Chicago-based multi-strategy hedge fund Balyasny Asset Management has more than doubled its Polish workforce in little over a year, making Warsaw its third-largest technology centre worldwide. The firm, which operates across 24 international offices and employs over 2,800 people, first opened its Polish operation in April 2024. By the end of 2025, its local entity employed around 50 people. This year, that figure had exceeded 100. The office has since moved into permanent premises at the Studio A building in Warsaw’s Wola district.
The decision to cement its presence in Poland seems to be driven mainly by access to talent. In a June interview, Balyasny’s director in Poland Sebastian Gulinski explained that the firm had considered several international locations before settling on Warsaw. The availability of specialists in technology, data and artificial intelligence ultimately proved decisive. Many Polish engineers had previously left for positions in London, New York and Silicon Valley, but were interested in returning if they could find similarly ambitious projects at home.
Talent, Time Zone and the Investment Cycle
Gulinski said the Warsaw team works across the investment cycle, with the majority of its employees occupying technology and data-related positions. Their responsibilities include developing pre-trade analytics, trading systems, risk-management platforms, accounting applications and cloud infrastructure, as well as tools used directly by portfolio managers. The firm has also developed proprietary risk-management systems for commodities trading, with its Polish engineers contributing to their development. Its geographical position helps, with Poland being just one hour ahead of London and six hours ahead of New York, allowing the team to collaborate with both markets during overlapping hours.
The expansion coincides with the closure of a much smaller Balyasny operation in Spain. Last year, the firm shut its satellite office in Pozuelo de Alarcon, just outside Madrid, after dismissing its only locally based portfolio manager and the three analysts working with him. The decisions were not directly connected though the contrast is notable. While the firm has reduced its presence in one European location, it has continued to build a substantial technical operation in another.
But Balyasny is not alone in recognising Poland’s potential in recent times. Point72, another major multi-strategy investment manager, has built a considerably larger local operation, with a report from August detailing 343 employees in Poland. Qube Research & Technologies registered a Polish entity back in April 2024 and opened an office in Wroclaw in early 2025, where it has been recruiting engineers and data specialists. In turn, Arini Capital registered its Polish company in August of that year and has since established a Warsaw office, hiring technology roles.
Though not an exact science, several factors can help explain why Poland is becoming such an increasingly attractive location for these firms. The country has a substantial pool of engineering and technical graduates, a well-established financial-services industry and a workforce familiar with international business operations. Warsaw, in particular, has developed into one of Central Europe’s largest business-services centres. According to the Association of Business Service Leaders (ABSL), the capital had 448 business-services centres, employing 116,700 people. Foreign-owned companies accounted for 330 of those centres, while employment in the sector surged by 66.5% between 2020 and 2025.
The available talent is also deepening. ABSL notes the share of employment in IT centres in Warsaw rose from 18.7% in 2015 to 31.6% a decade later, representing more than 35,000 people. Its academic infrastructure provides another source of potential recruits. Warsaw has 258,500 students across 69 higher-education institutions, with approximately 50,900 graduates completing their studies each year.
At the same time, Poland has seen a measurable return of professionals from abroad. Net permanent migration turned positive in 2025 for the first time in decades, with more than 10,000 net arrivals, and estimates suggest roughly 300,000 Poles have returned since 2017. Many of those returning already have experience in international technology and financial environments, which strengthens the pool of people who can move into more specialised quantitative and data roles without starting from scratch.
Europe’s Hedge-Fund Geography
These developments form part of a broader shift in Europe’s investment geography. London remains the continent’s dominant centre for hedge-fund investment management, portfolio managers and capital allocation. Yet an increasing proportion of the technology and analytical infrastructure supporting those activities is being developed elsewhere. Warsaw is an increasingly prominent example, while Krakow has established its own concentration of quantitative and financial-technology professionals through international banking operations.
Balyasny’s expansion adds to the range of opportunities available to Poland’s technology and quantitative workforce. Engineers working in Warsaw can now contribute to trading systems, portfolio analytics and risk-management platforms used across a major international hedge fund. With Point72, Qube and Arini also developing local operations, demand for people with these skills is likely to remain strong.
The longer-term question is how far this activity will extend into other parts of the investment business. Balyasny’s Warsaw operation has grown quickly, but its workforce remains concentrated in technology and data. Whether Poland can attract a larger share of the portfolio-management and quantitative research functions that sit closer to investment decisions will be an important indicator of how its position in Europe’s hedge-fund industry develops.
Verita HR works with firms on permanent recruitment and outsourcing for quant, data and technology roles. If you are assessing the Polish market as hedge funds expand their technology functions here, we can help you map compensation, hiring timelines and the profiles that are most likely to succeed.
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Author: Michal Pawlak
