Do I need to be quantitative?

No.  You need to be comfortable with numbers.  The calculator I used to do my job looked something like this …. Nothing scientific at all.  The systems you use provide you with the tools to run the numbers and models.  That being said, it is important to understand what is behind the systems.  Systems break, shut down, you can lose power.  When I first started the technology was archaic compared to what trading desks have today; however, I felt like because I had to do so much by hand and built spreadsheets myself, I was able to really learn the products.

Additionally, there is a wide spectrum of products traded across equities & fixed income, many offer more or less quantitative ….