Kairan Quazi has taken another leap few would have predicted. At 16, he is leaving SpaceX after two years working on the Starlink project and is moving to Citadel Securities in New York. Speaking to Business Insider, he explained his decision. “After two years at SpaceX, I felt ready to take on new challenges and expand my skill set into a different high-performance environment. Citadel Securities offered a similarly ambitious culture, but also a completely new domain, which is very exciting for me.”
Kairan Quazi: The making of a prodigy
Born in 2009 in Pleasanton, California, to Bangladeshi parents, Quazi grew up surrounded by both finance and science. His mother, Jullia, is a Wall Street professional, while his father, Mustahid, is a chemical engineer. That mix shaped his early interests in mathematics and technology.
His path never resembled that of a typical child. At two, experts measured his emotional and intellectual intelligence as unusually advanced. By nine, he had left third grade and moved into college-level courses in mathematics and chemistry. At 11, he earned an Associate of Science in Mathematics from Las Positas College. By 14, he graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in computer science, making him the youngest graduate in the school’s 170-year history.
Alongside academics, he served as a senator in the Associated Student Government from 2021 to 2023, showing early signs of leadership and responsibility.
SpaceX and the Starlink project
Soon after graduating, SpaceX came calling. At just 14, Quazi was hired as one of the youngest engineers in the company’s history. He joined the Starlink team, where he worked on production-critical systems that controlled how satellites targeted their beams to provide internet connectivity across the world.
In an earlier comment, he described SpaceX as “a rare company that didn’t use my age as an arbitrary and outdated proxy for maturity and ability.” For two years, his work contributed to the global mission of satellite-powered internet, and his age never limited the responsibility he was given.
Facing barriers to opportunity
Despite his accomplishments, Quazi has spoken openly about the challenges of being a teenager in industries dominated by adults. In 2023, Vogue quoted him describing “cultural adultism” and rejections from recruiters who prioritised age over ability.
That same year, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn suspended his account for being under 16. Quazi called the decision “illogical, primitive nonsense,” questioning how he could be trusted to work on critical systems at SpaceX yet barred from using a professional networking site. When reinstated, he criticised the education system itself, writing that “tests are not used to measure mastery, but the ability to regurgitate” and that modern schooling encourages “fear and prestige-chasing over learning.”
“Age, privilege, and unconscious (sometimes even conscious) biases are used to gatekeep opportunities,” he wrote, adding that even thinkers like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius might have considered today’s education system dangerous.
Why finance and why now
Quazi turned down offers from leading AI labs and technology firms. His explanation was direct. “Quant finance offers a pretty rare combination: the complexity and intellectual challenge that AI research also provides, but with a much faster pace,” he told Business Insider. “At Citadel Securities, I’ll be able to see measurable impact in days, not months or years like many research environments.”
He added, “It’s one of the most prestigious industries you could go into as a computer scientist or mathematician.”
Citadel Securities, a major trading firm that handles around 35 percent of US retail stock trades and generated nearly 10 billion dollars in 2024, has described his recruitment as a win in the battle for top talent.
Building towards finance early on
Quazi’s interest in finance was seeded at home. His mother’s career in mergers and acquisitions exposed him to financial concepts early, while his own work experience broadened his perspective. He interned at Intel Labs at the age of 10, later joined cyber-intelligence company Blackbird.AI in 2022, and built expertise in machine learning, high-performance computing, and real-time programming.
Now living in Manhattan, Quazi’s new office on Park Avenue is a ten-minute walk from his apartment. “New York has a very special place in my heart,” he said, noting that his mother grew up in Astoria, Queens. Unlike his SpaceX days, when his mother drove him to the Redmond office, his commute is now on foot and soon, by subway.
Citadel’s communications director, Jackie Scharnick, said Quazi had declined an interview with Fortune so he could “focus on his second day of work.”
