Millennium, Point72 among hedge funds boosting staff size

The world's largest hedge funds keep growing larger — in both staff size and assets under management. Balyasny Asset Management, Millennium Management and Point72 Asset Management are among the firms that expanded their staff count — by hundreds — over the past year.

Pensions & Investments compared new Form ADV filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in late March with filings from the prior year to tally staff size changes reported by some of the largest hedge funds. Many hedge funds report year-end 2023 figures in their 2024 ADV filings. Firms are required to list all full- and part-time workers except for clerical staff.

Many multistrategy hedge funds that employ numerous trading teams across a variety of strategies saw the largest growth in staff size. All the hedge funds either declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment on staff size.

Izzy Englander’s Millennium is among the largest hedge funds and its staff grew to 5,550 employees this year, from 4,810 in last year’s filing. Millennium has posted rapid growth and more than doubled its staff size since 2018 when it numbered at 2,443, according to an SEC filing.

Steve Cohen’s Point72 added several hundred employees, growing to a staff size of 2,872 in its filing last month, up from 2,311 in its 2023 filings.

Ken Griffin’s Citadel grew to 2,932 employees, up from 2,823 the prior year.

Dmitry Balyasny’s eponymous hedge fund upped its staff size to 1,857 from 1,651 the prior year.

D.E. Shaw Group’s alternatives arm saw its staff grow to 879 in its filing last month, from 759 last year.

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors upped its staff size to 952 from 856 the year prior. The hedge fund hired over 40 investment professionals in the last six months and most are trading, according to a source familiar with the matter. Last year, Schonfeld was in talks over a partnership to manage assets for Millennium that later dissolved.

And Verition Fund Management also added several hundred staff members, growing to 524 in its most recent SEC filing, from 279 employees the previous year.

Hiring support staff

While many hedge funds are adding portfolio managers, they also need to hire people to support the business from “top to bottom,” said Paul Barker, founder and managing director at recruiting firm Pellian. That means hiring in roles including IT, risk and compliance.

Some of the industry’s other largest hedge funds saw staff sizes remain relatively flat year-on-year with slight additions or declines.

AQR Capital Management added a handful of employees, growing to 573 from 566.

Bridgewater Associates saw a slight uptick to 1,196 in its latest filing from 1,166 in its 2023 ADV. The hedge fund announced last year that it would cut jobs as part of an overhaul following founder Ray Dalio’s departure.

And Two Sigma saw its employee count at 1,954 in this year’s filing vs. 1,965 last year. On its website, Two Sigma lists an employee count of around 2,000, which includes its other affiliate businesses.

Staff size growth accompanied assets under management growing at many of the largest hedge funds. Some firms provided clarifications on their assets under management reported in their Form ADV filings to encompass their full businesses or account for leverage.

Recruiting top trading talent remains extremely competitive between hedge funds. And there is only a fixed amount of talent, said Adam Blitz, founding partner, CEO and CIO at approximately $4.2 billion Evanston Capital Management, which invests in hedge funds.

“The talent has to be there. And there’s only a fixed amount of talent, and there’s only so much you can do when you’re putting so much money to work,” he said.

Many of the largest firms have built up their internship programs to find and build up talent from a younger age. Several of those programs have become extremely competitive with acceptance rates below 1% along with high pay and perks.