Executive Director, Senior Equity Risk Manager

Morgan Stanley•New York, NY

32d•$200,000 - $300,000

About The Position

The Senior Equity Risk Manager will be joining the Central Trading and Risk Management team of a multi-manager, market-neutral equity hedge fund. This team partners directly with portfolio managers to optimize portfolio construction, manage risk, develop quantitative investment tools, and improve investment performance across the platform. This is a highly analytical and market-oriented role at the intersection of risk management, portfolio construction, quantitative research, and investing. As a senior member of the team, this individual will work closely with the Chief Investment Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Business Development team, and individual Portfolio Managers across the platform, while also playing a significant role in managing and developing the fund’s central trading and risk management infrastructure. The Senior Equity Risk Manager thinks like an investor and portfolio manager, while bringing the analytical discipline and independence required of a senior risk professional. The successful candidate is intellectually curious, collaborative, and enjoys solving complex investment problems using data and quantitative methods. They are equally comfortable discussing a portfolio's factor and concentration risks with a fundamental PM, building an empirical framework to test a portfolio-construction hypothesis, evaluating a new systematic alpha signal, and working through the optimization and execution details required to put that signal into production.

Requirements

A minimum of 8-10 years of relevant professional experience in equity risk management, quantitative investing/research, systematic investing, portfolio management, trading, or fundamental or quantitative equity investing.
Prior experience in a role involving direct investment or trading decisions is strongly preferred.
Deep understanding of equity markets and portfolio risk, ideally developed through direct experience working with or managing market-neutral, factor-constrained equity portfolios.
Strong knowledge of portfolio construction and optimization, factor models, risk decomposition, position sizing, hedging, portfolio constraints, and market impact modeling.
Strong quantitative and statistical skills, with the ability to conduct rigorous empirical research and translate the results into practical investment decisions.
Proficiency in Python and SQL, with experience working with large financial datasets and developing production-quality analytical or research tools.
Experience with systematic alpha research, portfolio optimization, execution research, or quantitative equity strategies is highly desirable.
Prior experience in investing, trading, quantitative research, or another role involving direct responsibility for investment decisions and outcomes is strongly preferred.
Strong intuition for how portfolios behave in real markets—not simply how they appear within a risk model—including liquidity, positioning, crowding, catalysts, market microstructure, and changing correlations.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to explain sophisticated quantitative and risk concepts clearly to Portfolio Managers and senior investment professionals.
Ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving investment environment, independently identify important problems, and move comfortably between detailed quantitative research and higher-level portfolio judgment.

Responsibilities

Work directly with PMs to identify and manage portfolio risks, including factor, industry, thematic, concentration, liquidity, crowding, correlation, event, and other sources of systematic and idiosyncratic exposure.
Advise PMs on portfolio construction, position sizing, hedging, diversification, and factor management, with the objective of improving portfolio robustness and risk-adjusted returns.
Analyze portfolio behavior across different market environments and stress scenarios, distinguishing intended investment exposures from unintended or inefficient risks.
Evaluate portfolio performance and sources of alpha, including attribution across factors, sectors, themes, and individual positions; identify persistent strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to improve portfolio construction.
Contribute to platform-level decisions regarding risk allocation, capital deployment, portfolio constraints, and the interaction of individual PM portfolios within the overall fund.
Research, develop, and evaluate alpha signals using market, fundamental, alternative, positioning, and other relevant datasets.
Develop and enhance portfolio construction and optimization methodologies, including alpha combination, risk-model integration, exposure management, turnover and transaction-cost controls, and portfolio constraints.
Monitor market developments and proactively communicate portfolio risks, opportunities, and positioning implications to portfolio managers and senior leadership.
Partner with trading to improve execution and implementation efficiency.
Design and develop Python-based analytical tools, research infrastructure, and automation that improve portfolio analytics and investment workflows.