Teen prodigy Kairan Quazi is trading rocket science for Wall Street, leaving SpaceX to join billionaire Ken Griffin‘s Citadel Securities as a quantitative developer at just 16 years old. The move marks a significant career pivot for the engineering wunderkind who became the youngest SpaceX employee in company history.“After two years at SpaceX, I felt ready to take on new challenges and expand my skill set into a different high-performance environment,” Quazi told Business Insider. “Citadel Securities offered a similarly ambitious culture, but also a completely new domain, which is very exciting for me.”Quazi starts this week at the systematic trading giant’s New York City office, where he’ll work on global trading infrastructure at the intersection of engineering and quantitative problem-solving, according to Business Insider.
Why quant finance beat Silicon Valley’s top AI labs
Despite receiving offers from leading AI laboratories and major tech companies, Quazi chose quantitative finance for its unique combination of intellectual challenge and immediate feedback. “Quant finance offers a pretty rare combination: the complexity and intellectual challenge that AI research also provides, but with a much faster pace,” he explained to Business Insider.At Citadel Securities, Quazi expects to see measurable impact in days rather than the months or years typical in research environments. The decision represents a notable recruiting win for the trading firm, which competes intensely with AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI for top talent.
From child prodigy to Wall Street: An unconventional path
Quazi’s journey began when he skipped from third grade directly to college at age 9. By 10, he was interning at Intel Labs, and at 11, he transferred to Santa Clara University, eventually becoming their youngest graduate in 172 years.SpaceX hired him at 14 to work on production-critical Starlink satellite systems, where he designed software determining satellite beam targeting for millions of customers. “I had a very broad scope and a lot of responsibility, especially for a junior engineer,” Quazi told Business Insider.The Bangladeshi-American teenager will live within walking distance of Citadel Securities’ Manhattan office, eliminating his previous need for his mother to drive him to work in Washington state. His mother’s background as an investment banker provided early exposure to finance, making the transition feel natural despite his engineering roots.
