Associate, BlackRock Investment Stewardship - Financials Sector

BlackRock•New York, NY

13d•$105,000 - $137,500•Hybrid

About The Position

The BlackRock Investment Stewardship team (BIS) operates across three regions – the Americas (New York, Washington DC, Wilmington and San Francisco); Europe, Middle East and Africa (London); and Asia-Pacific (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney) – and undertakes engagement with and proxy voting at portfolio companies on behalf of index clients globally. As a team of high performing specialists globally, BIS is proud of our global reach and local presence. Investment stewardship is one way BlackRock fulfills our fiduciary responsibilities as an asset manager to our clients. BlackRock Investment Stewardship serves as a link between our clients and the companies they invest in. We take a long-term approach to stewardship, focused on engaging with company boards and executive leadership to understand the drivers of risk and financial value creation in companies’ business models. Our sole focus when we engage with companies or vote at shareholder meetings is to advance our clients’ financial interests. As part of our fiduciary duty to our clients, we consider it one of our responsibilities to promote sound corporate governance as an informed, engaged shareholder on their behalf. The BIS Investment Stewardship Professional will assist the lead analyst covering companies in Financial Services and/or Real Estate (REITs) sectors. They will provide support on portfolio company analysis, engagement, and voting. The intention is for the person in this role to ultimately specialize in a subset of the companies in the given sector, along with various aspects of relevant policy, to support the delivery of our annual and long-term objectives. They will work alongside the lead sector analyst for that industry and report to the Deputy Head of the Stewardship team in the Americas.

Requirements

An undergraduate degree in finance, economics, accounting, or other relevant fields
A minimum of 2-4 years of experience in a financial services focused role, ideally with a demonstrated strong understanding of financial statements, corporate finance, and capital markets
Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information and convey it in a clear and concise manner to senior-level audiences
A diligent, focused, and consistent work ethic to implement while leading multiple tasks and changing priorities
The ability to prioritize, analyze, and resolve complex issues under time pressure while maintaining consistent attention to detail
An organized, self-reliant, and self-motivated approach to responsibilities
A keen interest in corporate governance and material, sustainable business practices, ideally in relation to the financial services and/or real estate sectors
Collaborative and non-competitive working style, and strong interpersonal skills demonstrating the ability to build and maintain successful relationships with colleagues across the firm and with external parties
Proficiency using Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and other Microsoft products

Nice To Haves

AI & LLM literacy and fluency in crafting effective prompts preferred

Responsibilities

Demonstrate sector expertise across financial services (banking, insurance, capital markets, consumer finance, diversified financials) and real estate (REITs), including pertaining to corporate governance, material market trends, regulatory developments, and sustainability practices
Learn and apply BIS engagement priorities and proxy voting guidelines in order to apply consistent judgment in engagement and voting
Partner with lead sector analyst(s) to execute engagement and voting responsibilities to further the long-term financial interests of our clients
Prepare for, assist (and in time lead), and document engagement meetings with portfolio companies
Conduct data gathering, benchmarking, and reporting to inform voting decisions, policy positions, and position papers that facilitate discussion with broader BlackRock audiences
Collaborate across the team to improve policy, enhance team knowledge, and streamline business processes
Represent BlackRock with the professionalism and gravitas required when engaging senior leadership of portfolio companies
Monitoring policy developments relevant to covered industries and governance ecosystem to improve the quality of engagement and relevance of BlackRock's principles and guidelines
Preparing for engagement with senior representatives of portfolio companies, including crafting memos in preparation for meetings- highlighting key data that will be useful in our engagement and stewardship efforts
Communicating clearly, concisely and with keen attention to factual detail and regulatory and policy-based context
Attending, documenting and leading (as needed) engagement efforts, including recording research notes to be stored and shared with select audiences across BlackRock
Analyzing companies' shareholder meeting agendas and related materials in order to vote in the manner most consistent with BlackRock's corporate governance policies and fiduciary responsibilities
Monitoring of proxy voting workflow to ensure all accounts are voted as intended and are in accordance with the appropriate guidelines
Supporting the development of BIS position papers and reporting including collaborating with client-facing, data and analytics, and communications colleagues to ensure internal and external collateral is accurate and robust and accurately represents BIS’ insights and reflections
Maintaining continuous learning and sector oversight to ensure risks are minimized and performance optimized