Can't choose between QIS vs MO quant

[antonchigurh]

Hi everyone,

Recently I have been brought to take a decision between two offers I received and since I lack experience, I think that someone with hindsight would really help me.
The first offer is from the bank where I'm pursuing my internship, within the same team, I will be working on QIS rates structuring team which is a great thing but with my mathematical finance and programming background I found thins internship to be boring from time to time, since we don't use any advanced modelling or mathematical methods to solve problems, we rather follow a heuristic and financial approach. The second offer I got is from a French bank in their MO where I'll be working on validating equity models, from the interviews I understood that it's much more quantitative, I'll be dealing with a variety of models which is important I think for an early career.
I personally feel like the second job is more adequate with what I'm willing to do, but I think that the first job clearly flashier on a resume, and the gross salary is 25,000 £ greater than for the second, so this makes the decision more complicated.

I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me about either positions requirements, intellectual stimulation and career perspectives later, and also whether it is time for me to consider wage as a criteria, since it is my first job.

Thank you in advance for help.

 

[throll]

Go for the QIS role and you should be able to move laterally to the FO quants team in 1y or 2 (if you have the right background, most importantly know how to code). Model valiation is not a rewarding job despite it being technical and working on models, most people do it because they have to and getting out of risk to FO while possible is not easy.

 

[seamusfinnegan]

Surely model validation is close to FO desk quant work? Why is it hard to move out of risk? Are you including MV in risk?

 

[antonchigurh]

Surely model validation is close to FO desk quant work? Why is it hard to move out of risk? Are you including MV in risk?

I thought that MV is part of risk department isn't it ?

 

[CrossGamma]

Surely model validation is close to FO desk quant work? Why is it hard to move out of risk? Are you including MV in risk?

It's quite different actually. As a front office model quant you develop models, as a mid office model validation quant you check and re-implement models built by the front office. It generally requires similar hard skills but the work itself as well as the value perception are quite different. As a front office quant you are more actively adding value, are close to revenue generation and have generally more pressure. I did see some mobility between model validation and front office but not a lot. It is harder to get hired for front office roles in the first place which makes switching into it a bit harder having started somewhere else. It's also more difficult to stand out in a more passive role like model validation.

To answer OPs question - I would definitely go for the QIS role.