We had the historical data; we had some models that we distilled down to some essential characteristics and then we said can we do this better? So instead of me doing my usual summary of some of the key points in your journey so far, Id like to start a little bit differently today, and I hope thats OK with you? 
Included questions about java, data structures, multi-threading. Given the chance, I would interview there again ! You begin to get a greater coherence of both investor holdings and then also with the advent of VaR metrics and that approach to risk management, you also got a more correlated response to events, so that everyone around the world who thought they were doing independent things would react in the same way to an event. Have market dynamics changed? Design system logging assets prices. Youve got to dig and scratch a little bit at the AHL track record, but it took from the high in the middle of 1988. So that speaks much more to an approach of build it yourself, which doesnt mean were Luddites. I need to change where I'm at, but not sure how big of a company is really gonna hire me when I'm so new to things. So Id like to spend a good deal of time going all the way back to where your journey begins and find out what led you to where you are today. The three of us were over-enthusiastic and distractible kids. Give you 2 weeks to complete a simple coding task then take another 2 weeks to respond after you do it 1 weekend Well I think that the sweep of my career has sort of, unwittingly of course I dont think I set out in the early 1980s with this vision in mind, but I think with the benefit of hindsight, what we and others in the industry have managed to do in some sense is democratize a new form of investment, that actually I genuinely believe it has a contribution to make to pension funds, and to individuals investment portfolios. Mix from software dev to finance knowledge (not required though by their own words), Research, coding language, portfolio construction, backtesting. Its a business. Just looking at whats the high and low been for the last rolling three, or six-month basis, it is so clear what happens to the prices a few years back and when you do trade momentum and the price ranges compress as they have done, its very easy to visually see that we shouldnt be making money. Give you 2 weeks to complete a simple coding task then take another 2 weeks to respond after you do it 1 weekend Your feedback has been sent to the team and we'll look into it. Then a couple of things happened. Was a take home task (easy) followed by a zoom call equivalent (medium). The interview took 40 minutes. After completing a fairly simple take-home test in Java, you were called in for a 2-hour interview.
I saw that there are a bunch of customer service positions open and I don't know if it's somewhere that would fairly easy for someone with just 1 year of experience. We put in place the vision. Actually, by the happy accident of this scaling in feature of the models, that sort of disempowered our ability to over-optimize, so those were reasonably robust models. In response to those kinds of increasing correlations in the markets and increasing propensity for shock effects we bothAspect and as an industry began to look for sources of diversification. This will replace the current featured interview for this targeted profile. Weve been through phases where we divided the team up and people were siloed by asset classes, and we thought that created conflicts and incoherence, and then you sort of alight on where we are today where were divided into, in fact, its about 120 people in the organization, 70 of us are focused on research, trading, and technology to support those activities, and theres focus. Land More Interviews | Detailed Bullet Edits | Proven Process, Land More Offers | 1,000+ Mentors | Global Team, Map Your Path | 1,000+ Mentors | Global Team, For Employers | Flat Fee or Commission Available, Build Your CV | Earn Free Courses | Join the WSO Team | Remote/Flex, College / University / On Campus Recruiting. Once you start to diversify, obviously markets is one axis and time scale is another, but once you start putting in other models, then how you bind them together, and that admixture becomes super, super, super-important. Starting with a written take-at-home test with 4 technical questions, round 1 1hr technical with researcher, round 2 1hr technical with 2 researchers, round 3 1h technical with researcher and 1h with HR. So Man took a stake in us, put suits on us, dressed us up, said no to the commercialization of the software, said no to the consultancy business and we all buckled down and started working on further development of the AHL programme for the development of a number of different products. Weve talked about the organization and what sort of underlies your success on that side, but I want to talk also now about the track record. they were all very nice but it was not an appropriate match. Can we go slower? 
