About xAI

xAI’s mission is to create AI systems that can accurately understand the universe and aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. Our team is small, highly motivated, and focused on engineering excellence. This organization is for individuals who appreciate challenging themselves and thrive on curiosity. We operate with a flat organizational structure. All employees are expected to be hands-on and to contribute directly to the company’s mission. Leadership is given to those who show initiative and consistently deliver excellence. Work ethic and strong prioritization skills are important. All employees are expected to have strong communication skills. They should be able to concisely and accurately share knowledge with their teammates.

About the Role

As a Quantitative Finance Expert, you will be instrumental in enhancing the capabilities of our cutting-edge technologies by providing high-quality input and labels using specialized software. Your role involves collaborating closely with our technical team to support the training of new AI tasks, ensuring the implementation of innovative initiatives. You'll contribute to refining annotation tools and selecting complex problems from advanced quantitative finance domains, with a focus on algorithmic investment strategies where your expertise can drive significant improvements in model performance.

This position demands a dynamic approach to learning and adapting in a fast-paced environment, where your ability to interpret and execute tasks based on evolving instructions is crucial.

Quantitative Finance Expert’s Role in Advancing xAI’s Mission

As a Quantitative Finance Expert, you will play an essential role in advancing xAI's mission by supporting the training and refinement of xAI’s AI models. Quantitative Finance Experts teach our AI models about how people interact and react, as well as how people approach issues and discussions in quantitative finance. To accomplish this, Quantitative Finance Experts will actively participate in gathering or providing data, such as text, voice, and video data, sometimes providing annotations, recording audio, or participating in video sessions. We seek individuals who are comfortable and eager to engage in these activities as a fundamental part of the role, ensuring a strong alignment with xAI’s goals and objectives to innovate.

Scope

A Quantitative Finance Expert will provide services that include labeling and annotating data in text, voice, and video formats to support AI model training. At times, this may involve recording audio or video sessions, and experts are expected to be comfortable with these tasks as they are fundamental to the role. Such data is a job requirement to advance xAI’s mission, and Quantitative Finance Experts acknowledge that all work is done for hire and owned by xAI.

Responsibilities

• Use proprietary software applications to provide input/labels on defined projects.

• Support and ensure the delivery of high-quality curated data.

• Play a pivotal role in supporting and contributing to the training of new tasks, working closely with the technical staff to ensure the successful development and implementation of cutting-edge initiatives/technologies.

• Interact with the technical staff to help improve the design of efficient annotation tools.

• Choose problems from quantitative finance fields that align with your expertise, focusing on areas like portfolio optimization, derivatives pricing, or high-frequency trading backtests, providing rigorous solutions and model critiques where you can confidently provide detailed solutions and evaluate model responses.

• Regularly interpret, analyze, and execute tasks based on given instructions.

Key Qualifications

• Must possess a Master's or PhD in a quantitative finance-related field (Quantitative Finance, Financial Engineering, Financial Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Economics with quantitative focus, or related disciplines) or equivalent professional experience as a quantitative trader or analyst.

• Proficiency in reading and writing, both in informal and professional English.

• Strong ability to navigate various financial information resources, databases, and online resources (e.g., Bloomberg, Reuters, SEC filings).

• Outstanding communication, interpersonal, analytical, and organizational capabilities.

• Solid reading comprehension skills combined with the capacity to exercise autonomous judgment even when presented with limited data/material.

• Strong passion for and commitment to technological advancements and innovation in quantitative finance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional experience as a quantitative trader or analyst.

• Possesses experience with at least one publication in a reputable finance or economics journal or outlet.

• Teaching experience as a professor

• Familiarity with Python/R for financial scripting or ML libraries (e.g., Quant Lib)

• FRM (Financial Risk Manager)

• CQF (Certificate in Quantitative Finance)

• PRM (Professional Risk Manager)

• CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst)

• CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst)

Location & Other Expectations

• This position is based in Palo Alto, CA, or fully remote.

• The Palo Alto option is an in-office role requiring 5 days per week; remote positions require strong self-motivation.

• If you are based in the US, please note we are unable to hire in the states of Wyoming and Illinois at this time.

• We are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

• Team members are expected to work from 9:00am - 5:30pm PST for the first two weeks of training and 9:00am - 5:30pm in their own timezone thereafter.

• For those who will be working from a personal device, please note your computer must be a Chromebook, Mac with MacOS 11.0 or later, or Windows 10 or later.

Compensation

$45 - $100 per hour

The posted pay range is intended for U.S.-based candidates and depends on factors including relevant experience, skills, education, geographic location, and qualifications. For international candidates, our recruiting team can provide an estimated pay range for your location.

Benefits:

Hourly pay is just one part of our total rewards package at xAI. Specific benefits vary by country, depending on your country of residence you may have access to medical benefits. We do not offer benefits for part-time roles.

*xAI is an equal opportunity employer. For details on data processing, view our *Recruitment Privacy Notice.