Quantitative asset manager
AQR interview guide
Research interviews are reported to cover finance theory, factor models and regression as much as probability, with Python for data work.
Quant researcherPortfolio analyst
How the process usually runs
- 1
- 2
Technical interviews
Regression, factor models and portfolio construction, asked through examples.
Practise: Regression lessons
- 3
Final round
Research discussion and how you would test whether a signal is real.
Practise: Signal research lessons
What to revise
Weighted most heavily in reports: regression, factor models, finance theory. The topics below are where the 113 questions in the bank reported at AQR come from.
Questions reported at AQR
- You have 100 observations and a standard error of 0.4.Free solution
- A stock has 30% volatility, the index 15%, and their correlation is 0.6.Free solution
- You regress one stock’s price on another’s and get R² = 0.95 with a t-statistic of 40.Free solution
- A signal has an information coefficient of 0.05 and you make 400 independent bets a year.Free solution
- Your information coefficient is fixed and you want to double your information ratio.Free solution
- Why does an interviewer ask for a baseline before you describe your model?Free solution
- Two strategies each have a Sharpe ratio of 1 and the same volatility, and their…Applied
- You observe 8 successes in 20 trials.Foundation
- A strategy averaged 0.05% a day with a daily standard deviation of 1% over 252 days.Foundation
- You test 50 signals and want the family-wise error rate at 5%.Foundation
A summary of what candidates publicly report, not information from AQR. Processes change by year, role and office. QuantMax is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or recruiting for AQR.