A Bangladeshi-American Prodigy's Journey: From Moulvibazar Roots to Wall Street

Kairan Quazi, the teenage tech prodigy who recently made headlines for his move to Citadel Securities, has deep family roots connecting him to Moulvibazar, Bangladesh. His mother, Julia Quazi, has a shopping center named after her in Moulvibazar, Julia Shopping City, which was established by her father.A restaurant named after Kairan has also been running successfully in this shopping city for a long time.

Kairan's connection to Bangladesh extends through his maternal lineage. His maternal grandmother, Syeda Hasna Begum, was a pioneer, becoming the first female Member of Parliament elected from the reserved women's seat in Moulvibazar District. She remains active in various social and developmental initiatives in the area. Julia's father, the late Advocate Gaznafar Ali Chowdhury, was a respected journalist and politician in Moulvibazar. In the early 1990s, both Syeda Hasna Begum and Gaznafar Ali Chowdhury were instrumental in launching the American edition of the "Dainik Sangbad" newspaper, a landmark achievement as the first national Bangladeshi newspaper to be published outside of Bangladesh. His dada, the late Abdul Halim Quazi, was a very successful academic and geophysisist. Kairan is very proud of his Bangladeshi heritage and we wish that he will honor the legacy of both sets of grandparents.

From SpaceX to Wall Street and a Family Legacy of Firsts

After receiving numerous offers from top AI labs, quant companies, and pre-IPO unicorns, Kairan Quazi has officially joined Citadel Securities in New York City. The move makes him the youngest quantitative developer in the world. The 16-year-old prodigy, who became the youngest graduate of Santa Clara University before joining SpaceX at age 14, told Business Insider that he felt ready to "take on new challenges and expand my skill set into a different high-performance environment."

This new role marks a bittersweet farewell to his time at SpaceX, where he spent two years as part of the Starlink software team, developing production-critical systems that determine where satellites target their beams for millions of customers. His mother, Julia Quazi, noted that he was recognized as a top performer and thrived in the company's "intensely fearless nerd culture." He will always be considered a "SpaceXer." Quazi praised Citadel Securities for its meritocratic culture, noting the firm didn't use his age as a barrier to opportunities.

The transition was not without its moments of parental anxiety. Ms. Quazi recounted having daily panic attacks during his job hunt because Kairan entered every interview round with "literally zero prep" because "prepping is a boomer vibe." Despite this unorthodox approach, he received offers within hours of his final on-site interviews from 100% of the loops he completed, including from companies reputed to have the hardest interviews in the tech industry. He also secured senior engineer offers from multiple unicorns, before top AI and quantitative firms stepped in to win him over with gifts and perks.

His success, his mother said, is a testament to SpaceX trusting his abilities, giving him the "courage to fail and grow," and nurturing his intense desire for impact. She highlighted that Elon Musk's companies are known for an "unapologetically meritocratic" culture that attracts "brilliant, passionate, apolitical nerds."

For his part, Kairan chose Citadel Securities for the unique combination of intellectual challenge and a much faster pace. He explained that he will be able to "see measurable impact in days, not months or years." His new role will be at the intersection of engineering and quantitative problem-solving, working on the firm's global trading infrastructure.

Quazi's remarkable educational journey began at a young age. He bypassed traditional schooling, moving from third grade directly to college at the age of nine. By eleven, he had earned an Associate of Science degree in Mathematics from Las Positas College. In 2023, at the age of 14, he graduated from Santa Clara University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, becoming the youngest graduate in the school's 170-year history. During his college years, he also served as an elected student government senator. His career experience began even earlier, with an internship at Intel Labs at age 10, working on predictive speech generation platforms, and in 2022 interned in machine learning at cyber-intelligence firm Blackbird.AI.

Ms. Quazi is in New York for a few weeks to assist with his transition, after which he desires independence. Now 16, Quazi is living independently in Manhattan, with his new workplace just a 10-minute walk from his apartment, a significant upgrade from requiring his mother to drive him to SpaceX's Redmond office since he still does not have a driver's license. The family is currently adjusting to the new reality of life without him, but they are committed to supporting his dreams.

AI labs wanted him. Big Tech did too. But in the end, it was quant finance that won over teen prodigy Kairan Quazi. The 16-year-old, who garnered worldwide attention in 2023 for graduating from college and landing a job as a SpaceX engineer at age 14, starts this week as a quant developer at systematic trading giant Citadel Securities in New York City.

"After two years at SpaceX, I felt ready to take on new challenges and expand my skill set into a different high-performance environment," Quazi told Business Insider in an interview. "Citadel Securities offered a similarly ambitious culture, but also a completely new domain, which is very exciting for me."

In a time when quant trading firms face heightened competition for talent from AI labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, landing the engineering wunderkind is a noteworthy win for Citadel Securities, one of the premier destinations in finance. The sister company of billionaire Ken Griffin's hedge fund Citadel, Citadel Securities is one of the world's top high-speed trading firms, handling hundreds of billions worth of stocks, options, currencies, and other assets each day. Using state-of-the-art technology and algorithms, the global market-maker executes trades on behalf of other institutions and retail traders — it handles roughly 35% of retail US stock trades — as well as deploying its own proprietary trading strategies. It generated nearly $10 billion in revenue in 2024 and a record $3.4 billion in the first quarter of 2025, according to media reports.

In his new role, Quazi will work on the firm's global trading infrastructure, sitting at the "intersection of engineering and quantitative problem-solving" and working with both traders and engineers, a company spokesperson said.

"It felt like a very natural transition from the high-performance culture at SpaceX," Quazi said.

His rationale for jumping into quantitative trading mirrors the sales pitch the industry and its recruiters often tout: For highly ambitious researchers and mathematicians, it's a dream scenario with almost instant feedback and responses to your ideas. "Quant finance offers a pretty rare combination: the complexity and intellectual challenge that AI research also provides, but with a much faster pace," Quazi said. "At Citadel Securities, I'll be able to see measurable impact in days, not months or years like many research environments."

Citadel Securities, in particular, is known for its technological prowess and meritocratic culture, a key selling point for someone who was rejected from jobs — and even booted off LinkedIn — not because of his abilities but rather his age. He felt Citadel Securities valued his "unconventional" background. "They moved very quickly and didn't use my age or years of experience to gate-keep opportunities," Quazi said, adding that the opportunity to engage directly with senior leadership impressed him.

It also helped that Quazi was exposed to finance from an early age, as his mother was an investment banker working in mergers and acquisitions. Moreover, for math and engineering students, quant trading firms loom large on campus as some of the most sought-after post-graduate jobs. "It's one of the most prestigious industries you could go into as a computer scientist or mathematician," Quazi said.

Living on his own in New York City as a teenager, Quazi is not too concerned. The Bangladeshi-American, who in his spare time likes to read, play video games, rock climb, and hang with friends, among other hobbies, grew up visiting family in New York regularly. He said he values the rich culture, diversity, and energy of the city. "New York has a very special place in my heart," Quazi said. "My mom grew up in Astoria, Queens, and I have a lot of family there."

Another perk: Quazi, who still doesn't have a driver's license, will no longer need his mother to drive him to work, as he did for his gig at SpaceX in Redmond, Washington. At least at first, he'll be living about a 10-minute walk away from Citadel Securities' midtown office. After that, he'll take the subway.