Talent brokers of quant trading: Top headhunters behind Wall Street's systematic-trading and data-science hiring frenzy

• The hiring market for quant and data-science specialists is red-hot on Wall Street.
• They're the lifeblood of hedge funds, trading firms, market makers, and bank trading teams.

The market for quant and data-science specialists has perhaps never been hotter. And the technologists, researchers, scientists, and traders developing cutting-edge investment strategies and platforms aren't just coveted by hedge funds.

They're the lifeblood of high-frequency-trading (HFT) firms and proprietary market makers, as well as investment banks building out their systems for electronic trading and execution. They're also coveted by Silicon Valley juggernauts, startups, academia, and the government. People working on hard-science Ph.D.s from top universities can expect the most elite institutions to start wooing them years before they defend their dissertations.

A cadre of Wall Street recruiters are at the forefront of this lucrative talent battle, and Insider assembled a list of specialists in the field.