, physics or financial engineering can move you into the higher bands. Location matters less than the desk you sit on, since most of these roles cluster in Sydney and Melbourne.
What does a quantitative analyst do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Building and backtesting pricing or trading models against historical market data
- Measuring portfolio risk and stress-testing positions against extreme market scenarios
- Writing production code in Python, R or SQL to turn research prototypes into tools the desk can run
- Validating model assumptions and documenting how they perform once live results come in
- Working with traders, risk managers and software engineers to get a model from research into production
What skills do quantitative analysts need?
Employers look for financial analysis and modelling, statistical modelling, machine learning, backed by Python fluency and strong problem solving.
Specialist skills
- Financial analysis and modelling
- Statistical modelling
- Machine learning
- Data analysis
- Programming and software development
- Risk and internal controls
Software and tools
- Python
- R
- SQL
- Bloomberg Terminal
- Git
General skills
- Problem solving
Is the job growing?
About 3,200 people work as quantitative analysts in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 8% over the decade to 2035. That's modest growth: demand is steady rather than booming.
How do you become a quantitative analyst?
Here's the path most quantitative analysts take, step by step.
- 1Take a quantitative bachelor degree
Mathematics, statistics, physics, engineering, computer science, or a finance degree with a heavy quantitative major all lead in. About 52% of quantitative analysts hold a bachelor degree as their highest qualification, and the grounding in probability and linear algebra matters more than the title of the degree.
- 2Add a postgraduate qualification if you want front-office work
A master's in financial mathematics, quantitative finance or statistics covers derivatives pricing, stochastic calculus and market conventions that undergraduate courses often skip. About 26% of the workforce holds a postgraduate qualification as their highest, and the share is higher on trading desks, where a PhD also helps.
- 3Learn to code to a professional standard
Python and SQL are the baseline, with R common in research teams and Git used for version control. You need to write tested, readable code that others can run, not just notebooks that work on your machine, because most research output ends up inside a production system.
- 4Get in through a graduate or internship program
Banks, funds, trading firms and the consultancies that serve them recruit through paid summer internships that convert to graduate offers, usually advertised a year ahead. The rounds are competitive because the occupation is small, and they test probability, coding and market intuition on the same day.
- 5Build the finance side once you are in
Derivatives pricing, market conventions and the instruments your desk trades are learned on the job. The CFA Program run by CFA Institute is a common way to formalise the finance knowledge, and rotations through validation or risk broaden the work you can take on.
Ready to apply as a quantitative analyst?
Whether you're working toward becoming a quantitative analyst or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a quantitative analyst move to?
None of the roles quantitative analysts typically move into pay more than the role itself. Quantitative Trader is the closest match. If a bigger salary is the goal, moving up into a senior or principal position within the role is usually the faster route than moving sideways.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Trader Quantitative analysts bring rigorous pricing and risk models to trading desks, where the same mathematics is applied to live markets. | +$0 | 100% | minimal |
| Derivatives Trader Their model-building skills carry into derivatives trading, though exchange rules and market conventions need a short course. | −$10,300 | 57% | short course |
| Equities Trader Quantitative analysts can move to equities trading, using quantitative models to inform trade decisions and manage risk. | −$10,300 | 48% | short course |
| Machine Learning Engineer Quantitative analysts bring strong mathematical modelling and coding to machine learning engineering, adding production system skills through a short course. | −$20,800 | 50% | short course |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a quantitative analyst?
The typical quantitative analyst is 34 years old; 72% are men, 98% work full-time, and full-timers average 42 hours a week.
- 34
- Median age
- 28%
- Female share
- 98%
- Full-time
- +2h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a quantitative analyst?
The rhythm runs on projects and market cycles rather than a daily queue: weeks of research and testing, then a piece of work that either holds up or does not when it meets live prices. The pressure is quiet and intellectual, because a flawed assumption can sit undetected until a bad market day exposes it, and much of the week goes into persuading colleagues that the approach is sound. People tend to enjoy it if they like mathematics, code and markets together, and are willing to have their reasoning tested hard by the desk that uses it.
What people like
- Hard problems with a measurable answer. A piece of analysis either predicts well or it does not, so the feedback is clearer than in most knowledge work, even when it arrives slowly.
- Markets keep the mathematics honest. Real prices, real positions and real losses test assumptions in a way a textbook exercise never does.
- You sit close to the decision. The people using what you build are nearby, so the effect of good work shows up in the desk's results rather than in a report nobody reads.
