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Associate, Data Lead - Fundamental Equities

Employer
BlackRock
Location
London, United Kingdom
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
Aug 27, 2022

View more

Job Function
Banking
Industry Sector
Finance - General
Employment Type
Full Time
Education
Bachelors
Description

About this role

Business Unit Overview:

Fundamental Equities sits within BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group (PMG), which encompasses Fundamental and Systematic investing across Fixed Income, Equities and Multi-Asset Strategies. The Fundamental Equities (FE) business is a key division at BlackRock with over $253bn of assets under management, across 100+ strategies and over 220+ investment professionals. FE use traditional analytics to pick stocks and assemble coherent, deliberate and diversified portfolios. Through cutting edge technology, sophisticated models and embedded research, our investment management approach provides superior performance for our clients and is an important part of the BlackRock brand.

The European Team and the Strategic Equity Team total about 30 investment professionals altogether and they manage the largest AUM in active equities in the Europe. Individual security research is conducted within a sector and cluster driven framework to deliver investment ideas to a broad range of funds with different investment styles, including long only and hedge funds.

Job Purpose/Background/Team Details:

During the last three years the Strategic Equity Teams have pioneered the adoption of alternative data (eg consumer transactions data, website visits, job postings, social networks, app downloads, etc..) within FE. Alternative data are now one of the investment pillars of our fundamental research process. We are looking for someone that is highly numerical, passionate about investing, and able to leverage their skills to build tools that will help us track company performance harnessing alternative data sets.

The Data Lead will report to the European Team / SET Data and Innovation Manager and will be trained on how to best leverage alternative data to give investment insights as part of the fundamental decision process. This is an exciting role, and still a green field for any curious data professional keen to have a strong impact on investment decision making. It is not about building complex machine learning models nor systematic signals. It's about problem solving, using dataset and tools to answer investment questions, aware of the severe limitations, biases, and uncertainties that alternative data have.

This role will be interesting for:
  • A Data Engineer that wants to transition to investment and using their skills to deliver insights
  • A Data Analyst with coding skills and passionate about investment
  • A fully fledged Data Scientist with a quant background that wants to learn on how to apply their knowledge in fundamental investing


Key Responsibilities:

Together with the Data and Innovation Manager, the Data Lead will define the data priorities and opportunities for the team to focus on with the following key responsibilities:

Own the full data research process:
  • Join the team morning meetings to get to understand the key research topics / news
  • Understand the investment thesis
  • Understand how data sources can strengthen investment processes and be used to track investment decisions.
  • Gain a deep understanding of data sourcing and identify tools and emerging areas that could aid the team in generating alpha
  • Serve as subject matter authority on FE data science capabilities, staying current on latest developments and trends
  • Think creatively about how new data sources can augment various investment process
  • Communicate insights concisely and in a relatable way


Build tools to scale-up insights generation
  • Build and maintain data pipelines and automated processes using python,
  • Design and build visualizations deploying python webapps / tableau
  • Build a systematic approach to validate and back-test alternative data vs reported company KPIs


Drive data initiatives together with the central data science resources within PMG (e.g. Data Strategy & Solutions "DS&S"))
  • Define priorities on what datasets are needed, either to purchase or to internally source
  • Connect with DS&S and direct their engineering efforts to build tools suitable and relevant for the team


Skills / Competencies / Experience:

The ideal candidate will be a data professional who has demonstrated the ability to execute data-driven analytical or modeling projects end-to-end utilizing a range of methodologies and tools
  • Demonstrable experience applying data science approaches in relevant contexts, working with large and potentially unstructured data sets
  • Python:
    • Good scripting skills to write ETL workflows / visualising data (pandas, matplotlib), together with experience dealing with large datasets
    • A software engineering / development background can be considered and this skillset leveraged
    • Numpy / Sklearn / etc. for modelling / data analysis
    • Build simple webapps using Dash, Flask or similar
  • Good knowledge of a SQL like query language
  • Data viz in python or a dedicated software (for example Tableau)
  • Strong attention to detail; action-oriented attitude; and strong work ethic
  • Team player with collaborative and strong interpersonal skills; ability to partner both within teams and across the broader Active Equities platform
  • Solid verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex methodologies and analytical content into clear messages for a range of client and internal audiences, including ability to explain technical results to a non-expert audience
  • Excellent problem-solving abilities, intellectual curiosity and experience understanding complex issues
  • Superior organizational skills, self-starter and ability to perform under pressure and tight deadlines in a fast-paced, high-intensity environment


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.

Our hybrid work pilot

BlackRock's current hybrid work pilot is designed to help you experience the best of both worlds: the opportunity to connect with colleagues in person and the flexibility to work remotely, with greater time to focus on what's important to you. In line with local health guidance and regulations, employees are generally expected to work 3 days in the office and 2 days from home (on average) each week. For some business groups, more time may be required in the office, while greater flexibility may be in place for others. Our "One BlackRock" culture means you'll be supported to collaborate with your new colleagues while bringing your full self to work - wherever you are.

The health, safety and well-being of our people will always be our top priorities; we will continue to monitor local conditions and health advisories in making decisions about our work environments.

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 Employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics at law.

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