Director - Global Investment Research

LSEG•New York, NY

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Global Investment Research (GIR) team is a client-facing investment research group, within the Equity and Multi-Asset business vertical of FTSE Russell, with team members in the Americas, EMEA and APAC. The team publishes insights on current market dynamics across global regions and asset classes (e.g., equities, equity factors, fixed income, multi-asset, cross-asset, wealth, asset allocation, portfolio construction dynamics). Our analysis is based primarily on data from FTSE Russell indices, along with other LSEG data sets and some external data sources. Our research, by way of regular reports, topical commentaries and deep-dive empirical research, and our research presentations to clients and the investment and wealth ecosystem, enhances our engagement with clients, including asset owners, asset managers, ETF issuers and wealth channels. Role Purpose and responsibilities This role sits within the FTSE Russell Global Investment Research (GIR) team, based in New York, and is focused on equities and multi-assets investment research, with a particular focus on US equities. The candidate should be comfortable analyzing equity indices through various lenses (geographical, factor, thematic) and be familiar with other major asset classes across public and private markets, from a cross-asset perspective. The ideal candidate should understand the impact of macroeconomics on financial markets, and have a background in asset management, investment research (buy-side or sell-side), wealth, asset allocation or multi-asset portfolio construction. The role requires a combination of three essential skills: (a) Deep understanding of how financial markets operate and be able to explain second order effects on potential headwinds and tailwinds to asset class performance. (b) Strong quantitative skills. Ideally familiarity with Python (or other coding languages), and analytics platforms like LSEG Workspace and Datastream. (c) The ability to communicate clearly & succinctly, and present to clients across the value chain.

Requirements

Post-Graduate / Ph.D. in a quantitative field or investment management field.
CAIA or CFA would be a big plus.
10+ years experience in both public & private markets investment research and portfolio management, either on buy-side or sell-side, in wealth or institutional money management.
Excellent knowledge and understanding of investment analytics and quantitative investment techniques.
Strong background in statistics, econometrics, and numerical methods is needed.
Deep understanding of global equities, multi-asset investing and private markets is an absolute must.
Essential to have a holistic understanding of financial markets from a macroeconomics to multi-asset perspective.
Good coding skills to support empirical research, including good working knowledge of a quantitative programming language such as Python.
Should be comfortable using Jupyter Notebooks, running Python scripts, extracting data from APIs and essentially doing analysis in code.
Familiarity with Git, collaborating on coding projects / package management, Streamlit / Dash experience and SQL would be great.
Familiarity with and interest in financial data required.
Experience with LSEG Workspace and Datastream, and similar data platforms would be a great plus.
Experience working with index data and financial datasets would be a great plus.
A proven track record of authorship of client facing research publications and presentations.
Experience of senior level client engagement in a research capacity, with the required gravitas and presentation skills.
Ability to work in a global team across time zones

Nice To Haves

CAIA or CFA would be a big plus.
Familiarity with Git, collaborating on coding projects / package management, Streamlit / Dash experience and SQL would be great.
Experience with LSEG Workspace and Datastream, and similar data platforms would be a great plus.
Experience working with index data and financial datasets would be a great plus.
Expanding research into private markets would be a great plus.

Responsibilities

Taking a key role in Equities, Multi-asset and Private Markets research. Should be deeply familiar with US equities and various parts of private markets (private equity, real assets etc).
Doing research and investment writing needed for delivering high quality, thought-provoking research content, by way of regular periodical research reports, impactful short story-telling pieces, topical research insights, white papers and deep thematic research, published through multiple channels. All research efforts are aimed at deepening client engagement, providing critical support for existing and new equity and multi-asset indices by FTSE Russell, increasing the value proposition and awareness of FTSE Russell indices within the institutional and wealth channels.
Hosting webinars, senior/strategic client-facing research engagements and actively participate in industry conferences and events. Strong written and verbal presentation skills are a must, and the gravity to interact with very senior clients including the C-level.
Take ownership of equity, equity factors, wealth, portfolio construction, multi-asset and cross-asset thought-leadership, and related client engagements in the Americas.
Manage a team with skillset in both fundamental and quantitative research. Current team size would be two direct reports, though that could change in future.
Proactively thinking of utilizing new datasets and analytics to expand the repertoire of GIR research. Expanding research into private markets would be a great plus.
Working closely & collaboratively with others in the GIR team and contributing to the research efforts of team members across asset classes, and based in different global locations.
Actively engaging and partnering with key internal collaborators in Product, Index methodology research, Marketing, Sales, and external collaborators of FTSE Russell.
Working closely with regional and global teams to support the further development of global equity and multi-asset product strategies to drive ETF client adoption and AUM-based revenues from both.
Be comfortable with both the Wealth and Institutional channels.