At just 16, Kairan Quazi has already lived a career many dream of. After two years as one of the youngest engineers at SpaceX, he is stepping into an entirely new world on Wall Street. His next chapter begins at Citadel Securities, where he will work as a quantitative developer blending engineering with fast paced problem solving in global trading infrastructure.
Quazi joined SpaceX at the remarkable age of 14, where he worked on production critical systems and described having wide ranging responsibilities unusual for a junior engineer. After two years, he decided it was time for a different challenge.
He explained that quantitative finance offered the same intellectual thrill he had pursued in artificial intelligence but with a key difference. Results appear in days instead of months or years, and that immediacy, he said, was what drew him in.
Citadel Securities, known for its speed and scale, presented the setting he was looking for. The firm is a leading market making company involved in a significant portion of retail stock trading in the United States. For Quazi, who thrives on measurable and visible outcomes, this move felt like a natural extension of the high pressure, high performance work he undertook at SpaceX.
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The company’s recent financial momentum also added to its appeal. Reports show it generated nearly 10 billion dollars in revenue during 2024 and achieved a record 3.4 billion in the first quarter of 2025. Combined with a culture he described as ambitious and bold, similar to what he had experienced at SpaceX, the environment seemed perfect for his next step. It offered him a chance to enter a new domain with equally ambitious goals and fresh challenges to solve.
His decision also reflects a growing competition between top trading firms and leading artificial intelligence labs for highly skilled engineers. Quazi revealed that he received offers from major technology companies and AI startups but he ultimately favored Citadel Securities because of its pace, complexity, and the ability to see the results of his work quickly. For him, the chance to stretch his skills while remaining engaged in difficult technical problems made the choice clear.
Quazi’s journey to this point has been extraordinary. At the age of nine he left third grade to attend community college and by ten he was interning at Intel Labs. A year later he transferred to Santa Clara University and later became the youngest graduate in its 172 year history.
At 14 he was hired by SpaceX, a moment that made national headlines. He emphasized then that his contributions were real and centered on production critical systems rather than symbolic tasks.
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His unconventional path also drew attention in 2023 when LinkedIn locked his account for being under 16. In response, he criticized age based restrictions and argued that conventional education often prioritizes memorization and prestige over genuine learning. These views reflected his belief that ability should be valued over tradition, a belief that continues to influence his career choices.
Now based in Manhattan, Quazi lives only a short walk from Citadel Securities’ Park Avenue office. It is a striking change from his time at SpaceX when he relied on his mother for rides due to his age. The move also carries personal meaning, as his mother once worked in mergers and acquisitions and many of his academic peers have gravitated toward quantitative roles.
His daily work at Citadel Securities will now involve designing and maintaining systems where engineering decisions directly connect to trading outcomes in real time.
