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Trading & Quantitative Finance
Proprietary trading, HFT, market making, systematic strategies, portfolio management, quantitative research, trading technology, and desk leadership.
Executive Search · Established 1999
Critical hires change the trajectory.
Ancilla is a boutique executive search firm for markets where talent is scarce, performance is measurable, and the strongest candidates are rarely looking.
Where we go deep
Specialist markets require specialist judgment.
We focus where the talent pool is narrow, information matters, and the difference between a strong résumé and a high-impact hire lives in the details.
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Technology & AI
Engineering, artificial intelligence, data, infrastructure, product, and technical leadership where technology is central to performance.
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Energy
Trading, quantitative, commercial, and leadership talent across energy and commodities markets.
How we assess
Titles tell very little.
For senior trading and quantitative hires, relevance lives in the details. We assess what determines whether performance is real, transferable, and worth pursuing.
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P&L
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Capital & Risk
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Drawdown
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Sharpe
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Strategy
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Holding Period
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Products & Markets
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Infrastructure
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Team Dependency
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Restrictions
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Compensation
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Portability
We know what to ask before we know who to call.
That market fluency sharpens the search, improves candidate conversations, filters false positives earlier, and gives clients better information before consequential decisions are made.
How we search
Know the market before you search it.
Our process starts with the outcome. We define what success looks like, map the relevant market, engage the right people, assess what matters, and stay close through the close.
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Define
What must this person build, change, or deliver?
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Map
Which firms, teams, and people have demonstrated that capability?
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Engage
Reach the relevant people directly, including those who are not actively looking.
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Assess
Understand performance, capability, motivation, fit, compensation, and constraints.
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Close
Stay close through interviews, competing offers, negotiation, restrictions, and start date.
Search intelligence narrows the market. Judgment decides who matters.
Representative mandates
Built for difficult searches.
Many assignments are confidential. These represent the kinds of specialist mandates where Ancilla’s market depth and direct approach are most valuable.
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Senior Futures Trader / Desk Lead
Trading
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Systematic Portfolio Manager
Quantitative
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Quantitative Researcher
Research
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Energy Trader
Energy
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Trading Technology Leader
Technology
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Search solutions
The right search model for the mandate.
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Executive Search
Focused search for a critical individual hire, with senior attention from market definition through close.
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Dedicated Search
A closer recruiting partnership for multiple hires, team buildouts, or recurring specialist talent needs.
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Market Mapping
Understand the relevant firms, teams, people, and talent landscape before or alongside an active search.
Why Ancilla
Boutique structure. Senior accountability.
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Senior-led
Experienced search leadership stays close to the mandate from first brief through final close.
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Specialist
We focus on markets where context, technical understanding, and credibility materially affect the search.
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Direct
We engage the relevant market, including high-performing professionals who are not actively looking.
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Discreet
Confidentiality, judgment, and disciplined communication are built into the process from the outset.
Since 1999.
The model has evolved. The principle has not: understand the need, know the market, find the right person.
Start a conversation
Have a search that matters?
Tell us what you are trying to build. We will help you understand the market, pressure-test the brief, and determine the most effective search strategy.