Senior Associate, Strategic Partnerships

IFM Investors•New York, NY

15h•$198,000 - $225,000•Hybrid

About The Position

IFM Investors is a global asset manager owned by pension funds, focusing on infrastructure, private equity, real estate, and listed equities. Their purpose is to invest, protect, and grow the long-term retirement savings of working people, believing that healthy returns depend on healthy economic, environmental, and social systems. With approximately $267.6 AUD billion in assets under management and 17 offices worldwide, IFM prioritizes the interests of over 849 institutional investors. The company fosters an inclusive, accountable, and collaborative workplace that offers opportunities for meaningful contributions and skill growth, valuing and supporting its employees. They provide competitive salaries, generous leave, and a hybrid, flexible work approach built on trust, encouraging employees to manage their work-life rhythm effectively.

Requirements

Tertiary qualifications in finance, economics, commerce, business, or a related field
Ideally 5-7 years’ experience in a similar role, preferably with an institutional investment firm (offering traditional and alternative products), strategy consulting or implementation, or institutional client strategy or adjacent analytical roles.
Experience working with large, global institutional investors.
Proven track record of conducting Investment research, due diligence, or portfolio analysis.
Sound investment, financial and product knowledge.
Sound technical investment skills.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Ability to synthesize complex information into clear, concise materials.
High attention to detail and quality.
Strong written communication and presentation skills.
Comfortable working with ambiguity and evolving priorities.
Collaborative mindset with the ability to work effectively across teams and senior stakeholders.
Strong proficiency in Microsoft applications, specifically Excel and PowerPoint.
Clear understanding of fund terms and other investment structures.
Strong project management skills and ability to plan and manage projects to meet business objectives.
Strong conceptually and analytically, able to grasp commercial and strategic aspects of the business.

Nice To Haves

CFA or progress toward CFA a plus, but not required.
Experience working as an AI-native, using AI tools (like Claude or Co-Pilot) to drive smarter, faster outcomes highly preferred.
Proven track record and experience working across regions and time zones highly preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide high-quality analytical support to partnership discussions with sovereigns, pensions, insurers, asset managers, and strategic institutions globally.
Build a deep understanding of IFM’s platform, strategies, and comparative advantages across asset classes.
Enable senior team members to engage externally with well-prepared, thoughtful, and credible materials.
Conduct in-depth due diligence on prospective and existing strategic partners, including business model, capital base, governance, decision-making structures, strategic objectives, investment priorities, constraints, cultural fit, alignment potential, and long-term partnership rationale.
Prepare structured briefing materials to support internal decision-making and senior-level discussions.
Maintain and evolve partner profiles and internal knowledge base over time.
Monitor global trends in institutional capital flows and partnership models, sovereign wealth funds, pensions, insurers, adjacent pools of capital, and competitive positioning of peer asset managers and platforms.
Produce market maps, landscape analyses, and thematic deep dives relevant to partnership strategy.
Support prioritization of regions, partner types, and strategic themes.
Prepare high-quality internal materials, including background papers, briefing notes, slide decks, talking points for senior meetings, comparative analyses, decision frameworks, and market sizing and growth rates.
Support preparation for internal strategy discussions, IC-adjacent conversations, and senior leadership updates.
Work closely with senior team members to translate strategy into clear, actionable materials.
Liaise with internal stakeholders across Clients & Strategy (Global Client Solutions, Product Strategy & Innovation), investment teams, and Commercial, Finance, Operations, Data & Technology.
Help ensure internal alignment and consistency of messaging across regions and asset classes.
Assist with coordination of global inputs into partnership-related projects.
Help project plan, including assessment of key milestones, targets, dates of outreach, and ensure team is moving at correct and planned pace through projects.
Support tracking of partnership activity, priorities, and outputs using internal tools and platforms.
Help improve internal processes, templates, and knowledge management related to strategic partnerships.
Ensure work is conducted in line with IFM policies, delegated authorities, and risk frameworks.