An Interview with a Quantitative Strategist - Dewey

Tenure at Knight:
• 6 ½ years

Education background:
• Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology
• Master's and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT

Interesting facts:
• Son of a peanut farmer
• An accomplished pianist
• Sang in concert with the Boston Pops Orchestra

Q: Why did you decide to work at the Electronic Trading Group at Knight?
There are three key components which influenced my decision to join ETG after completing my graduate work. First, during the interview process, I observed the culture, and I could see that there was a genuine sense of team interaction and collaboration. Second, I appreciated the entrepreneurial spirit and the fact that everyone has an opportunity to make an impact on the firm's profitability. Finally, I wanted to be part of a team that had significant expertise building successful automated trading strategies. These three components provided an environment where I could quickly learn from bright people how to be successful in this business.

Q: What is your role at ETG?
I primarily focus on developing statistical models and trading strategies which provide liquidity to the marketplace, thereby facilitating trading, and helping to remove market mispricings or inefficiencies. When developing new models, I generally have a hypothesis about a particular market effect, and I examine historical data to see if the effect persists on average and would result in a profitable strategy. The mathematical tools I use tend to be simple statistical methods, although modern statistical methods and signal processing are often useful for the task at hand. Generally, I find that creativity in identifying and quantifying persistent effects is the most important skill, while the use of complex mathematical concepts is secondary.

Q: What is the best part about working in Knight's Electronic Trading Group?
ETG has a flat management structure and the culture is open. We freely exchange ideas, and we listen to suggestions from everyone in order to improve our team dynamic and our business profitability. Since joining ETG a number of years ago, I have always found the most senior members of ETG to be available for discussions.

Q: What is your educational background?
I received my Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and I received my Master's and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT. My Ph.D. focused on statistical signal processing with primary emphasis on tree-structured graphical models. During my graduate degree, I became interested in finance, and I enrolled in a financial technology program offered by the Sloan School of Management - a program specifically designed for scientists and engineers. After graduate school, I immediately joined Knight.

Q: Can you describe your typical day at ETG?
I typically arrive at the office between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Throughout the day, I meet with individual team members to discuss the status and next steps for a project. I often conduct interviews for quant candidates - an essential part of the business as we seek to grow the team. I spend time prioritizing future projects and growth initiatives, and I often examine current profitability and trading behavior to determine trouble areas which require more focus. When I have time, I enjoy working on my own research projects, specifically investigating new models and strategies.

An Interview with a Developer - Avinash

Tenure at Knight:
• 3 years

Education background:
• Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science, Indian Institute of Technology
• Master's in Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley

Interesting facts:
• Grew up on a vegetable farm
• Plays racquetball recreationally

Q: Why did you decide to work at the Electronic Trading Group at Knight?

I love working on projects involving cutting edge technology, and ETG is a group that invests in and benefits greatly from these initiatives. The group is made up of some of the best technologists in the industry, who not only have great technical skills, but also have a good understanding of all the client and business needs.

Q: What do you do at ETG?

As a developer, I work on software development projects that address one or more of our business needs. Developers handle all stages of a project's life cycle. In the initial phase of the project, we communicate with the relevant parties (both within the team and outside) to develop a concrete set of milestones for the project. Once the project goals are clear, we work on potential designs to meet these goals. After the design is finalized, we code it in a suitable language. Once the code is documented, thoroughly tested and peer reviewed, we deploy it to production and monitor its performance carefully to ensure that it meets the business needs.

Q: What is the best part about working in Knight's Electronic Trading Group?

I like the fact that I work in a fast paced dynamic environment, where adapting to change and showing a sense of urgency are the name of the game. I am happy to be working with extremely talented and industrious people, from whom I learn a lot every day.

The senior people of the ETG team are extremely helpful in bringing new members up to speed. They encourage junior members to take ownership of their projects. The ETG team is fortunate to have a management that is open to ideas from any team member, no matter how junior. They always recognize and reward members who exhibit excellence at work.

Q: Can you describe your typical day at ETG?