Through none of this story did we have the laser-like focus that we would all love to claim. That would be nuts these days. This will replace the current featured interview for this targeted profile. Secondly, there was an era of I want to highlight in the FX markets that this was the era of disintermediation of the interbank market, do you remember that? ML: From day one, Niels, we felt that to attract the kind of institutions that we wanted to attract we needed to do it thoroughly, so we didnt manage a dollar of client money until we had enough people that we could man a 24-hour-a-day trading operation until we had a disaster recovery facility. Please describe the problem with this {0} and we will look into it. People talk about the AHL DNA or diaspora, I wont say dominating, but being a major feature of how the industry has evolved. Their agents in Ulan Bator and far-off corners of the earth were just hungry for more of this terrific product. I want to shift gears a little bit now. Its all of those questions, again, and you just hit the nail on the head. The process took 2 weeks. or Want to Sign up with your social account? heckman The first hour was going over the test, some technical knowledge questions and problem solving. It actually didnt end neatly. Interviewed with senior quant researcher/PM. NKL: Absolutely. We were a separate, slightly scruffier industry. relationships maintaining building In the mid-1990s, I think some of the MINT funds struggled and AHL started to deliver on the research promise and, in a little bit, the rest is history. Well overall this was interesting and I learned a lot from it. Probability brainteasers, mathematical finance, and question regarding experience in alpha research. Thats actually stood us in good stead as the markets have gone really into strange places since 2009. But since theyre taking place more or less at the same time, and both had a huge impact for decades after the event, so to speak, I want to be sure that we cover a lot of that background as well today. ML: Niels, the thread that I forgot there was just it reconfirmed my belief that a systematic approach is I mean horses for courses. crunchbase Full database access + industry reports: IB, PE, HF, Consulting, 25k Interviews, 39k Salaries, 11k Reviews, IB, PE, HF Data by Firm (+ more industries). Niels Kaastrup-Larsen in his podcast, Top Traders Unplugged, interviews some of the most successful hedge fund managers in the world. 
Just when you thought things were getting better we got kicked in the teeth by a surprise rate hike in 1994. ML: Im making note to come back to a question you asked earlier, but, oh gosh, this environment has had a we could spend another session talking about this. I applied online. Its more the research process that weve all subscribed to rather than the genius of the individual model or any component piece along the way. I applied through a recruiter. So if you saw the repeat, it sort of patterned an end day high being supported multiple times. Im glossing over a lot of work. Then, scrolling forward very quickly, in 1994, when they bought out the remaining minorities and IPOed the Man group, I think we were at the heady figure of $300 million I think thats right. I dont want to appear glib, so of course we investigate all of those things. The neat thing in the 1980s was the range of markets that have sprung up around us, Niels, afforded us a level of diversification that essentially the combination of trend-following across that range of markets it risk-managed itself. Great question I think if Im sitting with a potential investor or an investor who may be struggling with recent performance compared to what they might have expected. But meanwhile in the bowels of the business, its not just one drug. I applied through a recruiter. There was a great after the October crash of 1987 there was a huge run-up. Was a take home task (easy) followed by a zoom call equivalent (medium). kemp jonathan polari momus questionnaire interview The relevant thing here is really, genuinely, Michael, David, and I didnt know that there was an industry doing this in the States. The first hour was going over the test, some technical knowledge questions and problem solving. I interviewed at Aspect Capital (London, England) in May 2020. The process took 2 weeks. I think that that DNA, that approach really took off in the industry. We look at both our market footprint and what we think is the footprint of our entire industry to satisfy ourselves that were not this isnt shooting ourselves in the foot thats happened here. Thats sort of big take-away point number one. How is pay, wlb & work culture. How is their IT department for roles like Director or VP? Im not predicting that, but what Im saying is that I draw comfort from having been through it before that actually, provided the models are able to adapt to the fact that no two days are going to be the same, and you know thats the beauty of what we do, because its not scenario-specific, so the models can adapt to whatever the markets present, number one. arrey ivo I dont think there was not a realization or a determination I dont know how David would answer that question, but certainly on Michael and my parts that said, Gosh, if we systematize this were going to be rich. So first of all I have to credit Michaels father with the Why dont you see if theres anything in this, and then just backing us with some money. I interviewed at Aspect Capital (London, England) in Mar 2021. Making the transition from that to a genuinely academic multi-disciplinary collegiate research effort thats actually a harder transition than it may sound, and people may overlook that. Can we improve the models? 
