Associate, Sustainable Product Strategist

Description

About this role

EII EMEA Sustainable Indexing Team - Associate

The ETF and Index Investing (EII) EMEA Product Team is seeking a talented Product Strategist for it Sustainable Indexing Team to be based in London. The Product Team is responsible for product management, new product innovation and commercialization of the iShares UCITS ETF range. Within the Product function, Product Segments are the primary commercial axis for execution of client and commercial strategy in the region, aligning it with global client, product and marketing functions for scale. The Sustainable Indexing Team is responsible for building and transforming the way investors understand, analyze and implement Sustainable ETFs within their portfolios.

Role Description

A key member of the EII EMEA Sustainable Indexing Team, with responsibility for growing the adoption of Sustainable ETFs in the EMEA region, providing product expertise in support of Sales, helping drive both client and BlackRock education, competitive positioning and supporting analysis to propel iShares product selection and continue to position us as the clear market leader and a strong partner to our clients. This role will partner directly with Sales and across Marketing, BlackRock Sustainable Investing (BSI), the firm's sustainable investment strategies platform and the overall EII business.

The successful candidate is to have demonstrated Sales experience as or within the Sustainable Investing space. From the Sustainable standpoint this would include having a broad sustainable product knowledge with proven experience in ESG research and be able to serve as a technical expert on the ESG ETFs product suite. Comes with experience of factor investing and able to conduct and expand the conversation with Sales and clients of factor attribution within sustainable products. The ability to partner with teams across functions and aptitude to navigate the product set will be integral component to successfully engage with clients.

The candidate profile will require a combination of client facing skills, quantitative skills, ESG research expertise, writing skills strategic thinking, organizational agility and practical investment experience to ensure the effective partnership with clients and collaboration with generalist sales teams to win new business and/or deepen large existing relationships to grow the adoption Sustainable ETFs in the EMEA region.

Primary Responsibilities:

Distribution

• Direct interaction with clients in support of Sales providing detailed Sustainable product education, methodology expertise, analysis, such as risk and return attribution, single or multiple ETFs/mutual fund comparative returns analysis, holdings analysis, ESG, factor, carbon and business involvement characteristics.
• Execute strategy to distribute Sustainable ETFs to sub segments within EII EMEA client segments (PFs, Insurance companies, PBs, Retail Banks, IFAs, IAMs/PCIMS, Digital)
• Coordinate internal training for global sales teams (EMEA, APAC, LATAM)
• Follow-up to client engagements and requests, monitoring execution and tracking pipeline of opportunities
• Syndication of new launches, coordinating seed arrangements and pipeline
• Partner with sales management to steward the Sustainable ETF sales pipeline as well as with Product Research and Innovation management for the future Sustainable ETF product development pipeline.
• Engage with BlackRock Investment Stewardship (BIS) and understand the vital role stewardship and engagement holds in investor's Sustainable Investing philosophy and be able to convey to clients
• Continually expand and deepen ESG related investment, portfolio construction and iShares product knowledge base. Stay abreast of current market environment and the latest relevant ESG research
• Serve as a speaker/participant at BlackRock sponsored and industry conferences as needed.

Content

• Respond to client ESG queries, requiring broad sustainable knowledge, co-ordination across specialist teams and ability to leverage BlackRock sustainable tools
• Creation of regular sustainable content and maintenance of it (client decks, product brochures, monthly emails)
• Create and coordinate investment insights around sustainable investing (performance attributions etc)
• Create and oversee new content for product launches (client decks, product briefs, competitor positioning, Portfolio Implementation) in combination with Product Marketing
• Distribution of thought leadership produced by BSI within EII
• Along with EMEA Investment Strategy (IS)/Marketing/US teams, drive the creation and delivery of product specific strategies and content to drive iShares sales
• Collaborate with marketing and digital teams to distribute content and promote the sustainable index business

Product development

• Oversee launches of new products ensuring key requirements are incorporated in the launch process (listing, share classes etc)
• Act as centralised feedback provider for new product development initiatives
• Work with Research and Innovation team to assess index providers.

Skills & Qualifications:

• European language skills (German is a must , French and Dutch being a plus)
• 3+ years industry experience, specifically extensive investment management knowledge and experience
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent business experience required; and/or CFA a plus
• ETF product familiarity and industry experience
• Experience interfacing with EMEA based clients
• Strong research skills: ideally proven experience in working with MSCI ESG Research, Sustainalytics or other similar ESG research tools
• Strong written, analytical, presentation and communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Proven experience with Excel, PowerPoint as well as Bloomberg or similar systems required
• Attention to detail a must with strong analytical skills
• High level of self-motivation as well as leadership skills
• Strong organizational skills and ability to multi-task, prioritize and collaborate vertically/horizontally in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to travel regionally

Our benefits

To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of benefits including a strong retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive healthcare, support for working parents and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.

About BlackRock

At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being. Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children's educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress.

This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment - the one we make in our employees. It's why we're dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive.

For additional information on BlackRock, please visit careers.blackrock.com | www.blackrock.com/corporate | Instagram: @blackrock | Twitter: @blackrock | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock

BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status, and other statuses protected by law.

BlackRock will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in a manner consistent with the requirements of the law, including any applicable fair chance law.