We build robust, fully-automated technology to predict and trade all liquid electronic financial markets. We are market neutral and trade securities globally, taking both long and short positions, based on predictions made by statistical models fed by market and other data. Our goal over the next few years is to trade all liquid electronically tradable products. This is what we do, but it’s not who we are, and it’s not our purpose for existing.
We exist to put People First and Innovate Together.
We originally started our business because we wanted to work on really interesting problems with people that we enjoyed spending time with. We have worked hard to build an environment where evolution is constant, we’re always moving forwards, people like working together and we all look out for one another. We’re committed to slowly building and nourishing a strong culture that promotes learning, creativity, kindness, and mutual trust and respect. We know that talented individuals can contribute a lot, but we believe that when they collaborate and innovate together, the results compound. These beliefs are as true today as they were when we started the business in 2010.
Grey suits, long hours, legacy systems…..think you know finance? Think again
Our Guiding Principles influence the decisions that we make and how we think about our work. These Principles act as our anchors - they remind us of what’s important.
People are at the heart of our business, and we do all we can to create a culture people both enjoy being a part of, and where they can flourish and grow.
Many businesses consider this to mean maximising short-term profits. We don’t mean that - we focus on opportunities that support the long term growth, health and success of our business. Reliable, sustainable revenue is more important to us than short-term gains.
Automating what we can frees up our time to work on new and innovative projects, so we like developing tools that optimise everyone’s workflow. Whilst we can’t automate everything, and sometimes there are trade-offs that mean we need to prioritise where our efforts go, we highly value this work and make room for it wherever possible.
We aim for quality and scalability in everything we do, not just in tech. We’re pragmatic, but we don’t just hack things together - we build things to last and sweat the details.
Our Values provide the foundation upon which our business is built. They support our vision, shape our culture and reflect the personality of our people. They are the behavioural traits that are inherent in our business - the traits that are special to us, critical to our success and must be kept at all costs. We created these values to describe what was important to us, but you can also look at them through another lens and see them as opposites of the things we try to avoid.
We’re friendly, considerate people that treat others well. We look after and are generous with one another, offering others help when they might need it. We’re honest, act with integrity and treat others with respect. We are fair and compassionate with people, which might mean saying something a little difficult sometimes - like giving honest feedback - but we do this because we want to help others. We understand that acting in this way means that trusting relationships can be built, and it makes a collaborative, supportive environment easier to achieve.
We acknowledge our limitations, accept help and are comfortable saying ‘I don’t know’. Businesses can unfortunately be environments where egos thrive, but we try to avoid that here. We instead assume the position of learner - we like to learn from those around us and we don’t act like we’re the smartest person in the room. We are honest about what we can’t do, and humble about what we can do. When we’re given advice, we receive it gratefully. We treat people who know less than we do with respect and patience. We share the success for team accomplishments and we don’t place blame.
We’re passionate about the business, care deeply about its health and success, and treat it as our own. We apply pragmatism to our thinking and are focused on getting the results that are right for the health and long term success of our business. We do whatever the business needs us to do, such as taking risks with new ideas, putting the food delivery away, or rolling up our sleeves to help out a different part of the business. We’re always on the lookout for ways to improve how we do things, and see incremental improvement as critical for meaningful long term growth. We understand that failure is not only learning, it’s essential for innovation, so we don’t try to make things ‘perfect’ before they’re ready. We take a broad business view, work hard to understand the wider business landscape and consider the consequences of today's decisions.
The key to success isn’t just the work itself, it’s the way in which people collaborate in order to do the work. We’re happy to work closely with others to share ideas, share tasks, share success and share failures. We are all one team working towards the same goals, not lots of small teams working independently. We spend time mentoring and supporting those around us, seek input from others, are open to feedback and we ask for help. When we spot something that needs improvement, we mention it, even if it’s unrelated to our work. We blend our Quant and Developer roles together for this reason - we want ideas to flow naturally. We understand that having a collaborative environment means more ideas, better problem solving, more learning and better relationships. Put simply: we achieve more together than we do on our own.
We don’t expect the people who join us to be experts in or have existing knowledge of our industry; we care more about curiosity, attitude and mindset. You’ll be encouraged to try new things, experiment and share ideas. We take a flexible approach to how we work, which means that you’ll be able to work on different projects, interact with different areas and learn from different people.
We Put People First and Innovate Together - this is our purpose and reason for existing. We originally started the business in 2010 because we wanted to work on interesting problems with talented people that we enjoyed spending time with. We are proud of our friendly, open and diverse culture, where collaboration, mentoring and entrepreneurial thinking play a big role in our success.
QCF was launched in 2019, committing a portion of annual profits to fighting the climate emergency. QCF’s mission is to urgently shift the current global climate trajectory towards a better future through philanthropic giving and persuasion of others to join in the effort. The next decade will define the future of humanity, and the Foundation aims to support a wave of initiatives that will have near-term impacts and lead to long-term, scalable, positive systems change.