I interviewed at Aspect Capital in May 2022, Take ages to respond/do anything. ML: I think when we first sold a stake to Man, it was a huge $30 million under management [he laughs]. 2005-2022 Wall Street Oasis. I think that thats relevant because we werent looking over our shoulders at how other people had done it or were doing it. You dont just say how good tell me about that one anti-cholesterol drug. NKL: Tell me about the Aspect Diversified Programme today. although I did not get a job offer I did learn quite a few things from interviewing with them. When Mike he was a year ahead of me at Oxford, he took a year off and then started working for his father and the family business was originally they were of Mauritian decent, they were involved in physical commodities on the London commodity markets. Later on we bought those shares back. Asked me the time when I could be on board. Literally this was three nerds, and we approached the process of model development like a scientific experiment. WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through, +Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file, 101 Investment Banking Interview Questions, Free 1 month access by adding just 1 salary datapoint, REAL salary bonus data across 1,000+ companies, Plus free 1 month access to 10,000+ interview insights. Can we add more components to it? Questions are about research, coding language, portfolio construction, backtesting, etc. Id say two things in answer to your question. I dont think AHL was back in new highs until some time in about 1993 or 1994. 
Probability brainteasers, mathematical finance, and question regarding experience in alpha research. So MINT was a pioneering systematic CTA in the early 1980s, and they did a 50/50 joint venture with the Man group. The way we predominantly implemented, again there were varieties on this, but the early AHL and early Aspect models were a range of binary models across a range of different time scales. We were in my fathers office for a few weeks, then we had a cupboard at the back of the Sabre office for a while, and if I recall, Sabre were generous enough that they took a stake they backed us for a while. Overall seemed a little ad-hoc and slow. Eventually serviced offices and then on to Jermyn Street. That was Aspects first and foremost mission: to bring this thing I dont need to tell you and I hope I dont need to tell our audience, but just the intrinsic characteristics of managed futures that liquidity, directional agnosticism, ability to move risk around in various places, and the diversification that itaffords a portfolio to me it is (if I say its a no-brainer) it just has an integral part of a balanced portfolio. ML: Gosh, Niels, be careful what you wish for. I think we all felt that that was one chapter that had closed, and it was time to move on. So I left Nomura after a whole nine months there, so that was the last real job I had, and started working for Brockham Securities, which was Michaels fathers small broking house. Unwittingly, despite us all having scientific or physics backgrounds, this was uncharted territory, so all of the schoolboy errors that we all know and everyone that works for us has learned back in finance 101 all those things about over-optimization and degrees of freedom we did it all. Im not clear on the dates now, but Im going to say that that was probably in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I applied online. Interviewer was pleasant and easy to talk to, however. I was somewhere between researching the programme and also doing consultancy, so we had a number of consulting clients that we would encode their trading businesses on our software and give them commercial advice. When people ask What do you do? I think its so hard to the uninitiated to come up with an answer which both makes sense and is somewhat interesting. With the benefit of hindsight, I highlight two particular features about the evolution of the approach. One round of on site interview. The first interview was with the portfolio managers, to get to know each others. I interviewed at Aspect Capital (London, England) in Dec 2020. Im sure this is kind of obvious. Given the chance, I would interview there again ! Couple that characteristic with the fact that once upon a time every business has to start somewhere, and if youre successful, you might believe your own success. Risk management I couldnt spell risk at the time. My advice would be to move faster and get a more defined process. 