I usually have one or two primary projects that I focus on at any given moment. During market hours, I am prepared to drop my current tasks and respond to urgent operational issues. From time to time, I answer questions from other team members about the technologies that I have developed or am familiar with. I also review code written by others, mentor junior candidates and interview potential team members.

An Interview with a Quantitative Strategist - Gautam

Tenure at Knight:
• 5 years

Education background:
• Undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Balliol College, Oxford
• Ph.D. in Mathematics from University of California, Berkeley

Interesting facts:
• Punted [boated] to every riverside pub in Oxford
• Has the slowest marathon time in ETG

Q: Why did you decide to work at the Electronic Trading Group at Knight?

I chose to join Knight because I thought it was an exciting business with a lot of growth opportunity. The Electronic Trading Group truly values the quants and we are rewarded for tangible results. I also wanted to work with a smart and successful group of people who enjoy working together and whom I thought I would enjoy working with. I'm glad to say I was right on both counts.

Q: What is your role at ETG?

My primary role is to research, build and test quantitative models for trading. That means sifting through large amounts of data, and thinking about market microstructure to find meaningful phenomena in the market.

Q: What is the best part about working in Knight's Electronic Trading Group?

What I love most about my job is seeing the trading ideas work. The immediate feedback of seeing research ideas I've designed trading, and trading successfully, is immensely exciting.

Q: Can you describe your typical day at ETG?

When I arrive at the office, I usually check that the production system is ready to trade, especially if any changes have been made. Next, I might look at some testing or data analysis that ran overnight. Then I usually spend the rest of the day conducting research. This may include building data analysis tools or writing trading strategies. I often take time throughout the day to discuss projects with colleagues or to participate in presentations.

An Interview with a Developer - Hong

Tenure at Knight:
• 2 years

Education background:
• Bachelor's in Computer Science and Technology from Tsinghua University
• Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University

Interesting facts:
• Played trombone in the Tsinghua University Military Band
• Gold medalist in International Olympiad in Informatics

Q: Why did you decide to work at the Electronic Trading Group at Knight?

When I interviewed at Knight, I was very impressed by the talent in the Electronic Trading Group. The interviewers had very strong technical backgrounds. They talked about the projects that they were working on, which sounded very challenging. Compared to traditional IT companies, ETG was smaller but made more of an impact on the company overall. We enjoy fast paced software development and a short lifecycle (including design, implementation, testing and deployment).

Q: What is your role at ETG?

As a developer, I design, implement, test and deploy trading software. The most recent project that I've been working on is implementing protocols to trade on a new trading platform. The protocols are used to collect market data from the exchanges, and use that information to place/cancel orders. The main challenge is responding quickly and efficiently when dealing with such a large volume of data. During the testing stage, I conduct root cause analysis to identify issues and then ensure that everything is running up to production standards. Once in production, I work with the exchange to solve any additional problems that may arise and then ensure that the trading engine is up and running efficiently. This is only one example of an exciting and challenging project that we work on. Seeing your personal efforts in production is very rewarding and provides a real sense of accomplishment.

Q: What is the best part about working in Knight's Electronic Trading Group?

What I love most about my job is the opportunity to work with colleagues that are highly intelligent and have strong technical skills. There is a real sense of "team" in ETG. I can always go to teammates with any questions that arise.

Senior members in the team are very approachable. For example, several of us who work on related projects have weekly meetings with the Head of Technology to discuss technical challenges and the progress of specific projects.

Another important thing is the top-notch training program that ETG offers. It addresses many issues and topics that are of interest to new hires and experienced developers.

Q: Can you describe your typical day at ETG?

Every morning when I get to work, I take a look at my projects and make a plan for the day. I connect with my colleagues to learn the business requirements and follow up by reading documents and researching online. I survey our code base, design and code. My colleagues and I work together to review each other's code, and then we have the opportunity to test it out, typically running our system in simulation and in production. Also, in meetings throughout the day, I enjoy sharing my ideas with my Knight co-workers across disciplines and departments. I also attend training sessions to improve my technology and business knowledge.