- Skills that travel. The statistics, programming and analytical training carry into machine learning, data science and research roles if you decide to move.
What people find hard
- A piece of work can be wrong for months. Subtle errors often surface during a market event, exactly when everyone is stretched and the fix is urgent.
- Explaining technical work to non-technical people. Traders and managers want the answer and the assumptions behind it, not the derivation, and repeating that translation is part of the job.
- Long stretches around market events. Full-time hours average 42 a week, and a large trade, an earnings season or a risk incident can push well past that.
- Governance and documentation. Validation, audit trails and committee papers take a genuine share of the week, and research-minded people often find them tedious.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ quantitative analysts?
Financial and Insurance Services employs the largest share of quantitative analysts, followed by Professional, Scientific and Technical Services.
Top employing industries
- 1Financial and Insurance Services
- 2Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- 3Administrative and Support Services
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 52% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 26% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 13% | |
| Other | 9% |
Will AI replace quantitative analysts?
Quantitative analysis sits in the middle: the coding and data preparation around a piece of analysis are increasingly automated, while the judgement about which approach suits a problem and whether its output makes economic sense stays with the analyst. AI tools already draft a good deal of the routine Python and SQL, which changes how the work is done more than how much of it there is. The parts that need market context, scrutiny from a trading desk and a defensible explanation to a risk committee remain human work.
Share of typical working time by exposure level
- Building and testing pricing and risk calculationsTools speed up exploratory fitting and code generation, but choosing the approach and defending its assumptions is still yours.30%moderate
- Assembling and reconciling market dataPulling prices, reference data and corporate actions into a clean dataset is the most automatable part of the week, and existing tooling already covers much of it.25%high
- Explaining the work to traders and risk committeesSaying why an approach behaves as it does, and what it misses, means reading the desk's current positions and the market, which no tool does for you.25%low
- Writing production code for the deskCopilots draft routine functions and queries, so the work shifts toward reviewing, testing and integrating what they produce.20%high
Common questions about becoming a quantitative analyst
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much does a quantitative analyst earn?
Quantitative analysts earn a median of $148,200 per annum, before tax, in full-time work, though a large part of total pay in this field arrives as an annual bonus tied to desk performance. Bonuses are usually discretionary, so a good year at a proprietary trading firm can pay far above the median while a quiet year elsewhere sits close to it. Treat the figure as the middle of the market rather than a starting salary.
How do you become a quantitative analyst?
The usual path is a quantitative degree, strong programming skills and a graduate or internship program at a bank, fund or trading firm. Degrees in mathematics, statistics, physics, engineering or computer science are common, and employers test probability and coding at interview rather than relying on your transcript. A portfolio of working projects or an internship on a desk does more for an application than good grades alone.
Are quantitative analysts in demand?
Quantitative analysts are currently not in shortage, and employment in the role is projected to grow 8% over the decade to 2035. About 3,200 people work as quantitative analysts, so the number of openings each year is small and most of them sit in financial services and the professional and technical firms that serve it. Entry happens mainly through graduate programs advertised a year ahead, which is where to focus your applications.
Will AI replace quantitative analysts?
Parts of the job are already automated and the work sits in the middle of the scale: data preparation, routine backtesting and a good deal of boilerplate coding can be drafted by AI tools, while the choice of approach, its assumptions and the reading of its output stay with the analyst. Governance and validation are tightening rather than loosening, which keeps demand for people who can explain their reasoning to a risk committee. The tasks least affected are those needing market context and a conversation with the desk.
What can a quantitative analyst move into?
Quantitative analysts often move onto trading desks, where a quantitative trader applies the same pricing and risk work to live positions, while derivatives trading and equities trading are similar steps that need a short course in exchange rules and market conventions. Median pay for derivatives traders is $10,300 less than for quantitative analysts, and for equities traders $10,300 less. Statisticians and mathematicians also move the other way into quantitative analysis, since their statistical training transfers directly.
What hours do quantitative analysts work?
Full-time quantitative analysts average 42 hours a week, though the spread is wide and market events, releases and reporting deadlines run longer. About 98% of people in the role work full time. The work is office-based and rarely shift-based, so hours follow the project and the trading calendar rather than a roster.
Related roles
- Quantitative Trader
- Derivatives Trader
- Equities Trader
- Machine Learning Engineer
- Statistician
- Mathematician
Not sure this is you? Take the career quiz and get a ranked shortlist of roles that fit how you like to work.