Campus software engineer
$165,000 to $190,000
Base salary, New York
Quant researcher base
$220,000 to $245,000
Typical US base in salary filings, all levels
First-year researcher total
ReportedAbout $368,000
Median base plus bonus, entry-level quant researchers
First-year engineer total
ReportedAbout $247,000
Average of entry-level software engineers
London pay per employee
£503,000
2025, every role and level
New York quant researcher, first year
EstimateAbout $325,000 to $450,000
Base plus bonus at every firm, for comparison
Two Sigma is a quantitative investment and trading firm founded in 2001 by a computer scientist and a mathematician. It applies scientific research and data to investing, manages more than $80 billion and employs about 1,700 people across three continents.
Its New York campus ads state a base of $165,000 to $190,000 for software engineers and $300,000 for AI research scientists. They state none for quantitative researchers. For those, the US salary filings are the best public source.
How much do Two Sigma quant researchers earn?
In Two Sigma’s US salary filings, the typical base for a quantitative researcher is $220,000 to $245,000, with a median of $235,000. The firm files one figure per position under the title Quantitative Researcher, so the filings show researcher pay directly, across every level.
For developers the typical filed base is $175,000 to $225,000. Filings record base pay only, so none of these figures include the bonus.
Filed US base salaries, July 2025 to June 2026
| Job title as filed | Median base | Lowest to highest |
|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Researcher | $235,000 | $205,000 to $280,000 |
| Software Engineer | $195,000 | $165,000 to $264,000 |
| Quantitative Software Engineer | $225,000 | $175,000 to $275,000 |
| Data Scientist | $195,000 | $170,000 to $208,000 |
The median is the middle filing for the title; the range runs from the lowest to the highest, across every level the firm hires at.
How much does Two Sigma pay graduates?
A campus software engineer in New York starts on a base of $165,000 to $190,000. A campus AI research scientist starts on $300,000, but that is a specialist hire, so the comparison chart further down uses the engineering figure. Both ads say the role may also be eligible for a discretionary bonus.
What does the first year pay in total?
With the first bonus, our estimate for a first-year quant researcher in New York is $325,000 to $450,000. The estimate spans every firm in the city. Two Sigma does not publish its bonus, so what its own staff report is the closest view of the firm.
Reported by employeesReported
Entry-level quantitative researchers in the US report a median base of $235,000 and a median bonus of about $133,000 (4 reports). Thirteen entry-level software engineers report an average total of about $247,000: a base of about $174,000 and a bonus of about $69,000.
How does pay grow after the first year?
The bonus does most of the growing. In what Two Sigma’s US staff report, the base moves only modestly between the first year and seven years in, while the bonus overtakes it. Across every New York firm, our estimate for a quant researcher with 7 years or more is $660,000 to $1,540,000.
What Two Sigma employees in the US report, by years of experienceReported
| Experience | Base | Total pay |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $235,000 | $265,000 to $389,000 |
| 1 to 3 years | $185,000 | $300,000 to $360,000 |
| 4 to 6 years | $210,000 | $350,000 to $500,000 |
| 7 years or more | $260,000 | $515,000 to $658,000 |
Base and bonus that traders, researchers and developers report on public pay sites. Total pay is the middle half of what they report, or both figures where two people report. A single year’s bonus can fall well outside it.
What does Two Sigma pay in London?
Two Sigma’s London company paid its staff £503,000 each on average in 2025, up from £377,000 in 2024. That is wages divided by headcount, not an offer: it folds every role and level into one number. The highest-paid director received £5.41 million the same year.
Two Sigma International Ltd, filed accounts
| Year | Average staff | Wages and salaries | Per employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 85 | £42.74 million | £503,000 |
| 2024 | 93 | £35.02 million | £377,000 |
Of the 85 staff in 2025, 50 worked in engineering, 19 in modelling and 16 in corporate roles. The company is a limited company, so no partner payments sit outside these figures.
For a single hire the market estimate is a better guide. Across every London firm, our estimate for a quant researcher with 1 to 3 years of experience is £195,000 to £440,000 a year before tax.
Reported by employeesReported
Entry-level software engineers at Two Sigma in the UK report a median base of about £108,000 and a bonus of about £38,000 (4 reports).
How does Two Sigma compare with other firms?
For campus engineers, Two Sigma’s advertised base of $165,000 to $190,000 is lower than at the trading firms. IMC advertises $200,000 for graduate engineers, and Jane Street and HRT $300,000.
Two Sigma states $165,000 to $190,000. 8 firms advertise a higher graduate base, up to $300k. This is base pay only: the bonus comes on top, and within a few years it grows to match or pass the base.
- Hudson River Trading$300,000
- Jane Street$300,000
- Jump Tradingintern rate$300,000
- SIG$300,000
- DRW$250,000 to $300,000
- Citadel$235,000 to $300,000
- Citadel Securities$235,000 to $300,000
- IMC$250,000
- Optiver$200,000
- Two Sigma$165,000 to $190,000
- Flow Traders$175,000
The base salary each firm states in its US graduate job ads, September 2026. The bonus comes on top.
How do you get a Two Sigma offer?
Two Sigma hires researchers and engineers who can reason about data and write the code to test it. Its interviews lean on coding, data manipulation, probability and statistics, and add open-ended modelling questions: how you would frame a prediction problem, which features and models you would try, and how you would check the result.
The interviewers care as much about how you reason as about the answer, so practise explaining each step out loud. The Two Sigma interview guide walks through each stage, and the practice page has questions matched to the firm.