itochu cfo kyle founder Does anyone know whats the range for TD - Grade 9, Toronto location? Applied directly on the website. NKL: Its funny Marty, because actually its something that I struggle with myself. outlook 
We sort of looked at them incredulously and said, of course you do because its research; you have to keep improving it. aditya birla grapples You didnt have there was enough intrinsic diversification that if one sector was melting down youd have opportunities in another sector. ML: By and large it is very much an incremental process and we make a virtue of that because you dont want the last thing we want to do, especially with our focus on institutional investors and a high level of transparency, the last thing you want to do is surprise an investor. In would come the grand vizier and determine whether that was indeed a rising pennant or a double bottom or a head and shoulders, and determine what the days trading would be. Michael left the firm and started a software venture capital firm and had a glorious set of products that they developed and sold on, and then rejoined me at Aspect later on. Aspects vision was to take the managed futures business that AHL and Man had developed and bring it to an institutional audience. Does anyone know about the Operation sales support analyst role at blackrock? First interview was split into 2 stages with 1 person that said/did very little and was pretty much just a silent observer judging, I applied through a recruiter. It really was, How can we do this and get it to a broader audience? The MINT and Man and AHL within Man was predominantly a retail business, Niels. So Aspect, as I say, was predicated in the belief that managed futures was too well-kept a secret. We explored it, and it became part of the programme, but not the wholeprogramme. The second hour was a systems design question which I didn't know was part of the interview so I hadn't prepared accordingly. Theres the cult of the individual. 
So by the end of the 1980s I think that MINT was probably the first alternative investment shop to be managing more than a billion dollars. When we started dabbling in the moving average that you allude to, those are far more prone to over-optimization because if you do the schoolboy error of trying to optimize what would have worked in every single market over time, you come up with a fantastic simulation, but reality doesnt turn out to be nearly so nice. 
I think that one of the lessons along the way is that the cultural piece is more important than you might think. Attended 3 rounds of interviews only to be ghosted in the end. Any insights would be helpful. shifted I think that the average tenure with Aspect of my core research team is over seven years, some of them well over 10 years. 
Having developed these models from Ive talked about the arcane roots and chartism. Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling. If I look back, I think that the focus on risk management both as an activity in the business and as an implicit component to how we build it and put it together and run it. Why do you need all of these researchers and technologists? thomas spain port east company deborah managing interview director development report trinidad tobago In the early days, as I say, the legacy of the managed futures industry, driven by the US, but it was also Man and around the world, it was the high-fee, opaque, sold product, and most self-respecting institutional investors turned up their noses at it. ML: Happy accident, Niels. NKL: Youre not really of a financial background, but what was it that convinced you to apply models to financial markets. Have you all saturated the markets? Listen to the full interview at www.toptradersunplugged.com. The process took 2 weeks. Quantitative Strategist (Vice President). Number one, actually Aspect was doing reasonably well. In the early days of Aspect, we had even more ambitious plans to be a quantitative multi-strat shop. 
Its a great question. So along the way, along the journey we have developed and been modestly successful in the quant equity space. Some of the interviewers looked like they couldn't be bothered with the whole process so I am quite unclear as to why they kept on with it. Seemed like a decent company. Where Im going is that its hard for a business to make the transition from being very much top-down, character-led, so Im going to tell you lot what were going to research today. Then in terms of the question of whats it for? 
The interview took 40 minutes. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Aspect Capital in Jun 2021. Seemed like a decent company. Part 2 will be published in the next issue. That was just genius, absolute genius. Questions are about research, coding language, portfolio construction, backtesting, etc. Mix from software dev to finance knowledge (not required though by their own words), Research, coding language, portfolio construction, backtesting. it also wanted a way to check whether the price had changed since the last check (have to store price each time you look it up for this), have it running on multiple threads and have a wait that blocks the thread until the price changes, (in the interview) difference between array list and an array in Java, (in the interview) how does a hash map work, (in the interview) how to implement a linked list + single vs double, Opens the Fishbowl by Glassdoor site in a new window, Java concurrency questions It was retail; it was a structured product if you can call a guaranteed fund a structured product. I think that the sales pitch of the early MINT funds in all those far-flung offices was, Look at that, bottom left to top right, very clever, trust me. You can imagine that doesnt go down well with institutional investors today. So every day David, the sorcerers apprentice, would take the books off of the shelf and open up the charts and add the latest tick data point. One interview was technical and involved various different problems and discussions of models and the other was CV based involved going through past experience etc as well as checking basic financial numeracy.