From Mensa at two, to Intel at ten, to SpaceX at fourteen, and Wall Street at sixteen, Quazi’s story reads like a timeline unfolding at high speed. He is not just a prodigy but a young professional navigating adult industries with a mix of confidence and defiance. His journey so far suggests one thing: whatever comes next, it will not be predictable.
Kairan Quazi: The making of a prodigy
Born in 2009 in Pleasanton, California, to Bangladeshi parents, Quazi grew up surrounded by both finance and science. His mother, Jullia, is a Wall Street professional, while his father, Mustahid, is a chemical engineer. That mix shaped his early interests in mathematics and technology.
His path never resembled that of a typical child. At two, experts measured his emotional and intellectual intelligence as unusually advanced. By nine, he had left third grade and moved into college-level courses in mathematics and chemistry. At 11, he earned an Associate of Science in Mathematics from Las Positas College. By 14, he graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in computer science, making him the youngest graduate in the school’s 170-year history.
Alongside academics, he served as a senator in the Associated Student Government from 2021 to 2023, showing early signs of leadership and responsibility.
SpaceX and the Starlink project
Soon after graduating, SpaceX came calling. At just 14, Quazi was hired as one of the youngest engineers in the company’s history. He joined the Starlink team, where he worked on production-critical systems that controlled how satellites targeted their beams to provide internet connectivity across the world.
In an earlier comment, he described SpaceX as “a rare company that didn’t use my age as an arbitrary and outdated proxy for maturity and ability.” For two years, his work contributed to the global mission of satellite-powered internet, and his age never limited the responsibility he was given.
Facing barriers to opportunity
Despite his accomplishments, Quazi has spoken openly about the challenges of being a teenager in industries dominated by adults. In 2023, Vogue quoted him describing “cultural adultism” and rejections from recruiters who prioritised age over ability.
That same year, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn suspended his account for being under 16. Quazi called the decision “illogical, primitive nonsense,” questioning how he could be trusted to work on critical systems at SpaceX yet barred from using a professional networking site. When reinstated, he criticised the education system itself, writing that “tests are not used to measure mastery, but the ability to regurgitate” and that modern schooling encourages “fear and prestige-chasing over learning.”
“Age, privilege, and unconscious (sometimes even conscious) biases are used to gatekeep opportunities,” he wrote, adding that even thinkers like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius might have considered today’s education system dangerous.
Why finance and why now
Quazi turned down offers from leading AI labs and technology firms. His explanation was direct. “Quant finance offers a pretty rare combination: the complexity and intellectual challenge that AI research also provides, but with a much faster pace,” he told Business Insider. “At Citadel Securities, I’ll be able to see measurable impact in days, not months or years like many research environments.”
He added, “It’s one of the most prestigious industries you could go into as a computer scientist or mathematician.”
Citadel Securities, a major trading firm that handles around 35 percent of US retail stock trades and generated nearly 10 billion dollars in 2024, has described his recruitment as a win in the battle for top talent.
Building towards finance early on
Quazi’s interest in finance was seeded at home. His mother’s career in mergers and acquisitions exposed him to financial concepts early, while his own work experience broadened his perspective. He interned at Intel Labs at the age of 10, later joined cyber-intelligence company Blackbird.AI in 2022, and built expertise in machine learning, high-performance computing, and real-time programming.
Now living in Manhattan, Quazi’s new office on Park Avenue is a ten-minute walk from his apartment. “New York has a very special place in my heart,” he said, noting that his mother grew up in Astoria, Queens. Unlike his SpaceX days, when his mother drove him to the Redmond office, his commute is now on foot and soon, by subway.
Citadel’s communications director, Jackie Scharnick, said Quazi had declined an interview with Fortune so he could “focus on his second day of work.”
From Mensa at two, to Intel at ten, to SpaceX at fourteen, and Wall Street at sixteen, Quazi’s story reads like a timeline unfolding at high speed. He is not just a prodigy but a young professional navigating adult industries with a mix of confidence and defiance. His journey so far suggests one thing: whatever comes next, it will not be predictable.
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