Quant Researcher/ Trader HFT Alpha

Firm Overview Meru Capitals & Investments Pvt. Ltd. is a Gurgaon-based proprietary quantitative trading firm that creates probabilistic mathematical models from historical data and runs 100% automated algorithms across Indian and US financial markets. Founded by a team with deep roots in investment banking, business operations , and proprietary algorithmic trading, Meru deploys a diversified book of directional, semi-directional, and non-directional strategies in equity, F&O, and cross-asset segments — all executed through an in-house engine that we own end-to-end. About Our Team The Alpha Research team at Meru is responsible for the full lifecycle of a strategy — from sourcing tick-level data and generating hypotheses, through signal construction, backtesting, and risk decomposition, to live deployment on our co-located, low-latency stack. We work hand-in-hand with the C++ infrastructure team that builds our exchange gateways, market-data adaptors, and execution engines, so research-to-production cycles are measured in days, not quarters. The team is small, deeply technical, and trades real capital on every signal it ships. Job Purpose / Background We are hiring a Quant Researcher to build and own alpha signals across Indian (NSE / BSE) and US (NYSE / NASDAQ / CME) markets, exploited through Meru's in-house low-latency HFT infrastructure. This is a hands-on role: you will go from raw tick data to a live, capital-allocated strategy yourself, with full support from the infra, execution, and risk teams. A successful candidate is intellectually relentless, comfortable in messy data, writes production-quality research code, and is excited about strategies whose half-life is measured in microseconds to hours — not days. Key Responsibilities Research, prototype, backtest, and deploy alpha signals in Indian and US equity / F&O / futures markets, operating at sub-millisecond to intraday horizonsMine tick-level orderbook, trade-print, and derivatives microstructure data for structural, microstructure, and cross-asset edgesDesign rigorous, leakage-free backtests with realistic latency, queue-position, and transaction-cost modelingCollaborate with the C++ infrastructure team to translate research signals into production strategies running on co-located, kernel-bypass (DPDK / ExaNIC) hardwareMonitor live PnL, decay, capacity, and risk of deployed strategies; iterate continuously on signal and executionBuild internal research tooling — feature stores, simulation environments, attribution, and risk decompositionPartner with the trading and risk teams to size positions, manage inventory, and tune order routing Skills / Qualifications 2+ years of relevant experience in quantitative research, systematic trading, or HFT alpha generation (proprietary trading firm, hedge fund, market-maker, or quant desk)Bachelor's, Master's in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, Electrical Engineering, or a related quantitative discipline from a top-tier institutionStrong programming in Python (numpy / pandas / pyarrow / numba) for research; ability to read and modify C++ in the production stack is a strong plusDemonstrated experience with tick-level / orderbook / microstructure data — not just daily barsSolid grounding in probability, statistics, and time-series analysis; comfortable with stationarity, regime detection, signal-to-noise tradeoffs Experience designing leakage-free backtests with realistic fill, latency, and cost modelsWorking knowledge of Indian (NSE / BSE) and / or US (NYSE / NASDAQ / CME) market microstructure — order types, auction mechanics, fee / rebate schedules Experience with derivatives — futures, options Greeks, IV surfaces, basis, calendar spreads — is a strong plusFamiliarity with low-latency systems concepts (kernel bypass, NIC timestamping, busy-spin, co-location) and a desire to push alpha closer to the wireStrong analytical and problem-solving skills, intellectual honesty, and attention to detailSelf-starter mentality with a high bias to action; able to drive a research question from idea to live capitalEffective written and verbal communicationWhat You Get Real capital, real markets, real PnL — every signal you ship is sized and tradedCo-located, kernel-bypass-ready infrastructure built in-house — no waiting on vendor SLAs or cloud queuesDirect access to founders, traders, and infra engineers — flat hierarchy, fast feedbackCompensation closely tied to the strategies you ship and the PnL they generateA research environment built by people who actually trade for a livingAbout Meru Capital Meru Capitals & Investments Pvt. Ltd. is a proprietary quantitative trading firm based in Gurgaon. We build probabilistic mathematical models from historical data and trade them via 100% automated algorithms across Indian and global markets. Our strategies include directional, semi-directional, and non-directional approaches, combining trend-following and mean-reversion in both equity and derivative segments. Every strategy is rigorously back-tested before it goes live, and every decision is taken by code — minimizing emotion, preserving discipline, and optimizing for consistency. To learn more, visit www.merucapitals.com. Meru Capital is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We evaluate qualified applicants on merit alone, without regard to background, identity, or any other protected attribute.