Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think 400 is likely attainable for the hedge funds, no idea about other fields. The HFT guys pay about 250 (total comp, e.g, salary and bonuses) for a newly minted PhD.
No way. £250K for a new Ph.D. with zero experience in industry? Even a low latency whiz kid with deep Linux kernel optimisation will just about maybe make £250K in a very good year.
$250k, not pounds. $125k base, 100% bonus. I know two fellow Phds who had this first year. This is a top-10 program, but not more.