SnT vs Quant Research
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(TLDR) I'm based in different continent, and definitely not a smart guy as u are,,,but wow I thought this was an American version of my case. I can't provide you with an expert answer to ur question since I'm only a student and have no good knowledge about HF industry, but hope my thoughts could give u some aspects u didn't thought of.
background: I did BB S&T SA, failed to get return offer but managed to receive FT offer from several other BBs for quant heavy trading desks. But thank god there were some off-cycle/winter internship available from MMHFs, and recently started quant alpha research intern at one of the shops you mentioned above. Although its only been a while and its just an internship, I think I made up my mind to rescind FT offer from BB if I get the return offer from this place. You listed all the pros for HFs here, but let me add one more thing which I think is something important to consider, too.
1. Interesting/Intellectually stimulating work -> this is the major factor for leaning toward this place. I think this industry really demands ur originality/creativity of creating alpha, keep thinking about why the backtesting result has happend, whether it would be overfitting, thinking of how to improve this alpha model..etc. Thinking about this and experimenting with new ideas, I don't realize how much time passed lol. The researchers at my team all seem to be the same type. If you want to exploit ur brainpower, creating some great alpha with ur imagination, I think you would like the work too.
I don't think learning opportunity, or quality of the learning you get in HF don't lag behind that of BB trading desk. TBH, although its only based on my experience, the learning curve is really uncomparable btw those 2 industries,,but that could be different for other ppl
If there is one reason I would choose BB trading, is that there is no non-compete period. Like you, I also wanted to go to Prop shops like Optiver, JSC, Citsec, but got dinged at every final round for those FT opportunities, so I had no choice but to get this Quant HF internship. Since I know what abilities are required now, for getting this offer, I'm getting the feeling that maybe if I study the maths needed for,,say remaining 9 month before reapplying? I could have a better chance of getting the offer at next recruiting season. But I'm sure all of those MMHF have at least 1 yr non-compete and realistically I can't apply for those prop shops again. In that case joining BB and reappling is the only realistic method. ofc this is a very risky movement to take lol. BUt if you really want to go to these props I think going to BB is much better choice.
(P.S) Not sure about the career progression for Macro PM, but aren't there many quant PM at the MM funds you mentioned? At my continent many of them just climbed the ladder, starting as alpha researcher under the PM, eventually being PM after 5~7 yrs. For me it doesn't really feel comfortable to go to certain industry just to exit to your dream goal after,,maybe around 7 years?, when you can just start at that industry right away. but again that's just a matter of personality.
Makes me want to apply for QR
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Obviously everyone is gonna tell you to take the QR offer and to be honest I don't disagree. I have some context with ur situation because I interned in snt and am at an ivy studying stem. Although I haven't had much exposure to QR, I think your thinking on the two jobs is pretty spot on. Just to add to your thinking a bit, I think the trader role at the BB is actually the more "risky" option as the variance in outcomes is much wider ten years down the road and the upper bound is contingent upon you successfully transitioning and building out a career on the buyside.
While if you do QR, people rarely become PMs in my observations and mostly bounced between places as researchers and make a high salary but you are already in a established buyside platform. But to be honest, there are also cases where buyside quants go to back to the sell side for more stability.
The potential convexity in the bb trader role may be higher as if you leave the sell side earlier on you have couple of years to reach seniority as a pm on the buyside and your payout will be many many multiples of your QR pay and I know of people who make like high seven figures ten years out or obviously you also have the default option of making director in the bank (I think a bit over a mil). Both based on the assumptions that trading is what you want to do for life and you are going to be good at it.
Last point, although ppl on this forum and ur friends might think the trading job is lower in prestige. There is no doubt that landing a trading job with a good product at a bb is very hard. Headcount in snt does not grow so each desk hires 1-2 ppl across sales/trading typically and it's not easy to make that cut or for spots to open up and much less for someone to get a product and role (trading) that is a good fit for them like in your case.
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