Ákos Záhorský

Slovak mathematician and quantitative researcher based in Prague. IMO 2017 honourable mention and IMO 2018 silver medallist for Slovakia; MEMO 2016 silver. Dual MSc in Financial Mathematics (ELTE + Corvinus/BCE), BSc Mathematics (ELTE). Research internship at KAUST (Richtárik Optimization and ML Lab, 2023-2024). Index-reported Quantitative Research Analyst at Second Foundation (algorithmic energy trading) from 2024; earlier index-reported Risk Management Analyst at Morgan Stanley Budapest.

Notes8

• Quant employment verification: CONFIRMED. Identity is supported by multiple primary sources (IMO 2017/2018 results for Slovakia; his own MEMO 2024 organiser bio 'I am Ákos from Slovakia. I have a dual MSc in Financial Mathematics from the universities ELTE and BCE'; the KAUST Optimization and Machine Learning Lab page listing 'Ákos Záhorský (9/2023-2/2024), from Eötvös Loránd University'). Actual work: a Research Internship at KAUST supervised in Peter Richtárik's lab (9/2023-2/2024, primary-source confirmed) and, per LinkedIn-derived index data only, a current Quantitative Research Analyst role at Second Foundation (Prague, from 2024) plus a prior Risk Management Analyst role at Morgan Stanley Budapest (2022-2023). Employer classification: KAUST is an academic research university (optimization/ML, not finance); Second Foundation IS an algorithmic quantitative energy-trading firm (its own site calls it 'a leader in algorithmic energy trading' and a top intraday trader, and Bloomberg describes it as dominating European intraday power trading) so its quant role is genuinely quant finance; Morgan Stanley is a bank. The Second Foundation and Morgan Stanley roles are index-reported (LinkedIn-derived), not independently primary-source confirmed, so quant employment rests on a real role at a confirmed quant firm but the specific role is index-only.
• Second Foundation (second-foundation.eu / second-foundation.de), founded in Prague in 2019, is a quant firm: it describes itself as 'a leader in algorithmic energy trading' and a top intraday trader in Germany, running manual and algorithmic trading of energy commodities across 25+ European markets, ~370 employees — so a role there is genuine quantitative/algorithmic trading, not a name coincidence.
• LinkedIn enrichment (index-derived, not independently primary-source confirmed) lists current role as Quantitative Research Analyst at Second Foundation, Prague, from 2024, and prior roles: Research Internship at KAUST (2023-2024) and Risk Management Analyst at Morgan Stanley, Budapest (2022-2023).
• The KAUST Optimization and Machine Learning Lab team page (Peter Richtárik) lists 'Ákos Záhorský (9/2023-2/2024), from Eötvös Loránd University' as a member, independently confirming the research internship dates and that he joined from ELTE — consistent with his BSc in Mathematics at ELTE.
• MEMO 2024 organiser page carries his own bio: 'I am Ákos from Slovakia. I have a dual MSc in Financial Mathematics from the universities ELTE and BCE', and lists him as coordinator and Problem Selection Committee member — consistent with the LinkedIn-listed ELTE BSc + Corvinus (BCE) MSc and confirming the Slovakia identity.
• moresults.org records Ákos Záhorský representing Slovakia: IMO 2018 silver medal (27 pts, rank 111/593), IMO 2017 honourable mention (9 pts, rank 471/615) and MEMO 2016 silver medal (rank 10/60).
• A Feb 2026 Bloomberg/Luxembourg Times feature reports Second Foundation dominates Europe's intraday power market using algorithms and hires International Mathematical Olympiad medallists from Eastern Europe; this is the firm's own profile, not evidence of Ákos's specific work.
• His listed trajectory (ELTE BSc Mathematics 2018-2021, then dual MSc Financial Mathematics ELTE+BCE 2021-2023, KAUST ML research internship 2023-2024, then a quant role) shows a mathematics-to-quantitative-finance path; this is a factual sequence, not evidence of a hiring cause.
• He contributed to the 3Blue1Brown video 'Five puzzles for thinking outside the box' (Nov 2024) and is thanked as 'Akos Zahorsky via email' — an olympiad-mathematics community contribution.