What are the responsibilities and job description for the PhD Sourcing Specialist position at IMC Trading?
As a PhD Sourcing Specialist, you will be focused on mapping the research talent landscape, building relationships with academics before they enter the job market, creating programs that strengthen IMC’s presence in research communities, assessing candidates against our technical and cultural standards, and partnering with recruiters by delivering strong pipelines.
Your Core Responsibilities
Talent Landscape & Market Intelligence
The Base Salary range for the role is included below. Base salary is only one component of total compensation; all full-time, permanent positions are eligible for a discretionary bonus and benefits, including paid leave and insurance. Please visit Benefits - US | IMC Trading for more comprehensive information.
Salary Range
$100,000 - $150,000 USD
About Us
IMC is a global trading firm powered by a cutting-edge research environment and a world-class technology backbone. Since 1989, we’ve been a stabilizing force in financial markets, providing essential liquidity upon which market participants depend. Across our offices in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific, and India, our talented quant researchers, engineers, traders, and business operations professionals are united by our uniquely collaborative, high-performance culture, and our commitment to giving back. From entering dynamic new markets to embracing disruptive technologies, and from developing an innovative research environment to diversifying our trading strategies, we dare to continuously innovate and collaborate to succeed.
Your Core Responsibilities
Talent Landscape & Market Intelligence
- Map the PhD and postdoc talent landscape across the technical disciplines relevant to IMC's business — understanding which programs, labs, and research communities are producing the talent that matters to us
- Track competitive hiring trends, fellowship programs, and academic community dynamics to keep IMC's strategy current and proactive
- Serve as an internal expert on the research talent market, regularly sharing insights with recruiting leadership and business stakeholders
- Develop and maintain relationships with faculty advisors, lab leads, and student researchers at target institutions — building IMC's presence and credibility in academic communities over time
- Represent IMC at key academic conferences and research events (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, and others) with a candidate-facing focus: building connections, identifying talent, and deepening relationships — not managing logistics
- Partner with our APAC and European recruiting teams on shared talent pools, ensuring a coordinated global approach to PhD-level attraction
- Own IMC's PhD-focused programs end-to-end: our PhD Fellowship, conference travel grants, and lab partnership initiatives — from strategy and design through execution and iteration
- Identify gaps in our current PhD engagement approach and develop new initiatives that strengthen our position with research communities
- Build and maintain a strong alumni and fellow network, cultivating ongoing relationships that generate referrals, advocacy, and re-engagement over time
- Source and pipeline PhD candidates across IMC's technical hiring areas, partnering with teams across the business as PhD recruitment continues to grow in scope and demand
- Develop and execute creative outreach strategies — direct engagement, conference follow-up, research community participation — to identify high-potential candidates at all career stages: PhD students, postdocs, and selectively, experienced researchers
- Hand off qualified, engaged candidates to recruiters with context, relationships, and momentum already built
- Bachelor’s degree; 4–7 years of experience in university recruiting, talent strategy, research partnerships, or academic engagement programs, ideally within a technical, quantitative, or research-driven environment
- Strong understanding of AI/ML research ecosystems, leading research labs, academic conferences, and influential advisors
- Demonstrated ability to build authentic, long-term relationships within academic and research communities
- Experience identifying and engaging talent through channels such as arXiv, Hugging Face, GitHub, Discord, Twitter/X, and other research and developer communities
- Proven ability to develop and execute sourcing programs or strategic initiatives using data, feedback, and market insights
- Collaborative approach with experience partnering closely with recruiters, hiring managers, and regional stakeholders in fast-paced environments
- Strong communication, organizational, and stakeholder management skills, with a high degree of ownership and sound judgment
The Base Salary range for the role is included below. Base salary is only one component of total compensation; all full-time, permanent positions are eligible for a discretionary bonus and benefits, including paid leave and insurance. Please visit Benefits - US | IMC Trading for more comprehensive information.
Salary Range
$100,000 - $150,000 USD
About Us
IMC is a global trading firm powered by a cutting-edge research environment and a world-class technology backbone. Since 1989, we’ve been a stabilizing force in financial markets, providing essential liquidity upon which market participants depend. Across our offices in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific, and India, our talented quant researchers, engineers, traders, and business operations professionals are united by our uniquely collaborative, high-performance culture, and our commitment to giving back. From entering dynamic new markets to embracing disruptive technologies, and from developing an innovative research environment to diversifying our trading strategies, we dare to continuously innovate and collaborate to succeed.
Salary : $100,000 - $150,000