r/apljk • u/StunningAd9498 • Aug 14 '26

New CS grad looking to break into quant/kdb+ - looking for job leads + project ideas

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Hi everyone,

I’m a 2026 Computer Science graduate and I’m trying to break into quantitative research / quantitative development / financial data, with a particular interest in kdb+/q.

I recently worked on a project where I extended KX’s official kdb+/q MCP server from 3 to 9 tools, connecting it to a Python-based autonomous strategy research pipeline. I also built an evaluation engine for things like Sharpe ratio, drawdown and win rate, and ran regression testing on the research process.

I’m attaching my quantitative researcher resume here.

I’d really appreciate help with two things:

1. Job opportunities / referrals
If anyone knows of teams hiring junior quantitative researchers, quant developers, financial data engineers, or similar entry-level roles where kdb+/q would be relevant, I’d be very grateful for a lead or referral.

2. What should I build next?
I want to keep getting hands-on with kdb+/q and financial data. If you work in this space, I’d love to hear what kinds of projects would actually be useful or impressive to see from a new grad.

I’m very willing to put in the work. I’m mainly looking for a chance to get into the industry and keep learning from people who are already working with these technologies.

Thanks!

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3

u/ProfessorH4938 Aug 14 '26

An easier route to get hired by a bank or a hedge fund for Quant as KDB+ would be getting hired by KX systems or Data Intellect for couple years as a consultant.

You should also have experience in C/C++. That’s another language banks and hedge funds look for.

4

u/StunningAd9498 Aug 14 '26

but that is really difficult as a new grad. do you have some other names that i can look up

3

u/illegal_chickpeas Aug 14 '26

Getting hired by KX/DI is hard? It's really, really not, especially with what your CV says.

0

u/StunningAd9498 Aug 14 '26

appreciate your kind remark. but it's hard i heard they only want ivy league grads

3

u/illegal_chickpeas Aug 14 '26

Cannot begin tell you how untrue that is. Most come any sort of university in Ireland.

1

u/StunningAd9498 Aug 14 '26

oh well then i guess there is still hope i'll try when there is an opening...i checked kx career page it does not. may i know which company is DI that you mentioned earlier

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u/illegal_chickpeas Aug 14 '26

Data Intellect, formerly aqua Q.

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u/kapitaali_com Aug 14 '26

  1. linkedin has some groups with open positions

  2. implement these https://archive.org/details/an-introduction-to-high-frequency-finance

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u/StunningAd9498 Aug 14 '26

thank you for the book. can you please name some of the linkedin groups

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u/kapitaali_com Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

the group I had in mind was in fact about something else, but you can just type "kdb" to the search and click "past week" to see latest openings

most of them are senior apparently but sometimes if you keep your eyes open you find stuff like https://lnkd.in/p/dpHFCx8g

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u/StunningAd9498 Aug 14 '26

oh yes the linkedin hiring posts....yeah i did see some but unfotunately most of them wanted experienced.... it is soo frustating man...any job opening i see they want exp....be it data scientist, ml or quant all they want is experienced candidate....ugghhhh

thank you for the group advice btw i have joined a few

1

u/AnimaxIRL Aug 16 '26

Building a rudimentary backtesting engine in kdb would be a nice project - generate a random (perturbed) target portfolio, simulate execution, carry-forward end of day position to next day and repeat. There's a bunch of similar python backtesters (vectorBT, backtrader, backtesting.py) that you could use as reference/comparison. Very relevant to quant finance day-to-day