A high-frequency trading firm is offering its interns $425k to come back as OpenAI looms
Proprietary trading firms are on red alert for junior talent retention, as AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic court their staff in an effort to bring them in on pay packages of up to $3m. One high-frequency trading firm is calling back the majority of its interns, and paying them up to $425k out of the gate.
Insiders claim that 29 of 55 interns were given return offers across various roles including quant trading, software engineering, and FPGA engineering. Quant interns were allegedly offered compensation packages of up to $425k with salaries of $250k. Pay packages for other interns are lower, but vary from role to role.
IMCs US operations are centred in Chicago, where pay for quant interns can be very competitive. One intern at a top HFT market making firm in the city told us they'd received an offer of $71k in total compensation for a 10-week internship in 2026. The pay package included a $30k signing bonus.
It's not just IMC paying up. Jane Street increased pay for its interns in next year's cohort, while students at top financial engineering programs are earning salaries of $25k per month on their internships.
The high retention rate is also at odds with recent years; conversions for top internship schemes were thought to be dramatically lower in 2023, according to the smaller funds hiring the rejected talent. That was due to subpar performance that year, but quant firms at large have had a similarly difficult 2025 thus far. Firms appear to be holding onto what they have more today as they may not be the biggest fish in the pond any more.
AI giants have been wooing top quants from firms like IMC. Anthropic hosted quants in Manhattan last month and put out a call to their London counterparts for a meetup earlier this month. Those who've already heeded the call have told us that working in AI is a much more intense experience, but that's not seen as a bad thing.
IMC declined to comment.
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