People at hedge fund Two Sigma are mostly happy because they don't have to work too hard

EFinancialCareers reports that employee sentiment at Two Sigma remains broadly positive despite leadership turbulence at the quantitative hedge fund. The firm recently replaced its founders, David Siegel and John Overdeck, who had spent several years in a public dispute and stepped down from their roles. When the publication canvassed insiders and outside recruiters, most dismissed concerns about the leadership situation; one insider described Two Sigma as "a world-class company," and a quant recruiter said the boss issue "has never been an issue."

This contrasts with Two Sigma's own March statement, which attributed the founders' dispute to departures and hiring difficulties. eFinancialCareers acknowledged it may have spoken to the wrong people, but suggested the firm's culture is unusually relaxed. Anonymous reviews on the forum Blind, validated as current employees, describe the firm as "genuine," "humble" and "kind," with "very chill" work-life balance, a "nice" remote work policy and "low" stress. Two Sigma declined to comment.

The publication said the founders' animosity appears to have contributed to bureaucracy, a lack of strategic direction and a split between modellers reporting to Overdeck and engineers reporting to Siegel, with some complaints that engineers have been pursuing their own agendas. Critics also say Two Sigma pays less than rivals. eFinancialCareers countered that the firm paid an average of £345k ($454k) per head in London in its last reviewed filing and is advertising quant research graduate roles in New York at base salaries of $200k.

Several departures were noted, including Aziz Lookman, Yan Duan and Mike MacMillan. The publication said it understood the exits had no common cause and characterised them as standard churn.