Department: Quantitative Research
Location: New York, NY
Duration: 6 months
About Davidson Kempner
Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP is a global investment management firm. Founded in 1983, Davidson Kempner is headquartered in New York and has offices in Philadelphia, London, Dublin, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi. Our Firm invests globally and opportunistically across the capital structure, in a variety of credit and equity strategies as well as real assets. We apply our multi-dimensional, research-driven investment process to evaluate and execute a diverse range of transactions across asset classes, geographies, and market cycles. We target complex, global situations where our experience and expertise can unlock value.
We bring together exceptional people from different disciplines and backgrounds who are energized by the challenges of navigating complexity. We look for people who demonstrate exceptional critical thinking skills, innate curiosity, creativity, and embrace diverse viewpoints to calibrate their decisions.
About the Role
Davidson Kempner's Quantitative Research team is a centralized research group supporting investment teams across the firm's strategies, including equities, corporate credit, real estate, structured products, and merger arbitrage.
Our mandate is to conduct analysis and deliver data-driven, actionable insights in support of DK's investments and broader strategic priorities. Our work combines programming, statistical analysis, quantitative modeling, and an understanding of businesses and financial markets to address a broad range of investment research questions.
The role focuses on applying quantitative research and analytical methods to support DK’s discretionary investment process, rather than developing systematic investment or algorithmic trading strategies.
The intern will work alongside experienced quantitative research analysts on live projects, gaining hands-on experience in data sourcing, analysis, modeling, and the development of analytical tools. The role offers mentorship and opportunities to collaborate with investment professionals across the firm. Strong-performing interns may be considered for full-time opportunities upon graduation.
Responsibilities
- Conduct quantitative analysis across companies, sectors, and asset classes, including revenue forecasting, business performance evaluation, and investment monitoring.
- Source, evaluate, and analyze traditional and alternative datasets, assessing data quality, coverage, biases, and limitations.
- Apply a range of statistical and quantitative methods to analyze data, develop models, generate forecasts, and test investment hypotheses.
- Write, test, maintain, and document reliable Python and SQL code; work with databases and develop reusable analytical processes.
- Build and maintain analytical dashboards, monitoring tools, and automated research reports.
- Support company-specific due diligence and broader thematic research alongside QR analysts and investment teams.
- Validate analytical results, reconcile findings against underlying sources, and communicate conclusions, assumptions, and limitations clearly.
- Explore and use AI tools to enhance research capabilities and analytical efficiency.
Qualifications
- Currently enrolled in Columbia University's M.A. in Mathematics of Finance (MAFN) program, in good academic standing.
- Strong foundation in statistics, probability, quantitative methods, regression, and time-series analysis.
- Proficiency in Python and SQL, with an understanding of database structures, data processing, and coding best practices; comfort with Excel.
- Experience working with complex datasets and applying analytical or statistical methods to practical problems.
- Exceptional attention to detail, with a strong commitment to accuracy, analytical rigor, and quality of work.
- Genuine interest in financial markets, the broader economy, and applying quantitative analysis to a wide range of investment research questions
- Familiarity with Databricks, visualization platforms, machine learning, or AI-assisted analytical tools is a plus, but not required.
Candidate Profile
- Intellectually curious, with strong analytical and problem-solving skills and an interest in applying quantitative methods to real investment questions.
- Self-motivated, organized, and capable of taking ownership of projects while managing multiple priorities.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain analytical findings clearly to investment professionals.
- Collaborative, adaptable, and eager to learn in a fast-paced investment research environment.
What We're Looking For
Beyond academic achievement and technical ability, we're looking for individuals who demonstrate the qualities and potential to build successful careers at DK. Our EDGE framework sets out the behaviors that we value across the Firm, and for interns, we place particular emphasis on:
- Intellectual curiosity and a learning mindset: A genuine desire to understand how businesses, markets and investment strategies work, with the curiosity to ask thoughtful questions, challenge assumptions, and learn from others.
- Sound judgment and maturity: The ability to think independently, consider different perspectives, recognize when to seek guidance, and approach decisions with an appropriate awareness of risk.
- Ownership and initiative: A willingness to take responsibility, follow through on commitments and look for ways to contribute beyond what is explicitly asked.
- Commercial curiosity: An interest in understanding not just the analysis behind a decision, but why it matters to the Firm, its investors and its broader business.
- Adaptability and openness to feedback: The confidence to step outside one's comfort zone, embrace unfamiliar challenges, and use feedback to improve.
- A genuine one-firm mindset: Someone who values different perspectives, takes an interest in the success of others and is motivated by contributing to DK as a whole, rather than only to an individual team.
Compensation & Logistics
The internship is hours a week, in-person, based at Davidson Kempner’s New York headquarters. Interns will be paid $40 per hour. US Base Salary Range
$40 - $40 USD