You're mistaken, quants tend to be mathematicians or traders who design algorithms or analyse trading or risk data, some of them may also be writing production

You're mistaken, quants tend to be mathematicians or traders who design algorithms or analyse trading or risk data, some of them may also be writing production trading code but definitely not all of them. The role you're describing is closer to "quant dev" where a developer works closely with quants to implement the algorithms, quant devs may also be involved in algorithm design but it's a distinct role. It's also not just two roles, there are a huge variety of distinct roles paying different amount, although the closer you are to making money for the bank the more you're likely to get paid. While a developer working in front-office won't make as much as someone of similar seniority on the business side of the front-office, they can certainly make more than those working on the business side of the middle or back office.