Capital Fund Management (CFM): Careers Guide 2026

CFM in One Paragraph

Capital Fund Management (CFM) is a Paris-headquartered quantitative investment manager founded in 1991, known for applying physics-style research to financial markets. It manages more than $30 billion (as stated on its website in July 2026), employs roughly 350 people across Paris, London, New York and a new Shanghai hub, and runs systematic strategies across futures, equities, FX and options for institutional investors. It is one of the most academic firms in quant finance: its chairman and chief scientist, physicist Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, is a leading figure in econophysics and market microstructure research.

CFM has also been one of the fastest-growing hedge funds of the last two years. Assets passed $20 billion in 2025 and reached about $27 billion by May 2026, according to Bloomberg and Alternative Fund Insight, before the firm reported more than $30 billion in July.

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CFM at a Glance

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A Short History

Jean-Pierre Aguilar founded CFM in 1991 as a systematic futures manager, the kind of trend-following commodity trading adviser that was common at the time. In 1994 he partnered with Bouchaud, then an academic physicist, to create Science & Finance, a research company developing models for CFM. The two businesses merged in 2000.

After Aguilar's death in 2009, CFM moved to management by committee rather than a single founder. That structure, combined with the research culture Bouchaud brought, is a large part of the firm's identity: decisions are debated like research questions, and many staff have academic backgrounds and publication records.

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What CFM Actually Does

CFM runs systematic, multi-asset strategies. Models decide positions in futures, equities, FX, options and other liquid markets; humans design, test and monitor those models.

The best-known programmes, according to industry reporting:

• Stratus - the long-running multi-strategy flagship, reported at around $12 billion and closed to new money in 2025
• Cumulus - a newer vehicle giving access to strategies with spare capacity from the Stratus programme, which grew from about $2.1 billion to $4.8 billion in the first months of 2026
• Alternative beta programmes - launched from 2013, applying systematic methods to well-documented risk premia such as trend and carry

The firm says it stores around 12 petabytes of data and uses machine learning alongside classical statistics to find signals. Its research is unusually public. CFM researchers publish on market impact, order-book dynamics and random matrix theory, and Bouchaud co-authored standard references including Theory of Financial Risk and Derivative Pricing and Trades, Quotes and Prices. If that research interests you, our market microstructure guide and bid-ask spread guide cover related ideas.

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Culture: Why CFM Feels Like a Research Lab

CFM has formal academic partnerships with Imperial College London, École normale supérieure, École polytechnique and Columbia University, including a long-running econophysics research chair with École polytechnique. Bouchaud has taught at both French schools.

For candidates, this means:

• Research depth is valued over speed. CFM is not a latency-driven market maker. Interviews reward careful reasoning about data, noise and model risk.
• Physics and applied maths backgrounds are common. Many researchers hold PhDs in physics, mathematics, statistics or computer science.
• Paris is the centre of gravity. Most research staff sit in the Paris headquarters, with smaller teams in London and New York.

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Roles and What They Involve

Quantitative researcher. Develops and tests signals and portfolio models. Expect statistics, time series, optimisation and machine learning on noisy data.

Research engineer / software engineer. Builds research infrastructure, simulation tools and production trading systems, mostly in Python and C++.

Data scientist and data engineer. Sources, cleans and structures market and alternative data at petabyte scale.

Research internships. In Paris these typically run four to six months as part of a master's or engineering degree, in line with the French stage system, and some interns stay on for a PhD or full-time role.

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The CFM Interview Process

CFM publishes little about its process, and candidate reports are sparse compared with larger firms. From job postings and the reports that exist, expect:

1. Application and CV screen. Academic record and research experience carry weight.
2. Technical interviews. Probability and statistics, a coding exercise in Python or C++, and a deep discussion of your research or thesis. Interview-guide sites rate the difficulty as medium and list Python, C++, SQL and machine learning modelling as common topics.
3. Final round. Several interviews with researchers and engineers, which may include open-ended problems such as how you would test whether a signal is real.

The open-ended questions are where candidates differ most. Practise explaining how you would detect overfitting, handle non-stationary data and measure a strategy's risk-adjusted return. Our guides to autocorrelation, the Sharpe ratio and quant research interview questions are good starting points.

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Pay at CFM

CFM does not publish pay. Our directory estimates, based on Glassdoor submissions, put entry-level total compensation around $150,000 to $250,000 and experienced staff around $250,000 to $500,000. Paris packages are generally lower in headline terms than equivalent roles in London or New York. For London context, see the UK quant salary guide.

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How CFM Compares

For more on how systematic funds work, see our quant hedge fund guide.

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Compensation & recruiting notes

All figures are estimates from public reporting and self-reported data. They are not provided or endorsed by Capital Fund Management, and actual offers vary by role, office, year and performance. Asset figures come from the company website and press reports. Nothing here guarantees an interview, an offer or any outcome.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Capital Fund Management?

Capital Fund Management (CFM) is a Paris-based quantitative asset manager founded in 1991. It runs systematic strategies across futures, equities, FX and options for institutional investors and manages more than $30 billion as of July 2026.

Who founded CFM?

CFM was founded in 1991 by Jean-Pierre Aguilar and Bruno Combier. Physicist Jean-Philippe Bouchaud founded its research arm, Science & Finance, in 1994; the two merged in 2000, and Bouchaud is now chairman and chief scientist.

Where are CFM's offices?

CFM is headquartered in Paris, with offices in London and New York and a small Shanghai data and engineering office opened in May 2026.

Is CFM a hedge fund?

Yes, in the usual sense: it runs alternative, systematic investment strategies for institutional investors and charges management and performance fees. It describes itself as a quantitative and systematic asset manager.

What background does CFM look for?

Strong quantitative degrees, often a PhD in physics, mathematics, statistics or computer science for research roles, plus solid Python or C++. Research experience and the ability to reason carefully about noisy data matter more than trading intuition.

Does CFM offer internships?

Yes. CFM hires research and engineering interns, and Paris internships typically last four to six months as part of a master's or engineering degree.