Economic and Statistical Research Director

With this position, we offer you the opportunity to combine research leadership and hands-on quantitative analysis in one of Europe’s leading exchange groups. You will work closely with product, sales, technology and senior leadership teams, using a unique set of market data and modern analytical tools to shape business decisions, market quality initiatives, and thought leadership.

The Economic and Statistical Research team within Nasdaq’s European Markets provides data and analytical support focusing on the stock market, but extending to ETPs, EQD and Fixed Income asset classes, as well as Listings and Market Data product units. ESR consists of two teams, Quant Research and Market Statistics, with capabilities complementing each other to help improve trading, capital formation, and market structure.

Key Responsibilities

This position is a senior position where you lead ESR’s Quant Research team. The selected candidate will individually and through the team produce new insights for internal stakeholders, external client meetings and senior executives. This is done by utilizing advanced analytical techniques to produce high-quality research on areas such as market microstructure, pricing, and financial market regulation. Additionally, you will:

• Contribute to a variety of initiatives and projects by producing quantitative and qualitative analysis and providing insights and recommendations for senior management based on findings 

• Identify important topics for analysis and innovation to improve our market quality, revenues, as well as to influence the European market structure and regulation 

• Lead and develop a team of senior quantitative researchers, setting direction, prioritizing work, and supporting continued growth, expertise and impact 

• Communicate effectively and build relationships with key stakeholders, enabling impactful thought leadership and influence 

• Take ownership of the research technology stack, initiate and drive improvements to the capabilities and processes of the research team 

Required Qualifications

• An advanced degree, preferably PhD-level, in Engineering, Mathematics, Finance, Economics or equivalent

• 10+ years of relevant experience

• Expertise in market microstructure and the market structure in Europe

• Strong skills in statistical methods, machine learning and/or econometrics

• Strong statistical programming skills in Python, R or similar, working with statistical packages and level 3 exchange data

• Experience in producing actionable decision material for senior management, and ability to communicate complex and technical concepts in a simple and meaningful way

• Advanced understanding of capital markets, secondary markets, and the European financial regulation

• Fluent English language skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Background working as quantitative researcher in a trading environment

• Experience managing a team of experts

• Strong skills in SQL (Amazon Redshift)

• Extensive hands-on experience applying scientific practices; formulating and testing hypotheses, back-testing, measuring statistical significance, verifying accuracy and predictive reliability of models

• A good understanding of the business drivers of market participants; regulated markets, MTFs, SIs and banks, brokers and institutions

• Experience with cloud services (AWS, Redshift)

• Ability to use agentic AI for data analysis, increasing productivity in querying, analyzing and visualizing data

• Experience working in a production environment, ensuring version control and documentation

This position will be located in Stockholm, Helsinki or Vilnius and offers the opportunity for a hybrid work environment at least 3 days a week in-office, subject to change, providing flexibility and accessibility for qualified candidates.

Benefits & Rewards

We offer a competitive, well-rounded rewards package that supports you and your family - inside and outside work.

Actual pay depends on your skills, experience, education, and location. In addition to base pay, we offer short-term incentives (bonus or commission) and long-term incentives (equity), where applicable, as well as the following benefits:

• Annual bonus
• Competitive base salary

• Annual equity grant

• Employee Stock Purchase Plan offering discounted company shares 

• Pension plan

• Paid vacation days

• 6 additional days off per year
• Work from (almost) anywhere – up to 20 days/year

• Paid time off to volunteer

• Health insurance
• 24/7 mental health support for you and your family

• Global mentoring program

• Unlimited access to e-learning platforms

• Hybrid work setup

• Modern and comfortable work environment with fresh fruit, snacks, and weekly fika breaks

Come as You Are

Nasdaq is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and identities.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where diverse perspectives, experiences, and identities are valued and celebrated.

We ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodation throughout the hiring process.