Credit Automated Trading Strat / Quant Researcher - Fixed Income - Vice President

Job Description

The Credit Automated Trading team builds the models, systems and AI-driven tools that underpin our highly successful automated trading business. This business covers a range of global products from corporate bonds and portfolio trades to fixed income ETFs and credit futures. We are looking for a researcher to work with us at the frontier of algorithmic credit trading, developing new ways to manage risk, predict liquidity, and trade at scale.

As a strategist on the team, you will do far more than research in isolation. You will design, develop, and deploy automated trading solutions. You will work closely with traders and technology partners, contribute directly to desk performance, and take ideas from concept to production. You will have access to a set of leading AI tools to assist you in your pursuit of ever better models. Research is essential, but delivery is what defines success.

We are looking for someone creative, driven, and self-directed. This means taking ownership, challenging assumptions, and pushing ideas until they are fully implemented. We value people who are practical about using AI and modern tools to move faster and make better decisions. Success is measured by improvements in model performance, pricing accuracy, and impact on trading outcomes. If you enjoy solving hard modelling problems, working with imperfect data, and seeing your work deployed, you will feel at home.

Responsibilities

• Use modern analytical tools and LLMs to improve models, speed up development, and idea generation across the desk.
• Develop and improve real-time pricing models for tens of thousands of corporate and sovereign bonds with limited and noisy input of market data.
• Identify patterns and factors driving trading flow, liquidity and market behavior and translate them into actionable signals.
• Own initiatives across the full lifecycle of electronic trading from research, modelling and back-testing to deployment and continuous performance improvement.
• Partner closely with bookrunners, strats and technology to deliver solutions.
• Enhance our back-testing and research framework to accelerate idea generation.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years of experience in a quantitative role.
• Advanced degree (PhD, Master or equivalent) in quantitative fields such as math, statistics.
• Experience applying modern technologies, including AI, to solve quantitative and modelling problems.
• Solid understanding of probability, statistics, machine learning, and optimization.
• Proficiency in Python. Familiarity with Q/Kdb+, Scala or Java is beneficial.
• Basic understanding of financial markets. Knowledge of fixed income is preferred.
• Able to explain a model to a trader, defend it to validators, and discuss implementation details with technology.
• Comfortable working independently while managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Self-motivation, rigor, and tenacity.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients – helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated – and we’ve done that for 90 years. Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry.