Vice President, Alternative Data Strategy & Execution - Portfolio Management Group

BlackRock•Boston, NY

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

PMGTech is the horizontal technology platform within BlackRock’s Portfolio Management Group (PMG), integrating investment research with advanced engineering, AI, and alternative data to make technology a direct driver of alpha. It operates as one global team across three verticals – Platform Strategy, Research Solutions (DS&S), and Platform Change (IPT) – partnering closely with the BlackRock Aladdin ecosystem and PMG investment leadership. This integrated model delivers a coherent tech strategy, strengthens the research community, and scales capabilities across regions, asset classes (Equities, Fixed Income, Multi-asset), and investment styles (discretionary and systematic). PMGTech leads PMG’s AI strategy by building an AI-ready research environment, unified data layer, agentic orchestration networks, and an investment-focused application layer to deploy AI-powered research solutions into production. As part of PMGTech, you will work directly with investment researchers, portfolio managers, and platform teams to source, scale, and optimise alternative data that enhances research workflows and drives differentiated alpha insights. The Alternative Data Strategy & Execution role is responsible for driving the sourcing, prioritisation, and implementation of alternative datasets across PMG. The role sits at the intersection of investment research, data strategy, and commercial execution, ensuring that data opportunities are aligned to Alpha Priorities, investor strategies, and BlackRock thematic views. This role acts as a central point of contact for third-party data, improving transparency, access, and reuse of datasets across the organisation. It requires strong organisational, commercial, and stakeholder management skills to coordinate across investors, data teams, engineering, and external vendors, ensuring datasets are usable, compliant, and scalable. The role is not primarily technical, but requires sufficient data fluency to evaluate datasets and partner effectively with technical teams to deliver outcomes.

Requirements

Experience in financial services, data strategy, consulting, or investment research
Exposure to alternative data and/or investment research workflows
Familiarity with data licensing, governance, and AI/ML usage considerations
Experience working across cross-functional teams spanning investment, data, and technology
Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and prioritise effectively
Demonstrated commercial acumen, including experience engaging with external vendors and assessing value
Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and drive outcomes across diverse teams
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate between investor needs, data capabilities, and commercial considerations
Interest in financial markets and the drivers of performance, from macro events to company-level fundamentals
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
5+ Years relevant experience in financial services, data, or consulting environments

Nice To Haves

Basic familiarity with data tools (SQL, Python) or data platforms.

Responsibilities

Partner with investors to identify, prioritise, and source alternative datasets aligned to Alpha Priorities and investment strategies
Maintain a strong view of the alternative data landscape, delivering thematic insights and identifying datasets that enhance existing signals or unlock new opportunities
Prioritise competing demands and drive datasets from idea through evaluation to onboarding, balancing speed, impact, and scalability
Facilitate dataset evaluation with investors and research teams, ensuring practical usability and investment impact
Act as the central point of contact for third-party data inventory, driving visibility, reuse, and discoverability of datasets across teams
Engage with a broad range of vendors, supporting strategic data partnerships, negotiations, and commercial assessment of value and fit
Coordinate dataset reviews with IDS and control functions, ensuring compliant use of data, including licensing and AI/ML usage rights
Partner with Business Managers and platform teams to streamline the data acquisition lifecycle (onboarding → trial → production) and ensure consistent workflows across PMG
Connect investors, data teams, engineering, and vendors to coordinate workflows and bring in the right expertise to drive outcomes
Support governance initiatives (including Aladdin Alpha) and contribute to improving transparency of data usage and spend across PMG