Bayes Group

For Firms

We find the people other firms can't reach

Retained executive search and talent acquisition for hedge funds, market makers, and trading firms. Deep networks across New York, Hong Kong, Dubai, and beyond — built over a decade of senior market engagement.

Retained executive search for a hedge fund is an exclusive engagement in which a specialist firm maps the full population of relevant senior talent, approaches it confidentially, and is accountable for completing the search rather than for forwarding CVs.

At the senior layer, hiring is an access problem rather than a volume problem. The people who run books do not answer postings, and the credible pool for a given seat is usually counted in dozens. Bayes Group works only at that layer, retained and confidential by default, with dozens of confirmed senior placements across the US, APAC, the Gulf, and Europe. If you are comparing firms first, the ranked comparison of the specialist field and the seven criteria for choosing one are the places to start, including on us.

Roles We Place

Senior Portfolio Manager

Multi-strategy pods, long/short, macro, quant equity, relative value, and multi-asset strategies.

Head of Quant Research

Strategy development, alpha research, and ML/AI research leadership.

Head of Trading

Execution trading, market making, algorithmic trading infrastructure.

Quant / ML Developer

Production quant systems, execution infrastructure, research platform development.

Quant Researcher

Alpha generation, factor research, signal development, and strategy research across quant and multi-strategy funds.

Options Trader

Indices (HSI, Kospi, Nikkei, etc.), futures, FX, and delta-one trading & research at market makers and HFs.

Volatility Trader

Vol surface modelling, relative value vol, variance trading, and exotic derivatives at hedge funds and structured products desks.

The Process

01

Discovery

We invest significant time understanding your strategy, culture, and requirements. We do not begin a search until we can represent you accurately to the market.

02

Mapping

We map the relevant population of specialists globally — drawing on our network across New York, Hong Kong, Dubai, London, and Singapore, as well as our proprietary candidate database.

03

Shortlist

We present a concise shortlist of candidates who meet your requirements. Every candidate on the list has been assessed for fit, not just availability.

04

Closing

We manage the process through offer and acceptance — including compensation benchmarking, negotiation support, and transition planning.

What a Retained Search Includes

A retained partnership carries its own intelligence layer. Three named instruments ship with the work rather than being sold beside it.

Senior Coverage Maps

A live map of who runs which book in your lane: how it is funded, what it pays, and what would actually move the people you want. Rebuilt per mandate, not pulled from a database.

Comp Benchmarks

Band-by-seat compensation context for the seat you are filling, so the offer lands right the first time and the negotiation holds no surprises.

Competitive Hiring Watch

Who else is building in your lane while your search runs — so a shortlist decision is made with the market visible, not from a standing start.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does retained executive search work for a hedge fund?

Retained executive search for a hedge fund is an exclusive engagement in which a specialist firm maps the full population of relevant senior talent, approaches it confidentially, and is accountable for completing the search rather than for forwarding CVs. In practice the work runs in four stages: discovery of the strategy and the seat, a full mapping of the relevant talent population, a calibrated shortlist assessed for fit rather than availability, and managed closing through offer, negotiation, and transition. Profiles travel anonymized first; candidates are named once terms are agreed in writing.

What does it cost to engage an executive search firm for a senior quant hire?

Senior seats are engaged retained or exclusive, and fee terms are agreed in a one-page terms letter before any named introduction is made. That order matters: the candidate's name is the product, and a firm that releases names before paper is not protecting either side. Better-supplied mid-level seats can suit contingent structures; the honest answer for a book-running seat is that the search is an access problem, and access is what the retainer buys.

How do you support talent acquisition for a newly launched or startup hedge fund?

A new fund's first hires set its ceiling, and the sequencing matters as much as the names: which seats to fill first, what each must cost, and which compromises are recoverable. Bayes Group runs first-build mandates for newly funded managers and publishes its thinking on the sequencing problem openly in the Insights archive, so a founding team can inspect the reasoning before engaging anyone.

Can a senior search run confidentially?

Confidentiality is the default, not a premium tier. Searches run without postings, profiles circulate anonymized first, candidate names are released only under agreed terms, and CVs are never broadcast. The same discipline protects the hiring firm: a mandate's existence is itself market information, and it is treated that way.

What is the difference between a hedge fund recruitment agency and a retained executive search firm?

The layer and the economics. A recruitment agency is paid per placement from a flow of active applicants, which works well for better-supplied mid-level seats. A retained executive search firm is paid for the search itself and covers the senior layer that never applies to anything: book-running portfolio managers, heads of trading, and senior researchers who move through quiet conversations that begin long before a seat is filled. For those seats, the network is the product.

Related Practices

Discuss a mandate

We work with a small number of firms at any given time. Initial conversations are confidential and carry no obligation.

Discuss a Search →