We use analytics and advertising cookies to understand how the site is used and whether our ads on Facebook and Instagram work. They are set only if you accept. See our Privacy Policy for details.
Flat org, no formal levels; Core Developer tenure bands shown. No equity - base + profit-pool bonus. New-grad offers rival Jane Street.
Ranges aggregated from publicly-available sources. Treat the median (p50) as roughly representative; quartile bands reflect negotiation range. Have specific data points or corrections? Send them in.
HRT is an automated trading firm of roughly 1,000 people with a famously flat structure - there are no formal levels, so the bands here are tenure-inferred. Engineers are 'Core Developers' (systems C++ generalists) or 'Algo Developers' (research-adjacent, on a separate quant ladder not shown). There is no equity: comp is base plus a profit-pool bonus tied to firm performance, so year-to-year variance is large in both directions. The near-zero equityAnnual bands reflect occasional deferred-bonus arrangements at senior tenure, not stock.
| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $200K | $225K | $250K | $275K |
| Equity (annualized) | $0 | $2K | $5K | $10K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $175K | $250K | $350K | $475K |
| Total comp | $375K | $475K | $605K | $760K |
Among the highest new-grad offers anywhere, rivaling Jane Street. HRT calls generalist engineers 'Core Developers' - the bar is systems-level C++ and the interview leans hard on OS, networking, and performance.
| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $240K | $265K | $290K | $315K |
| Equity (annualized) | $0 | $5K | $10K | $20K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $300K | $450K | $675K | $975K |
| Total comp | $540K | $720K | $975K | $1.31M |
Mid-level. Bonus is a percentage-of-pool model tied to firm performance; strong firm years move everyone's number materially.
| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $280K | $310K | $340K | $375K |
| Equity (annualized) | $0 | $5K | $15K | $30K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $500K | $775K | $1.18M | $1.75M |
| Total comp | $780K | $1.09M | $1.53M | $2.15M |
Senior IC. HRT is flat - no formal levels - so 'senior' here is tenure- and impact-inferred. Engineers on the live trading path out-earn research-tooling peers.
| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $320K | $350K | $385K | $425K |
| Equity (annualized) | $0 | $10K | $25K | $50K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $800K | $1.25M | $1.95M | $3M |
| Total comp | $1.12M | $1.61M | $2.36M | $3.48M |
Staff-equivalent. Effectively profit-pool participation. External hires at this tenure are rare and individually negotiated.
Cross-referenced against public reporting, state pay-transparency postings, and triangulated where source ranges disagreed. Last refresh: June 2026.
Knowing the numbers is half the work. The salary coach helps you practice counter-offers, the "what are your expectations" response, and the negotiation conversation script.
Practice with the salary coach →Get one interview question, one comp insight, and one job-market signal each week - free.
Free forever. Unsubscribe anytime.