- eFinancialCareers' “Ideal Employer 2025” survey (15,000+ respondents) ranked JPMorgan top overall and Citadel the clear favorite among hedge funds.
- Citadel's employer appeal centers on high pay, strong colleagues, and scale-efficient economics (about $69bn AUM on ~3,200 staff).
- “Not even a hedge fund” refers to BlueCrest, which returned external capital in 2015 to run as a family office but still operates like a multi-team, profit-sharing hedge fund.
- BlueCrest's closed-capital model and recent strong performance boost talent appeal, though its history includes notable regulatory and governance controversy.
Read More
The primary article from eFinancialCareers’ “Ideal Employer 2025” report paints Citadel as the benchmark hedge fund employer. Respondents ranked it highest among hedge funds for how well it pays, the quality of colleagues, and the opportunity to grow. Key metrics such as profits since inception ($83 billion), relatively lean headcount (~3,200 employees), and large‐scale resource allocations reflect its efficiency and employer brand desirability.
However, the phrase “not even a hedge fund” doesn’t refer to Citadel in the primary article—it appears in eFinancialCareers’ pages about BlueCrest, which is widely considered “definitely-not-a-hedge-fund family office” by insiders and commentators. The contrast is that although BlueCrest returned external capital in 2015, it maintains a business model much like a multi-manager hedge fund: many autonomous trading teams, profit sharing, high pay to portfolio managers, leverage, and strong macro trades.
BlueCrest’s operational shift removal of external investors allows greater flexibility—risk limits, leverage, transparency obligations are eased, giving it a competitive edge in terms of internal alignment and ability to pay outsized rewards in scenarios less constrained by third-party capital demands. That said, its UK partnership division experienced a sharp drop in profits per partner and revenue in 2023-2024, indicative of either strategic pausing or variation in performance across teams.
Strategic implications are multi-fold: for talent recruitment, the appeal of a Citadel or a firm like BlueCrest family office model is growing among top quants and PMs. Firms that follow rigid external capital models may lose ground unless they adapt more flexible compensation, risk, and organizational structures. On the investor side, BlueCrest’s regulatory history (including SEC and FCA findings) raises concerns about internal‐fund transparency and alignment of interests. For external investors wanting exposure, only a few hedge funds remain open, and performance alone may no longer be enough; structure and employer brand matter increasingly.
Open questions include: is Citadel’s model sustainable—can it maintain the cost base, culture, risk control as it scales further? For BlueCrest, what are the long-term risks of being closed to external capital: liquidity risk, regulatory risk, reputational risk? Also, what emerging models might combine the best of both worlds: hybrid vehicles, Vikram capital-sharing, “internal fund” structures?
Supporting Notes
- In the “Ideal Employer 2025” survey, over 15,000 financial-services professionals selected their favorite employer; JPMorgan won overall, but among hedge funds, Citadel was clearly the favorite.
- Citadel generated cumulative profits since its inception to end-2024 of about $83 billion, manages $69 billion in AUM, and employs ~3,200 staff globally.
- In its London subsidiaries in 2024, Citadel’s average pay spanned from $500,000 to $21 million depending on role and partnership status.
- BlueCrest ceased managing outside capital in 2015, transforming into a family office, yet still runs about 150 trading teams with roughly 550 employees globally.
- BlueCrest returned ~28% in 2025 in a core bear-US-dollar trade; it also saw UK revenue rise ~149% year-on-year, boosting operating profit significantly.
- Despite strong returns, BlueCrest’s profits per partner in its UK partnership dropped sharply—from about £78 million for top member to £4.4 million; turnover in that unit fell ~72%; employment numbers shifted; but non-partner staff pay remained high (avg ~£479,000) with headcount growing.
- Regulatory actions: the U.S. SEC charged BlueCrest ~$170 million (settlement) for mis-disclosure around internal fund transfers; FCA pursued client redress; court rulings affirmed rights for redress over conflicts of interest from earlier years.