Quant Researcher Commodities MFT

Position: Quantitative Researcher – Commodities, MFT (Neo Markets)

Summary:

As a Quantitative Researcher on our Medium-Frequency Trading (MFT) desk, you will be responsible for researching, developing and deploying systematic trading strategies in commodity futures and options, with a primary focus on MCX. The ideal candidate combines strong statistical and Python skills with a solid understanding of commodity market dynamics and will work closely with traders and developers to take ideas from research to live trading.

Job Responsibilities:

The position holder shall be responsible for:

• Research, develop and implement systematic mid-frequency trading strategies in commodity futures and options, with a primary focus on MCX energy, base metals and bullion contracts
• Conduct alpha signal research using statistical techniques, time-series analysis and machine learning across intraday to multi-day horizons
• Model commodity-specific drivers such as term structure, calendar and inter-commodity spreads, rollover dynamics, seasonality, inventory and macro data releases
• Analyse the relationship between MCX contracts and international benchmarks (CME/NYMEX, COMEX, LME), including the impact of USD-INR movements, to identify trading opportunities
• Build predictive models for price movement, volatility and liquidity, and develop volatility and pricing models for commodity options
• Work with large-scale structured and unstructured datasets (tick, bar and order book data, along with fundamental and alternative data), ensuring data quality and integrity
• Design robust backtesting frameworks in Python with realistic assumptions for transaction costs, slippage, liquidity, contract rollovers and exchange-specific constraints such as trading hours, daily price ranges and margins
• Evaluate strategy performance using metrics such as Sharpe ratio, Calmar ratio, drawdown, hit rate, turnover and PnL attribution, and conduct parameter optimization, robustness checks and stress testing
• Collaborate with traders and developers to take strategies from research into production
• Monitor live strategies, analyse realised versus expected performance, and refine models based on live feedback
• Manage strategy-level risk, including position sizing, capacity analysis and portfolio construction across commodities

Knowledge, Competency and Skills requirement:

• Bachelor’s / Master’s / PhD in Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Physics, Engineering, Economics or a related quantitative field
• 3 years of experience in quantitative research or systematic trading is preferred
• Strong programming skills in Python (mandatory), with experience in NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, statsmodels and scikit-learn
• Familiarity with version control (Git)
• Experience handling and processing large time-series datasets; working knowledge of SQL
• Solid understanding of probability and statistics, linear algebra, optimization and time-series analysis
• Good understanding of futures and options, including term structure, basis, rollovers, option pricing and Greeks
• Passion for financial markets, particularly commodities
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to adapt to a dynamic work environment and show exceptional prowess at managing large impact situations
• Keen to learn, hungry for growth
• Flexibility to work independently and as a part of the team

Preferred Skills:

• Experience researching and trading commodities, particularly on MCX
• Exposure to international commodity markets (CME/NYMEX, COMEX, LME) and their linkages with domestic prices
• Prior experience at a proprietary trading firm, hedge fund or systematic trading desk running MFT strategies
• Experience running trading strategies in production with PnL responsibility
• Experience with commodity options and volatility trading
• Participation in competitive programming / Kaggle / quant competitions