Teen Prodigy Kairan Quazi Leaves SpaceX to Join Citadel Securities at 16

From Rockets to Trading: A New Adventure

Kairan Quazi is only 16 years old. He started at SpaceX as a software engineer at 14 and is now transitioning from the aerospace company to Wall Street. Quazi will join Citadel Securities in New York City as a quantitative developer.  

Why Transition to Finance? 

In a recent interview with Business Insider, Quazi explained that after two years with SpaceX, he was now "ready to take on new challenges and grow my skill set in a new high performance environment." The fast-pace and meritocratic environment at Citadel appealed to him, not only because of the prestige, but also for the speed that he can make an impact. "Quant finance offers the same intellectual challenge as AI research, but with much faster turnaround results... I'll be able to see measurable impact in a matter of days," Quazi told Business Insider.

What He Has Done So Far

●Early achievements: Quazi became the youngest graduate of Santa Clara University - 14 years old - and shortly thereafter, was hired by SpaceX. 

●At SpaceX: He contributed to production-critical software for the Starlink project that helped steer satellite beams to provide reliable internet access. 

●Career pivot: Quazi passed on opportunities provided by AI research labs and big tech companies as he chose to join Citadel due to the intellectual complexity and operational speed they would provide (feedback loops).

A Prodigy with History and Purpose

Quazi is from Pleasanton, California, and his parents are from Bangladesh. He was identified early as a prodigy. When he was nine years old, he was already in college and at 11 he earned an associate degree in mathematics. He did internships at Intel Labs and at Blackbird.AI. In 2023, at 14 years old, he became the youngest-ever graduate of Santa Clara University and shortly thereafter began a career at SpaceX. While starting his early career, he even had his LinkedIn account banned for being too young, although he later described that ban as “illogical, primitive nonsense,” he was eventually able to restore his account.

What's Next? From Aerospace to Algorithms

Quazi will now be focused on the building of global trading infrastructure at Citadel Securities, a firm that is known to be responsible for about 35% of U.S. retail stock trades. So, he is moving from rockets to trading systems, and redefining what youth and innovation are.

Conclusion

Kairan Quazi has been an exceptional person since early childhood.  The arc of his life-- from prodigious genius to Mensa and completing college at nine years old, SpaceX Engineer at age fourteen, to now quant developer on Wall Street at sixteen years old-- is incredible. Obviously his new job at Citadel Securities is not only changing industries, he is pursuing rapid context, tangible impact and intellectual development.

Please let me know if you would like to explore his schooling, previous projects or what Citadel’s role could be for an unqualified adolescent.