Teen Prodigy Quazi Leaves SpaceX Joins Citadel Securities

Kairan Quazi, a 16-year-old prodigy who became the youngest graduate of Santa Clara University and joined SpaceX's Starlink division as an engineer at 14, is leaving SpaceX after two years to join Citadel Securities in New York. Quazi's move to Citadel Securities, a leading quant finance firm, underscores the growing competition between financial firms, AI labs, and major tech companies for top engineering talent. He chose Citadel for its fast-paced, meritocratic culture and the opportunity to see rapid, measurable impacts in his work, contrasting with the longer timelines in aerospace and AI projects. At SpaceX, Quazi contributed to software that guided satellite beams to deliver internet worldwide, while at Citadel, he will focus on global trading infrastructure, working at the intersection of engineering and quantitative problem-solving. Known for his unconventional educational path, Quazi skipped from third grade to college by age 9 and has been outspoken against traditional education systems that he feels gatekeep opportunities based on age or privilege. His career shift highlights his desire for new intellectual challenges in different high-performance environments.