The tech team discarded by Goldman Sachs but appreciated by Citadel and Citadel Securities
It's no secret that hedge fund Citadel and its sister firm Citadel Securities have an appreciation for people at Goldman Sachs. Founder Ken Griffin has praised the communication skills of Goldman people in the past,and the firm has hired multiple of the bank's CTOs. Recently, both firms have shown love to one niche team that the bank is winding down.
Earlier this year, Goldman was reported to be shutting down ETF Accelerator, a platform that made it easier for Goldman clients to get launch and list exchange traded funds. The bank had concerns over the team's profitability last year, and were weighing up a sale before ultimately winding down the business.
Goldman's loss is Citadel and Citadel Securities' gain. Pirapong Jitngamplang, who was head of digital platform for ETF Accellerator, has joined Citadel Securities in New York as a product manager and process engineering lead. Jitngamplang was also previously head of product at Louisa AI, a dealmaking startup spun out of Goldman Sachs led by Rohan Doctor, a Goldman Sachs MD of 17 years.
Across the pond in London, ETF Accellerator engineering manager Manas Bajaj has joined Citadel as a software engineer. He also worked on Goldman's Marquee platform, but may have been sought after because of his work in the core engineering team of Athena, JPMorgan's risk and pricing platform. Neil Slinger, head of core engineering at Citadel has hired various former colleagues from JPMorgan in the past, including multiple Athena alums.
It's understood that Bajaj and Jitngamplang will not be working together in their new roles and that their hires are uncorrellated. Considering the popularity of ETFs in the quant trading space, they may just be a harbinger of what's to come as more funds and trading firms look to hire ETF Accelerator staff before the team shuts its doors.
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