Manager - Research Commercial Real Estate

Principal Financial Group • Des Moines, IA

10h • Hybrid

About The Position

We are currently seeking a Manager-Research for our Commercial Real Estate (CRE) team. In this role, you will work directly with the Senior Director of Real Estate Research and Strategy to develop and communicate a forward-looking, data-driven view of global commercial real estate (CRE) markets across cycles. You will partner across portfolio teams on capital allocation strategies.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with an emphasis in finance, economics, accounting, math, statistics, or similar technical field.
• 2 plus years of research or investment banking experience; working knowledge of CRE
• An understanding of the relationships between macroeconomics, real estate market fundamentals and how they impact investment performance.
• Strong quantitative and analytical background, with the ability to interpret complex datasets and models
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, ideally with experience presenting to institutional audiences.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree and / or CFA designation preferred.
• An understanding of macroeconomic and capital markets dynamics.
• Comfort working in a dynamic, transaction-driven environment with short turnaround times.
• Ability to operate effectively with incomplete information and adapt analytical frameworks accordingly.
• Coding skills, such as Python, R, SQL, Stata, or SAS.

Responsibilities

• Develop house views on the state of the global and U.S. CRE cycle by integrating top-down macroeconomic analysis with bottom-up asset and sector insights.
• Support investment committees with clear, defensible research narratives and data-backed conclusions.
• Interpret cross-asset signals (e.g., Treasuries, REITs, credit markets) to inform real estate allocation decisions.
• Maintain relative value frameworks between public and private as well as equity and debt.
• Author and present quarterly and thematic research, market outlooks, and cycle updates for internal and external audiences.

Benefits

• Flexible Time Off (FTO) is provided to salaried (exempt) employees and provides the opportunity to take time away from the office with pay for vacation, personal or short-term illness.
• Employees don’t accrue a bank of time off under FTO and there is no set number of days provided.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager