Portfolio Specialist

William Blair • Full-time • Chicago, IL, US • 3w ago

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William Blair has delivered trusted advice for nearly nine decades, and we continue to deepen our expertise and relationships across regions, asset classes, and markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

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What sets us apart is that we are an independent partnership, with employees who have unique experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. We provide advisory services, strategies, and solutions to meet clients’ evolving needs amid dynamic market conditions and varying industries.

We strive to attract the most qualified, passionate candidates who specialize in investment banking, investment management, private wealth management, and a variety of other business functions.

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We invite you to learn about how we are seeking excellence in everything we do and empowering our clients’ success with passion, creativity, and rigor. For more information, visit williamblair.com.

As a Portfolio Specialist, the qualified candidate will be responsible for developing and maintaining detailed knowledge of William Blair investment strategies and products, participating in client meetings and providing clients, prospects, consultants and intermediaries with investment product expertise. In addition, this individual will perform detailed portfolio and investment strategy analyses and evaluate risk and performance of each investment strategy and convey findings to portfolio managers and clients.

Responsibilities Include But May Not Be Limited To

Develop and maintain expert knowledge of William Blair investment strategies and products. Maintain updated knowledge on industry trends and analyze how they may impact client investment strategies and products.
Participate in client and prospect meetings and other investment-related forums to provide investment product and financial market expertise.
Apply detailed understanding of client investment expectations and goals to propose product/portfolio-specific solutions to address client needs.
Collaborate cross-functionally with sales, marketing, research and portfolio management teams to design tailored marketing materials for client meetings and sales efforts. These may include: product education and training materials, marketing books, regular commentaries, white papers, etc.
Contribute to the RFP/questionnaire process. Create and review content to ensure that responses appropriately address client needs.
Conceptualize and perform detailed portfolio and investment strategy analyses. Evaluate risk and performance of each investment strategy and convey findings to portfolio managers and clients. Analyze research and evaluate alternatives in conjunction with portfolio managers and quantitative team.
Collaborate cross- functionally with sales, marketing, research and portfolio management teams to execute plans. Regularly monitor and report on plan progress and key performance metrics.
Provide perspective in executing functional activities such as fee and vehicle reviews, IT system reviews and the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) process.
Actively update internal staff and clients on industry trends, provide insights on how they affect client goals and product offerings, and provide input and recommendations on new product development opportunities.
Provide perspective in sales, marketing and investment-related activities within the Portfolio Specialist team. Foster a spirit of teamwork within the Portfolio Specialist team and across the department.
Ensure all work activities are in compliance with applicable rules, regulations, policies and procedures.
Additional responsibilities as requested

Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree required; MBA or CFA preferred
10+ years of experience in an institutional investment role such as Portfolio Manager, Portfolio Specialist or Investment Manager Research required
Detailed knowledge of investment strategies, portfolio construction, and analytical tools
Excellent sales and presentation skills
Excellent written and verbal communications skills
In-depth knowledge of investment concepts and products
In-depth knowledge of applicable regulations
Ability to build relationships and collaborate with investment, sales, research, operations, marketing and product teams
Ability to work independently in support of team goals
Excellent prioritization and time management skills
Proficient in Excel, Bloomberg, and other investment industry standard data sources

William Blair is an equal opportunity employer. It complies with all laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination in employment practice because of race, color, religion, creed, ancestry, marital status, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation, unfavorable discharge from the military service or on the basis of a physical or mental disability that is unrelated to the employee's ability to perform the duties of the job applied for. EOE m/f/d/v

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Note to External Recruiters / Search Firms: William Blair does not accept unsolicited resumes and will not pay for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. Any unsolicited resumes received will not be considered as a valid submission.

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