If Quantitative Developers look like the heart of everything that goes on in the Front Office (according to the following slide, that is), there is a good reason for it. This series is written from the perspective of Quantitative Development. After all, the series, the talk, and the book are all titled “Principles of Quantitative Development.” From that vantage point, sure, we are at the center of the universe.
To be fair, in structured products trading, quantitative development and quantitative mathematics play a crucial role. As we will see in later posts, almost all the aspects of trade lifecycle management are mediated by the end product of these quantitative professionals, which is the trading platform. Crucially, the trading platform defines the interface between Front Office and Middle Office. Within Front Office, quantitative developers act as the conduit of integrating the pricing models developed by quants into the platform, thereby making them accessible for profit making by trading desks. Because of this buffering role that the quantitative developers play, they have to field almost all of the support requests from trading desks and sales personnel in Front Office, as well as from anyone who uses the trading platform.
In the corporate organization, quantitative developers may find themselves under the information technology department, supporting the trading platform from afar. From a career perspective, this organization is less than ideal for them because IT is a cost center, not a profit generator and the compensation and remuneration schemes reflect that fact. Besides, IT tends to be considered as being outside the core business of the bank. Far better for them would be to find themselves embedded within the Front Office setting, where the quantitative developers can offer direct support to the stakeholders from within and enjoy the prominence and prestige that comes with the critical role of managing the vital in-house trading platform.