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2025 Institutional Equity Strats Summer Associate Program - PhD (New York)

Morgan Stanley
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Placement and Duration 
 
The Institutional Equity Strats Summer Associate Program is an intensive 10-week program that provides Summer Associates the opportunity to work alongside full-time professionals on impactful, quantitative projects. Summer Associates will work within an assigned team for the entirety of the program. The multi-faceted program features senior strat speaker series, product area training, networking events, and community service. With individual coaching and continuous feedback, the program enables Summer Associates to experience and understand what a long-term career with the Firm entails. 
 
Training Program 

 

The Summer will kick off with a week-long introductory training program, which will provide an institutional contextualization to the work that Summer Associates will be doing through market-knowledge training, finance workshops, coding and product training. Following the training week, Summer Associates will continue to receive more individualized, on-the-job training as they join their assigned desks and begin their daily work and projects. Summer Associates will have a direct manager, as well as a program mentor, both of whom will act as invaluable resources throughout their time at Morgan Stanley. 
 
Responsibilities  

 
Morgan Stanley operates several teams which require experts in statistical analysis, applied mathematics, computer science and computational finance. These teams operate our leading trading platforms, market making operations and derivative structuring, pricing and risk management. The mathematical problems arising in these areas are subtle, complex and require a broad range of technical skills. As a Summer Associate, you will leverage the technical expertise you have been grooming in your academic studies and apply it to extremely applied problems. Many of the applied problems and processes that you will work on are still unsolved and are yet to be optimized. 
 

Institutional Equity Strats operates with a core focus on enabling sales and trading to innovate and scale business activities using cutting-edge technologies and world-class infrastructure. Primary responsibilities include creation of data and analytical decision-making tools, conducting analysis and presenting research ideas, developing supporting frameworks and workflows, and delivering valuation and risk management systems.  

 

Summer Associates sit within four groups of Institutional Equity Strats. You may be selected to interview with multiple teams: 

 

Derivatives: 

 

Multiple teams dedicated to Derivative businesses (Vanilla, Corporate, Exotic Derivatives, Quantitative Investment Strategies), Derivative Strats are responsible for implementing and supporting quantitative models used in pricing, risk management and trading activity optimization.  

 

Delta One:  

 

Dedicated to businesses covering cash products (i.e. common stock, funds, and related assets) with a core focus on enabling sales and trading to innovate and scale business activities using cutting-edge technologies and world-class infrastructure.  Primary responsibilities include creation of data and analytical decision-making tools, conducting analysis and presenting research ideas, developing supporting frameworks and workflows, and delivering valuation and risk management systems. 

 

Automated Market Making:  

 

AMM strats work together with traders and developers to build a world-class automated options market-maker. Our success is dependent on sophisticated quantitative modelling on problems spanning from optimal execution to volatility estimation, whose time-scales span from days to micro-seconds. 

 

Quantitative Research: 

 

The Quantitative Research (QR) group designs, builds and maintains the models which drive the equity trading engines at Morgan Stanley and our systems are used globally by both internal trading groups and clients of the firm. We utilize systematic, evidence-based approaches to understand how the markets work and put those ideas in action. The team spans the disciplines of finance, econometrics, statistics, mathematics, computer science and data science, with many team members versed in multiple areas. 

 
Qualifications/Skills/Requirements 

 

  • You are pursuing a PhD degree in Financial Engineering, Mathematics, Financial Math, Physics, Statistics, Engineering, Quantitative Finance, Computer Science, or other related quantitative field.
  • You are completing your degree between December 2025 and June 2026
  • You have excellent programming skills in C++, Java, Matlab, Python, R or Scala.
  • You have strong mathematical academic training.
  • You have a keen interest in financial markets.
  • You have the drive and desire to work in an intense team-oriented environment.
  • You have excellent decision-making abilities.
  • You have strong communication skills.

 

Application Process: 

 

  • Deadline to apply: Tuesday, October 1st at 11:59pm EST
  • Online Assessment: Sent Wednesday, October 2nd
  • Assessment is via HackerRank
  • Applicants have 1 hour to complete multiple choice exam
  • There is no minimum score needed to move forward in the process
  • Exam MUST be completed by 11:59pm EST Friday, October 4th 
  • First Round Interviews will be conducted via phone mid-October
  • Superdays are conducted via Zoom and will take place early November
  • Please let us know of any competing deadlines or questions regarding the application process by emailing us at qfcampusrecruiting@morganstanley.com

Expected base pay rate(s) for the role will be $84.14 per hour at the commencement of employment. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs. 
 
Morgan Stanley's goal is to build and maintain a workforce that is diverse in experience and background but uniform in reflecting our standards of integrity and excellence. Consequently, our recruiting efforts reflect our desire to attract and retain the best and brightest from all talent pools. We want to be the first choice for prospective employees. 
It is the policy of the Firm to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, sex stereotype, gender, gender identity or expression, transgender, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability, marital and civil partnership/union status, pregnancy, veteran or military service status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversifying its workforce (M/F/Disability/Vet).