Lead Quantitative Researcher

Who we are

New Frontier is an investment technology firm known for converting rigorous research into practical portfolio solutions for advisors and institutions. Our patented Michaud Optimization™ process and Intelligent Rebalancing™ power market-adaptive, risk-managed ETF portfolios, supported by continuous research, robust analytics, and disciplined implementation.

The opportunity

We’re adding a Lead Quantitative Researcher to help advance the intellectual foundations and day-to-day implementation of our investment process. You’ll design research, code it, test it, publish it – and see it in production portfolios used by sophisticated clients.

What you’ll do

Applied research & portfolio innovation

• Develop research that strengthens portfolio construction, risk modeling, and asset allocation – especially under estimation uncertainty.
• Turn theory into practice: prototype and validate models on real market and ETF data.
• Advance multi-asset investing (equity, fixed income, alternative assets) with attention to long‑horizon, tax-aware, and retirement contexts.
• Contribute to capital‑market assumptions frameworks and robust estimation methods.

Optimization & analytics engineering

• Build and maintain research code, libraries, and experiment pipelines (Python, R, or MATLAB), emphasizing reproducibility, unit testing, and peer-review.
• Improve algorithms for optimization, statistical estimation, and signal stability.
• Partner with data engineering on dataset curation.

Investment process & governance

• Participate in Investment Committee discussions, frame trade-offs clearly with evidence, risk metrics, and client outcomes in mind.
• Translate research into portfolio guidelines, monitoring rules, and rebalancing/implementation.

Thought leadership & communication

• Co-author peer-reviewed and white papers, research notes, and practitioner pieces; present internally and at external forums.

What you bring

• PhD (or ABD close to completion) in Finance, Economics, Financial Engineering, Applied Math, Statistics, or related field; exceptional master’s candidates with strong publication or industry impact considered.
• 5 years of applied research or investment industry experience.
• Programming: Proficient in Python, R, or MATLAB
• Quant toolkit: Portfolio theory and optimization, time‑series/statistical modeling, robust/Bayesian estimation, simulation/bootstrapping/Monte Carlo, and risk modeling.
• Domain fluency: Multi-asset and ETF analytics; after-tax and constraints-aware portfolio construction; transaction‑cost and rebalancing frameworks.
• Communication: Clear writer and presenter; able to explain complex quantitative ideas to both academics and practitioners.
• Mindset: Team-oriented, intellectually curious, pragmatic, and fiduciary-minded; you enjoy owning problems end‑to‑end.

Nice to have

• Experience with household/goal-based optimization, retirement glide paths, liability-aware or draw-down-aware design.
• Exposure to factor/risk‑model integration, scenario design, and regime‑switching or macro-linked estimation.
• Familiarity with productionized research workflows.
• Publication record (peer-reviewed journals) or evidence of impactful practitioner research.

Why join New Frontier

• Work at the frontier: Contribute to a patented optimization and rebalancing platform used in live portfolios for sophisticated clients.
• Impact and visibility: Small, senior team where your research can ship quickly and be read by advisors, CIOs, and the broader investment community.
• Research culture: Collegial, rigorous, and collaborative—publish, present, and keep learning.
• Growth: Direct exposure to the Investment Committee and leadership; opportunities to mentor and to lead initiatives.
• Rewards: Competitive compensation (base performance bonus) and comprehensive benefits; professional development support.

What success looks like (first 12 months)

• Ship at least one research enhancement into production portfolios (e.g., estimation, optimization, or rebalancing improvement).
• Co-author several client-facing research notes or white papers: present findings to the Investment Committee and advisor audiences.
• Publish a peer-reviewed paper.
• Raise the bar on research engineering standards (testing, reproducibility, documentation).

Compensation & Benefits

Base Salary: $160,000 - $210,000 (based on experience)

Bonus: bonus potential

Competitive benefits package, including health insurance, 401(k), and professional development support