The Director of Total Fund Research assists the Senior Investment Policy Officer with investment research and analysis. The main areas of research focus include total fund and asset class investment strategies, asset allocation, investment policy, asset/liability management, risk management, market structure evolution, conditional risk/return expectations, and business cycle analysis. The Director of Total Fund Research works closely with Investment Policy & Asset Allocation staff and senior staff and reports to the Senior Investment Policy Officer.
The Director of Total Fund Research will maintain an awareness of cutting-edge research findings, theories, and techniques by analyzing written publications and conversing with academics, consultants, economists, and investment strategists. With the benefit of this knowledge, they will utilize their advanced quantitative skills in statistical modeling, optimization, numerical methods etc., to produce high quality research and analyses specifically germane to the SBA in the topics listed above and further elaborated upon below. The successful candidate will be comfortable utilizing commercial analytical tools/software when expedient, and self-developed solutions when not.
Key areas of oversight include:
- Investment Policy & Strategic Asset Allocation Research
- Risk Management & Total Portfolio Implementation Research
- Tactical & Dynamic Asset Allocation Research
- Fostering of Institutional Memory, Resiliency and Efficiency
- Communication & Collaboration
Job Requirements:
Eleven years of related experience. A postsecondary degree may be used as an alternative for years of direct experience; 2 years for an associate’s degree, 4 years for a bachelor’s degree, 6 years for a master’s degree, 7 years for a professional degree, or 9 years for a doctoral degree.
Preferences:
- A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in accounting, finance, business, engineering, actuarial science, economics, mathematics, financial mathematics or a related field
- A master's degree from an accredited college or university in accounting, finance, business, engineering, actuarial science, economics, mathematics, financial mathematics or a related field
- Experience in investment research, performance measurement and investment analytics, asset allocation, multi-asset class investment management, or investment risk management
- Experience writing investment related research papers
- Experience building financial models and tools
- Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) credential
- Financial Risk Management (FRM) credential
- Experience with modern data science tooling (i.e. Python, R, Jupyter Notebooks, etc.)
- Familiarity with seminal theories in financial economics
- Experience with advanced econometric techniques and/or techniques in time series analysis
- Experience creating and deploying work product in a software development life cycle (SDLC) context
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices
- Knowledge of institutional fiduciary investment policy formation and execution
- Knowledge of equity, fixed income and cash like investments and investment strategies
- Knowledge of the use and trading of derivatives and swaps
- Knowledge of private market investments
- Knowledge of investment related market and operational risks
- Advanced knowledge and use of Microsoft Excel
- Strong analytical skills
- Ability to learn and use analytical systems and software
- Ability to manage multiple projects and processes simultaneously
- Ability to exercise initiative and independent judgment
- Ability to conduct research, compile data, and present results in an articulate and useful manner, with high attention to detail
