I was waiting for this post... are you saying traders at hedge funds can make this money... but engineers don't? I thought algo traders required engineers, or is there a systematic split from the pure traders who look at funky graphs and the engineers who work on the backend systems?
Yes, for the most part. It really varies of course, but traders are traditionally the top dogs. Engineers at a hedge fund / prop firm will generally get paid very well, but 1 million+ would be an extreme outlier, even for a quant dev unless they are also actively trading what they build.
Traders are usually the ones coming up with the strategies and executing them. They also take the most personal risk, since they can be held directly liable for mistakes. That is, the SEC can directly prosecute them, fine them, take away trading credentials, and so on - basically ruin their career if they make a stupid mistake. Very few engineers at these firms are credentialed traders or take any personal risk at all.
