Retirement Investment Officer, Retirement Services - (2101025)

Retirement Investment Officer, Retirement Services - (2101025)

About the Department 

The City of San José, the Capital of Silicon Valley, is one of the nation's best managed cities and one of the top ten cities in which to live, work, and do business.  Moreover, San José is the center of cultural, government and economic activity for the region.  The employees of the City of San José have embraced the following values:  Integrity, Innovation, Excellence, Collaboration, Respect and Celebration. The City's Retirement Services Department is seeking an individual whose values align with the values of the City's employees.

The mission of the City's Retirement Services Department is to provide quality services in the delivery of pension and related benefits and maintain financially sound pension plans.

Positions & Duties

Pursuant to the City’s Covid-19 Mandatory Vaccination and Testing Policy, the City of San José is requiring all new hires to provide proof of Covid-19 vaccination as a condition of employment absent a documented medical and/or religious exemption.

Please note that applications are currently not accepted through CalOpps or any other third party job board application system. To apply, applicants must complete an application via the City of San Jose’s website at www.sanjoseca.gov/citycareers. 

The actual salary shall be determined by the final candidate’s qualifications and experience.  In addition to the starting salary, employees in the Retirement Investment Officer classification shall also receive an approximate five percent (5%) ongoing non-pensionable compensation pay. 

The Office of Retirement Services (ORS) is seeking an exceptionally talented and high-performing individual to help manage approximately $8 billion in pension assets. The Retirement Investment Officer will work closely with the CIO, Investment Officers, and Analysts, as well as engage the Investment Committee and Board. This is a unique opportunity to join a highly collaborative, professional, and forward-thinking team.

The Retirement Investment Officer (RIO) will report to the Chief Investment Officer and will be primarily responsible for analysis and implementation of quantitative models in the management of the investment portfolios within the retirement system.

The RIO perform risk analyses, both across and within asset classes as well as monitor the risk of specific investment managers.  In addition, the RIO will suggest appropriate guidelines and policies, and may need to develop appropriate procedures for overseeing the risk portion of the Investment Policy Statement.

The RIO will work closely with the plans’ external investment consultants to produce a detailed risk review of the program quarterly for the Investment Committee. Utilizing the MSCI BarraOne risk system or other appropriate tools, the RIO will monitor the program’s risk and underlying exposures, ensuring consistency with policy and expectations, and recommend changes if warranted. The RIO may be asked to support the work of other investment officers in different asset classes, as well as support the CIO on ad hoc projects.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Work with the system’s risk management tools to ensure that portfolios are being managed within the risk framework established to govern the system.  
• Monitor and ensure that the overall portfolio's risk and underlying exposures are consistent with policy and will recommend necessary changes, if warranted.
• Proactively monitor tracking error of various asset classes to underlying benchmarks; identify potential sources of risk, help develop active risk targets for various asset classes, and help liaise with external risk management provider to facilitate effective implementation of risk management tools.
• May be involved in assisting Investment Officers in the performance of due diligence and analysis for selection of investment firms through on-site visits, discussions with other institutional investors, and analysis of information provided by consultants.
• Conduct ongoing due diligence of current portfolio, including meetings with managers to discuss portfolio returns and strategies, and quantitative analysis of portfolio returns and underlying holdings.
• Assist with ad-hoc projects to assist CIO and Investment Officers in the implementation of the plan’s strategy.

This recruitment may be used to fill multiple positions in this, or other divisions or departments. If you are interested in employment in this classification, you should apply to ensure you are considered for additional opportunities that may utilize the applicants from this recruitment.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

1.  Education:  Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university in business, finance, financial engineering, mathematics, economics or a related field.

2.   Experience: Five(5) years experience in a defined benefit retirement fund, investment consulting, investment management, pension consulting or other related financial or fiscal analytic work.

Acceptable Substitutions: One (1) year of additional education above a Bachelor’s Degree may be substituted for one year of the required experience.

3.  Employment Eligibility:  Federal law requires all employees to provide verification of their eligibility to work in this country. Please be informed that the City of San Jose will NOT sponsor, represent or sign any documents related to visa applications/transfers for H1-B or any other type of visa which requires an employer application.

Desirable Qualifications

1) A graduate degree in a quantitative discipline, either in economics or finance, or in the natural sciences or engineering is desirable for the position.   Candidates with graduate degrees in one of the disciplines listed above are also encouraged to apply.

2) A strong foundation in applied empirical analysis

3) CFA or progress towards the CFA
 

Competencies

The ideal candidate will possess the following competencies, as demonstrated in past and current employment history.  Desirable competencies for this position include:

Job Expertise: Knowledge of: Investment concepts including: portfolio theory, asset allocation and capital markets; Financial and statistical analysis; Principles and practices of institutional investing; Ability to: Perform complex financial analysis and ability to analyze, isolate and interpret data; Interact with external service providers such as actuarial and investment consultants, money managers and custodian; Utilize and coordinate the delivery of custodial services.

Analytical Thinking - approaches a situation or problem by defining the problem or issue; identifies a set of features, parameters, or considerations to take into account, collects and analyzes data, uses logic and intuition to arrive at conclusions and recommendations

Communication Skills - communicates and listens effectively and responds in an timely, effective, positive and respectful manner; written reports and correspondence are accurate, complete, current; well-organized, legible, concise, neat, and in proper grammatical form

Computer Skills - experienced with common business computer applications including but not limited to: MS Outlook, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Access, and MS Excel

Initiative - exhibits self directed, resourceful and creative behaviors toward meeting job objectives; anticipates problems, is proactive, and avoids difficulties by planning ahead; displays willingness to assume extra responsibility or workload and accept challenges; pursue continuing educational opportunities which promote enhanced job performance.

Leadership - leads by example; serves as appropriate role model; demonstrates high ethical standards; Remains visible and approachable and interacts with others on a regular basis; promotes a cooperative work environment; encourages and rewards risk-taking, allowing others to learn from mistakes.

Team Work & Interpersonal Skills - develops effective relationships with co-workers and supervisors by helping others accomplish tasks and using collaboration and conflict resolution skills.

Selection Process

The selection process will consist of an evaluation of the applicant's training and experience based on the application and responses to the Job Specific Questions. Only the candidates whose backgrounds best match the position will be invited to proceed in the selection process.  Additional phases of the selection process will consist of one or more interviews.

You will be prompted to answer the following job-specific question(s) during the online application process.  Please note that there is a 4,000-character limit, including spaces, for each text response. 

1. Describe your education and experience and how it relates to this position.

You must answer all job-specific questions in order to be considered for this vacancy or your application will be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration. 

If you have questions about the duties of these positions, the selection or hiring processes, please contact Santa Barota at Santa.Barota@sanjoseca.gov.

Additional Information 

-Link to Benefits page
-Link to Office of Retirement Services page

Please note that applications are currently not accepted through CalOpps or any other third party job board application system. To apply, applicants must complete an application via the City of San Jose’s website at www.sanjoseca.gov/citycareers. 

 If your online application was successfully submitted, you will receive an automatic confirmation email to the email address you provided.  IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE CONFIRMATION, please email CityCareers@sanjoseca.gov and we will research the status of your application.  Please contact Human Resources at (408) 535-1285, or Human.Resources@sanjoseca.gov if you have any questions.