Director, Associate Portfolio Strategist – Consultant Relations

SUMMARY: Represents investment team and firm strategies to current and prospective consultants and other intermediaries and serves as a resident expert on the firm’s investment process (including security selection, portfolio construction and asset allocation) and risk management capabilities.  Directly supports Symphony’s Global Distribution & Investor Relations Group through the creation of investment content to be used in client and communication.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: The following duties are generally representative of the nature and level of work assigned and are not necessarily a comprehensive list.

• Working within a team comprised of Client Service, Product Specialists, and senior level Portfolio Strategists, communicate portfolio performance, positioning and investment outlook primarily to institutional investment consultants as well as other U.S. institutional investors in meetings or via video/conference calls.
• Work closely with the Investment Team to ensure intimate knowledge on specific holdings, the investment process and trade rational – acting as a proxy for the PM in all sales and client service capacities.
• Regularly attend Portfolio Strategist and investment team meetings to ensure a thorough understanding of current macroeconomic/industry/sector outlooks.
• Must be conversant in discussion performance attribution, portfolio analysis and outlook for credit and equity markets.
• Must have a strong knowledge of “alternative” investments landscape.
• Must have a strong understanding of issues related to asset allocation and portfolio construction as related to institutional investment pools the investments of which span public and private capital markets.
• Serve as a product specialist supporting Nuveen distribution teams.  This includes overseeing RFP responses, creating product materials and acting as a Nuveen Sales/Service-Symphony liaison.
• Represent Symphony and it investment approaches in a variety of forums including client and consultant update meetings, onsite due diligence meetings, final presentations, etc.
• Working closely with Head of Global Distribution & Investor Relations to in the effort to support prospect pipeline and formulate new and existing client business strategy
• Maintain an awareness of asset management peers (firms, strategies, performance, etc.)
• Position existing products and/or aid in the development of new strategies desired/needed by the institutional investors.
•  Some domestic travel will be required of the candidate.

QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and/or Experience

• 7+ years of experience as a Portfolio Manager, Investment Strategist or similar position at a consultant/asset manager with direct experience working with consultants
• Strong educational background with preference for a CFA and/or MBA

Analytical/Reasoning and Communication Skills

• Strong knowledge of portfolio construction and allocation processes
• Knowledge of capital markets
• Knowledge of credit and equity markets and securities
• Understanding of fundamental credit and equity analytical techniques
• Knowledge of risk management
• Articulate
• Strong writing skills
• Professional demeanor
• Organized

Certifications/Licenses/Registrations

• CFA preferred
• FINRA Series licenses