The billionaire trader dubbed the “King of Britain’s geeks” is making headlines once again — this time for offering student interns a staggering £26,000 a month to join his trading empire.
The move comes only days after Alex Gerko, 45, founder of the London-based financial powerhouse XTX Markets, secured a record-breaking £682 million payday, cementing his status as one of the most successful — and wealthiest — figures in global finance.
A golden ticket for elite students
The opportunity is not for the faint-hearted. Applicants must be PhD students with at least a year left before graduation, specializing in fields such as computer science, electrical engineering, or mathematics.
On top of that, XTX is demanding “solid” programming skills, as well as a proven publication record in leading AI and machine learning journals — making this one of the most selective internships in the world.
Whoever lands the role will be paid more in a single month than Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer earns in an entire year, placing them among the highest-paid interns in Britain’s history.
From Moscow to Mayfair
Gerko’s story has become the stuff of modern legend. Raised in a modest corner of Moscow near a tractor factory, he excelled in mathematics before moving to the UK.
He took British citizenship in 2016, formally renounced his Russian nationality three years later, and has since been a vocal critic of the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Today, his fortune stands at an estimated £8.7 billion, placing him 20th on the Sunday Times Rich List. His assets include a £22 million London mansion, a sprawling estate in the Chilterns, and a cutting-edge data hub in Iceland powered by Nvidia AI chips and geothermal energy.
A rare blend of wealth and generosity
Despite his vast riches, Gerko has become one of Britain’s most significant taxpayers and philanthropists. Once ranked as the nation’s largest individual taxpayer, he handed over £664 million in 2023 and contributed another £202 million last year.
Alongside his wife Elena, a former Bank of England economist, he has donated tens of millions to British charities, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, NHS Charities Together, and the Trussell Trust, which supports food banks. The couple also gave £1.5 million to the London Symphony Orchestra and fund hundreds of maths circles across the UK to nurture young mathematical talent.
A new benchmark for ambition
The £26,000-a-month internship is more than just an extraordinary paycheck — it signals how XTX Markets sees itself at the cutting edge of finance, competing for the brightest minds in AI, machine learning, and mathematics.
For aspiring PhD students hoping to turn numbers into fortune, Alex Gerko’s offer may be the golden ticket of a lifetime.
