Quantitative Research Developer

About RQI Investors

RQI Investors is a systematic equity asset management boutique within First Sentier Group, managing over AUD 25 billion in assets as of December 2024. Our investment philosophy is centered on developing and deploying advanced quantitative techniques, with a strong focus on machine learning, data science, and robust alpha modelling. We deliver alpha-driven investment solutions across a diverse set of global and domestic equity strategies, combining academic rigor with real-world implementation.

Why Work with RQI?

At RQI, we specialize in integrating solid economic rationale and data science methodologies into systematic equity investment. Our team is driven by a commitment to research excellence, intellectual rigor, and collaboration, creating an environment where researchers can apply innovative techniques to develop robust investment strategies.

Joining RQI means contributing to a team dedicated to advancing quantitative investing through the exploration of diverse information sources and the practical application of machine learning within finance, grounded in solid investment principles. We provide a supportive, research-focused setting that combines the agility of a boutique with the resources and global reach of the broader First Sentier Group.

About the role:

We're looking for a Quantitative Research Developer to help shape and scale our systematic equity strategies. In this role, you will work closely with researchers and portfolio managers to turn ideas into high-performance, scalable code, designing experiments, building robust backtests, and scaling machine learning workflows for signal generation.

You will develop tools and libraries that support research correctness, performance, and reproducibility, and act as reference implementations for production integration. For the right candidate, there is also scope to contribute directly to the design and refinement of systematic research strategies alongside researchers.

While you will collaborate with Systems and Infrastructure teams to ensure compatibility and handover, your primary focus will be on research design and engineering discipline. This includes profiling and optimising critical code paths, selecting and tuning numerical libraries, and applying best practices in testing, typing, packaging, and CI. The role suits a developer with strong Python skills who enjoys turning ambiguous research questions into well-scoped, maintainable solutions.

About you

Your experience and skills

• 2–3 years of experience developing data-driven analytics or research software.
• Strong Python skills and familiarity with numerical computing and ML workflows.
• Proven ability to build reliable data pipelines using SQL and modern data/query engines.
• Experience with backtesting frameworks, portfolio construction, and performance metrics.
• Solid understanding of statistics and machine learning fundamentals (e.g. regression, regularisation, cross-validation).
• Degree in a quantitative field (e.g. Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering).
• Familiarity with financial data or empirical research methodologies.
• Strong software engineering practices (testing, documentation, version control).
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to translate research needs into actionable solutions.

Nice to have

• Systematic equity or factor investing, including signal design and portfolio construction.
• Modern Python data and compute stack (e.g. Dask, Polars, DuckDB, Parquet).
• Optimising numerical code with tools such as Numba, Cython, CuPy, or rewriting hot paths in C++/Rust.
• Convex optimisation and portfolio construction tooling (e.g. CVXPy with commercial solvers such as MOSEK or Gurobi).
• Building internal tools or dashboards using Plotly, Dash, Streamlit, or similar frameworks.
• Working with cloud platforms and orchestration (e.g. Azure, Docker, Airflow).

Your day-to-da
y

• Work with researchers and portfolio managers to frame experiments, scale ML workflows (feature engineering, training/validation) for signal generation and strategy development, and deliver reference implementations that can be taken into production.
• Extend and maintain signal backtests and portfolio simulations with realistic costs, turnover, constraints, and performance evaluation.
• Build and maintain point-in-time data pipelines with appropriate validation, anomaly checks, and snapshotting to support reproducible research.
• Implement and integrate risk and factor exposure calculations and optimisation components into the research and rebalance workflow.
• Profile and optimise critical code paths, using vectorisation, efficient storage formats, and parallel or distributed execution where it matters.
• Apply sound software engineering discipline (modular design, testing, peer review, CI/CD) and develop lightweight visualisation and reporting tools to support diagnostics, attribution, and execution analytics.

About us

Powering possibilities

At First Sentier Group, we believe it is our responsibility to help clients achieve the financial freedom they desire, unlocking a world of possibilities.

We support our distinct affiliate investment teams to deliver meaningful investment outcomes. By combining their specialist investment knowledge with our global support, we create an innovative and agile operating model designed to effectively respond to our clients' needs.

We pride ourselves on our client-centric approach, ensuring we are all working towards achieving our clients' goals and enhancing their possibilities for the future, while continually striving for better.

Better strategies. Better service. Better possibilities

Our success relies on our ability to deliver outstanding client outcomes, supported by our culture and an efficient, sustainable and scalable business. We are committed to investing in our people to ensure we attract, develop and retain the talent to deliver these outcomes, guided by our vision, purpose and values.

• Care:
  we care about our clients, society and each other.
• Collaboration:
  we collaborate to deliver the best solutions.
• Openness:
  we are open with each other, and to different ways of thinking.
• Dedication:
  we are dedicated to being experts in our respective fields.

Why work with us

Our industry-leading benefits

Working at First Sentier Group gives you access to a growing, values-led organisation with competitive pay and industry-leading benefits including:

• Flexible working and a gender-neutral parental leave programme that provides 26 weeks' paid leave in every region
• Global collaboration, international mobility and the opportunity to build your career in different markets
• Employee-driven charitable foundation allows our people to give back in their local communities through donation-matching and paid volunteering days
• Access to learning and development opportunities including in-house training and external programs

Corporate Sustainability & B Corp

We are committed to ensuring that as a firm, we are contributing to building a sustainable economy and society by improving our environmental, social and governance standards and holding our own business to the same standards that we expect of the companies that we invest our clients' capital in; and by doing so, reinforcing our position as responsible investors. Find out more at this page: Corporate Sustainability

In 2022, First Sentier Group became a globally certified B Corp. B Corp Certification provides a framework that we can use to effectively assess our operations against high standards from an environmental, social and governance point of view, as well as to identify areas where we can enhance and improve. Based on the B Impact Assessment, First Sentier Group earned an overall score of 107.2, as of November, 2022. Find out more at this page: B Corp Certification

Our commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I)

At First Sentier Group, we value the different experience, ideas and perspectives that our people bring to the work they do. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable culture where diversity can thrive. We believe this leads to better outcomes for our people and our clients, and it's the right thing to do.

We provide equal employment opportunities to applicants regardless of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, age, family status, or any other category protected by law.