Can anyone shed light on how an machine learning focussed software engineer or data scientist might get a piece of the action? Specifically, how might such a person land a role that has potential to pay say, 300k+ ?
Many quantitative funds specifically hire math/stats/comp sci without a background in finance. The interviews will be very math/stats focused with coding (maybe algorithms) thrown in.
Don't expect $300k your first year (or second, honestly). Expect more like $150k. The lucrative compensation will be in bonus, and you (or your team) will eat what you kill. You should research the industry more so you're not walking in blind. "Quant" is an overused term and means different things. That skillset can land you in roles for execution (mostly development), strategy research (much more math/stats), risk management, trading, etc. There are few roles that will start off at $300k+ without any time in the industry, and where it happens those are generally cases of very well-known firms poaching someone from academia.