Principal, Market & Reference Data

Partners Capital•Boston, MA

1d•$120,000 - $170,000•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking an experienced Principal to lead our Market Data and Security Master functions within the Central Data function. This is a hands-on leadership role at the center of the firm’s investment, operations, risk, and technology workflows which involves owning the integrity of reference data that powers trading, portfolio management, performance, valuation, and reporting firmwide. The firm is undergoing a strategic data transformation, and this role will be central to its success. The successful candidate will be ready to enhance the firm’s market data strategy and contribute meaningfully to broader data quality, data governance, and AI enablement initiatives. They will sit within a small, high-impact team supporting firmwide shared data needs including product master, security master, reference data and vendors, data quality, and data governance. The role combines deep subject matter expertise in financial instrument and market reference data with strong commercial discipline and the relationship-building skills needed to operate as a trusted partner to functional leaders across the firm.

Requirements

7–10 years of experience in market data and/or reference data within an investment manager, hedge fund, asset owner, or comparable financial services environment.
3+ years management experience
Expertise across security master and market data domains. Strong working knowledge of the major market and reference data providers and their content sets across asset classes.
Experience managing vendor relationships. Familiarity with market data licensing and usage restrictions.
Demonstrated ability to build cross-functional relationships with senior business stakeholders and translate their needs into delivery plans.
Experience contributing to or leading data transformation initiatives, including data quality and data governance programs.
Deep understanding of instrument data across asset classes, including identifiers, classifications, corporate actions, and pricing.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to operate fluently across business stakeholders, technologists, and vendors.
Bachelor’s degree required; finance, economics, computer science, or related field preferred.

Nice To Haves

Exposure to private markets and alternatives reference data.
Experience contributing to AI / ML enablement from a data foundations perspective.
Familiarity with cloud-based data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks) and data governance tooling (Collibra, Alation).
CFA, CIPM, or DAMA-CDMP certifications viewed favorably.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end governance of the firm’s security master, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and timeliness across all instruments (equities, fixed income, derivatives, FX). Contribute to the fund master function as needed, including support on setup and review of hedge fund and private market products.
Establish and maintain golden-source standards, data models, identifier hierarchies (CUSIP, ISIN, SEDOL, FIGI, LEI, internal IDs), and instrument lifecycle workflows from onboarding through retirement.
Define and enforce data quality controls, exception management, and reconciliation processes across the front-to-back data flow; resolve breaks impacting trading, operations, accounting, and risk.
Oversee corporate actions, pricing, ratings, classifications, and issuer/entity reference data, including legal entity hierarchies and counterparty data.
Establish and own the firm’s market data strategy, shaping how the firm sources, integrates, and consumes market data over the coming years.
Lead sourcing, integration, and quality assurance of real-time, intraday, and end-of-day market data feeds across asset classes.
Manage entitlements and permissioning, ensuring adherence to licensing terms and redistribution policies.
Translate evolving investment, trading, and operational data requirements into scalable, well-controlled solutions, working hand-in-hand with the teams that consume the data.
Monitor industry trends — new content sets, regulatory changes, and vendor product evolution — and ensure the firm’s market data capabilities stay ahead of business needs.
Contribute as a leader to the firm’s broader data transformation agenda, including data quality, data governance, and AI enablement initiatives.
Ensure the firm’s reference and market data foundations are fit for purpose to support advanced analytics and AI use cases.
Partner with Technology and other Data Management leaders on platform modernization, lineage, metadata, and control frameworks.
Build productive relationships with functional leaders across Research, CIO, Operations, Reporting, Risk, Finance, Compliance, and Technology.
Establish and maintain a prioritization framework and delivery roadmap that balances competing demands, trade-offs, and aligns the team’s work with business outcomes.
Own commercial relationships with major market and reference data providers. Lead contract negotiation, renewals, and rationalization. Identify opportunities cost savings.
Own the market and reference data budget end-to-end including forecasting, tracking actuals against budget, and ROI tracking for new spend.