Retirement Investment Risk & Asset Allocation Officer

The Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System (IPERS) is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Retirement Investment Risk & Asset Allocation Officer. IPERS investment division is responsible for the administration and management of the $40 billion IPERS investment portfolio. IPERS serves over 375,000 active, inactive, and retired members covering most public employers within the state of Iowa.

Reporting to the Chief Investment Officer, the Retirement Investment Risk & Asset Allocation Officer is responsible for creating and working with various quantitative models to measure and analyze investment risk in the IPERS investment portfolio.

Risk Measurement and Monitoring responsibilities include:

• Test existing risk measurement models and evaluate new ideas, tools, and metrics for risk management and reporting
• Work collaboratively with the Chief Investment Officer and Investment staff in developing, testing, and implementing risk management strategies for the investment portfolio
• Create and distribute monthly, quarterly, and ad hoc risk monitoring reports
• Monitor portfolio risk levels with risk budgets established in Policy; report breaches to CIO and/or Investment Board as required by Policy
• Perform regular risk assessments: analyzing current risks and identifying potential risks in the portfolio
• Conduct performance attribution/contribution analysis
• Assist asset class directors in the interpretation of current risk information and running stress test and “what if” scenarios. Conduct tailored analysis as necessary.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of financial markets, quantitative drivers, general investment themes, and regulatory developments in order to bring an informed perspective to risk processes.

Asset Allocation & Manager Selection responsibilities include:

• Provide input to asset allocation team, including current and estimated levels of market volatility, risk, and valuations
• Participate in discussions concerning strategic and tactical asset allocation, investment manager review and external manager retention decisions
• Collaborates with team in making risk-aware investment management decisions including portfolio optimization, rebalancing strategies etc.
• Participates in special projects and research work as needed

Closing Date: 6/20/2023 11:59 PM Central

Salary: $205,358.40 - $292,094.40 Annually

To apply: Submit an application, resume and cover letter via the State of Iowa Careers website.

Finalist will be subject to a background check.

Minimum Qualification Requirements:

Applicants must meet at least one of the following minimum requirements to qualify:

1) All of the following (a, b, c, d and e):

a. Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Mathematics, Quantitative Finance, Statistics, or equivalent highly-quantitative or finance-related field of study; and

b. Five years of full-time experience in an institutional investment environment with assets under management of at least $1 billion performing investment risk analysis, performing risk management functions, developing tactical or strategic asset allocation strategies, evaluating current valuations of various assets types, or managing an institutional investment portfolio; and

c. Two years of experience trading/structuring or modeling financial derivatives; and

d. Two years of experience programming risk models and developing and evaluating factor models; and

e. Possession of a Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification or Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

2) All of the following (a, b, c and d):

a. Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a Master’s degree in Finance, Mathematics, Quantitative Finance, Statistics, or equivalent highly quantitative or finance-related field of study; and

b. Five years of full-time experience in an institutional investment environment with assets under management of at least $1 billion performing investment risk analysis, performing risk management functions, developing tactical or strategic asset allocation strategies, evaluating current valuations of various assets types, or managing an institutional investment portfolio; and

c. Two years of experience trading / structuring or modeling financial derivatives; and

d. Two years of experience programming risk models and developing and evaluating factor models