AFAM: Hello, Samuel, and thank you for participating in this interview series. Please tell us a few words about yourself.
Samuel: I grew up in Burgundy, bounced around a bit for school (the UK, Switzerland) and eventually made my way to the U.S. in New York, at Carnegie Mellon University. Each move just widened the lens a bit and pushed me toward more quantitative, systems-driven work. Now I’m in energy markets as a quant researcher / trader, building tools and models to make sense of a space that’s fast, noisy, and weirdly fun to work in. Outside of that, I’m splitting time between Pittsburgh, New York, and Paris, or getting lost in whatever catches my brain that week.
AFAM: you were a Quantitative Research intern at SESCO LLC in Pennsylvania. Could you please tell us a few words about your internship?
Samuel: My internship was all about decoding the behavior of generators across the grid, modelling their offer logic, and trying to anticipate how they’d move the market. It sounds heavy, and it was, but the essence was simple: take a complex, messy system and make it predictable enough to act on. The pace was intense in a good way. Small team, high expectations, no fluff.
AFAM: As you might know, AFAM offers the Shasta program to help Arts et Metiers students find internships in the US. So, the students who are currently in the program would be interested to know how you found this internship at SESCO and why you think you were the best candidate for this position?
Samuel: I stumbled on the internship through the university job board. Energy trading isn’t exactly front-and-center for most students, so it felt like discovering a hidden lane I didn’t know existed. Once I dug into the area, it felt like the perfect mix of quantitative work and real-world dynamics. I knew the kind of shop I was looking for, somewhere where interns actually build things, not just clean data. Sesco fit that perfectly. I think I stood out because my profile bridges two worlds: the engineering mindset from Arts et Métiers and the quantitative depth from CMU/prépa. It meant I could approach problems both structurally and mathematically. I didn’t pretend to be an expert in power markets. I showed that I was ready to ramp up quickly in a new domain and build things that matter.
AFAM: you hold a master’s degree in Computational Finance from Carnegie Mellon University. Could you please tell us more about this chapter of your life?
Samuel: CMU was a serious grind. I ended up with a group that matched my energy; tired, stubborn, and way too competitive for our own good. We’d be deep into math and coding at ridiculous hours, pushing each other because none of us wanted to be the one who tapped out first. We got home so late most nights that our building’s receptionist probably thought we had a wild social life. That mix of pressure and friendly rivalry built real friendships. It was intense, but it shaped how I work today. And honestly, it was my way into the U.S. I grew up far from any major city, so getting the chance to study here and go head-to-head with some of the sharpest people around felt like finally stepping onto the stage I’d always imagined.
AFAM: Why did you decide to go into the financial sector? What was your motivation?
Samuel: I didn’t step into finance because I was passionate about markets. I could be trading frozen orange juice concentrate, class B milk futures, or selling virtual energy — oh wait. The attraction wasn’t the product; it was the environment. I like places where high-bandwidth thinking is the norm and the expectations are high. I’m naturally competitive, and I work best around people who think quickly and push each other without needing to say it out loud. I realized over time that traditional engineering didn’t suit me, the timelines were long, and the distance between effort and outcome felt too wide. In a hedge fund, the loop is tighter and the impact is clear. You build something useful, and it’s on someone’s screen the same day. It felt like working on real-world complexity without the big-team bureaucracy. That rhythm felt right to me.
AFAM: You came back full time as quantitative trader time almost a year ago, how has your role evolved since?
Samuel: Coming back full time was a shock in the best way. The learning curve is insane, you think you know the space, then you start trading and you realize how much there is left to absorb.Nobody is waiting for you and you feel the pressure immediately. A year in, the curve stays vertical, but my role’s gotten bigger. I’ve built tools people actually use, thrown away a bunch of things that didn’t deserve to exist, teamed up with others on exotic problems, and taken the lead when I knew where to push. One thing I love about Sesco is how flat the place is. The dude sitting next to you can literally be the CEO or the latest hire —everyone’s in the mix, building, arguing, breaking things, fixing them. It keeps you sharp and it keeps you humble. Fluff aside, a lot of my life now is coding on a mechanical keyboard I probably overpaid for, scribbling ideas on paper like a maniac, and pacing around like one spark might actually get me to the Riemann Hypothesis. It's chaotic, but that's the job... and I love it.
AFAM: how did being a Gadz help you in your professional life so far?
Samuel: Being a Gadz shapes you in ways that aren’t obvious from the outside. There’s a shared mindset, a way of working, of showing up, of not taking yourself too seriously even when the workload and responsibilities are heavy. Professionally, that’s been valuable. You stay grounded, you stay reliable, and you’re comfortable in environments where things move fast. Resilience, discipline, and the ability to handle intensity without blinking are core values I developed during my time at l'École.
AFAM: Thank you for your time, Samuel!
Picture: courtesy of Samuel
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