Quant trading/research is one of those very, very niche fields that you likely only know about if you're:

A) A finance or STEM student at a fairly prestigious university, close to a major financial hub.

B) Belong to a certain social class where high finance is a known and respected field.

Of course, it has become more mainstream - simply due to the high comp, and high comp jobs eventually finding their way to lists with mainstream audience.