Fixed Income Product Manager

The Product Manager has the below listed responsibilities for several investment products. This individual plays a pivotal role in linking Ivy’s investment management and distribution teams. By partnering with investment management, National Channel, the Professional Buyers Group, Marketing, Legal, Dealer Services, etc., this individual will work to create high quality and relevant investment content in order to assist in client retention and increasing sales.

This is a high-visibility position with exposure to senior management and the opportunity to interact with business leaders and teams across the firm.

Principal Responsibilities

Investment Team Relationship
This individual will become deeply knowledgeable of their assigned product line in order to effectively convey this information to colleagues, investors, gatekeepers, research analysts and other clients. This individual works closely with the portfolio managers (PMs) and, when necessary, acts as a liaison between the PMs and both internal and external constituents. The Product Manager must have an intimate knowledge of the investment philosophy and process of each product supported. This includes a detailed understanding of current investment themes, knowledge of portfolio holdings, risk attributes of the strategy, past and current positioning of the portfolio, near-term outlook for the strategy and performance attribution. This also includes comprehensive knowledge of relevant market sectors and the general economic environment. This individual must be perceived as a credible representative from both a fundamental analysis and macro-economic perspective.

Business Development / Client Servicing
Play a key role in new business opportunities by working with our distribution teams to educate colleagues, investors, gatekeepers, research analysts and other clients. This includes mastering a thorough understanding of competitors in the marketplace and possessing the ability to effectively communicate points of differentiation for use by client-facing personnel. When the CPM is not available, the Product Manager will participate in presentations and due diligence meetings as needed to win new business and service existing clients (investors, advisors, firm gatekeepers, research analysts) via in-person meetings (on- and off-site) or conference calls. The Product Manager is in turn expected to represent the clients’ feedback in discussions with PMs and other parts of the organization.

Business Management / Product Development
Act as a product’s general manager across the organization on behalf of the product/PM. This may include liaising with various operations units including legal, compliance, accounting and others, exercising judgment as to when/if the PM should be involved. To demonstrate the product’s ongoing viability, the Product Manager will hold ongoing product line reviews to critically assess the product’s marketability, profitability, and related product/industry trends. 

Additionally, the Product Manager will be involved in new product development and implementation seeking to monitor, anticipate and assess market, client, competitor and regulatory trends to drive product strategy and identify opportunities for new product innovation.  This individual will help to define and build the business case for new product development initiatives by assembling fact-based arguments and developing compelling presentations to senior management. Where approved, this individual will lead the effort to bring new products to market with considerations to Ivy Investments’ unique competitive product set and product structures, firm-wide business strategies, the market cycle, customers’ needs, the competitive landscape, and the firm’s marketing plans.

Marketing Support
The Product Manager serves as the lead for marketing content related to assigned strategies. This individual will work closely with Marketing Communications to clearly articulate investment strategy, process, positioning and ultimately differentiation. This individual will utilize a qualitative and quantitative understanding of the current market environment, key competitors, challenges and objections to the strategy to ensure content is relevant to client-facing people within the organization.  This includes the creation of unique and timely sales ideas for use across the entire Ivy Investments distribution landscape. In addition, this position is responsible for  the development and maintenance of all sales materials and touch points including marketing materials, commentaries, websites, advertising content, pitch books, RFPs and legal documents. Further, this individual will assist in the development of value-added programs covering market and investing trends that demonstrate Ivy’s investment expertise and product availability while regularly engaging with sales teams to understand customers’ needs across the region. 

Skills, Knowledge and Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s Degree (preferably in Finance, Economics or Business)
• An experienced marketer / investment professional with 5+ years of experience
• Strong investment acumen with a comprehensive understanding of economics and capital markets
• Flexible and dependable team player; promoting this attitude within the department
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to adapt to various personalities
• Ability to thrive in a challenging and collaborative environment
• Sound knowledge in equities, fixed income, multi-asset and solution products with an understanding of mutual fund market trends and movements, as well as a successful track record of creating and implementing thoughtful and proactive sales ideas
• CFA required, or demonstrable work towards achievement within first year
• Strong work ethic and drive to succeed
• Superior analytical abilities
• Understanding of industry product structures
• Ability to manage and prioritize concurrent, high complexity projects
• Proven strong verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrate sound judgment and discretion
• Proven strong verbal and written communication skills
• FINRA 7 & 63 required