Morgan Stanley Investment Management (“MSIM”), together with its investment advisory affiliates, has more than 3,200 investment professionals around the world and $1.3 trillion in assets under management or supervision as of December 31st, 2022. Morgan Stanley Investment Management strives to provide strong long-term investment performance, outstanding service and a comprehensive suite of investment management solutions to a diverse client base, which includes governments, institutions, corporations and individuals worldwide.
The Hedge Fund Solutions team constructs and manages hedge fund strategies, portfolios and solutions on behalf of institutional and high net-worth clients through its various pooled vehicles (limited partnerships) and segregated accounts. The Hedge Fund Solutions group currently manages $24.2 billion of hedge fund investments and is staffed with approximately 75 employees. It is based in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia), with additional offices in New York, London and Hong Kong.
The Hedge Fund Solutions Primary Investment Team is seeking an individual who will be responsible for leading the sourcing. structuring and monitoring of systematic hedge fund strategy investments. Other hedge fund strategies considered by the team include long/short equity, global macro, credit, and various arbitrage or relative value strategies. The Primary Investment Team, in conjunction with the Portfolio Construction Team, serves to bridge a client’s investment objectives with the optimal implementation choices or ‘delivery mechanism’ for the hedge fund allocation. With the benefit of an open architecture platform – and making optimal use of data, tools and technology – the team seeks to source, structure, execute and oversee hedge fund investments spanning the full landscape of individual PMs, separate accounts and growth stage funds and managers, as well as established / brand-name, limited capacity and multi-strategy hedge funds.
The candidate will report directly to the Head of Research. This position may be located either in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania or New York City. The successful candidate will play a key role in all phases of the investment process.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Description:
The strategy head leads the teams covering the systematic strategy areas, possessing deep knowledge of the inner workings of the quantitative investment strategies and portfolios for which they are responsible and informed views / opinions regarding relevant markets. The candidate will be highly knowledgeable with respect to the investment universe and peer group, will set priorities with respect to workflow, oversee/train/develop the primary coverage analysts, and help determine which ideas ultimately make it onto the platform for investment within our client portfolios. The strategy head also will be responsible for overseeing risk and working with the analysts to maintain an active and critical view of each investment, identifying shifts in style or risk profile and cases where an investment should be resized, re-underwritten or terminated. This is a decision making role.
Opportunity Identification and Evaluation:
- Support the investment process by identifying compelling systematic investment strategies globally.
- Research and due diligence duties include conducting strategy and market analysis to assess the opportunity set, participating in onsite meetings to evaluate sources of return and risk, analyzing portfolio fit, and thoroughly documenting results and supporting conclusions.
Investment Execution:
- Analyze portfolio and strategy risk information to establish investment thesis.
- Prepare investment proposals and other materials required by the Investment Committee.
- Collaborate with other functional areas in coordinating the various operational aspects of structuring and implementing investments.
Investment Monitoring:
- Active oversight and holdings-based analysis of separate managed account and hedge fund investments, including frequent engagement with underlying investment teams.
- Continually assess the market environment and its impact on the risk reward of strategies.
- Maintain active views on hedge fund investments and make portfolio recommendations.
- Maintain comprehensive manager universes to facilitate peer group analysis and strategy research.
- Participate in extensive strategy and manager reviews and prepare associated presentations for the Investment Committee.
Qualifications:
The candidate must have significant experience level and familiarity with systematic hedge fund investment universe, a keen awareness of market structure with respect to quantitative strategy areas and a firm understanding of investment structure. This entails an appreciation for the importance of data, systems and technology when analyzing and exploring new investment opportunities and then overseeing and risk controlling existing holdings.
- Bachelor’s degree and minimum 10 years of work experience in financial markets.
- Advanced degree in relevant discipline and/or CFA a plus.
- Strong quantitative and analytical skills, factor awareness and familiarity with holdings-based and returns-based analysis
- Proficiency in mathematics, derivatives valuation, and security analysis desirable.
- Genuine enthusiasm for financial markets, fundamental analysis, and absolute return investing.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team-oriented environment.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills with strong attention to detail.
- Outstanding work ethic, self-motivated with good interpersonal skills.
- Ability to travel on a regular basis, including overseas. Position may require approximately 20-25% travel.
Expected base pay rates for the role will be between $150,000 and $250,000 per year at the commencement of employment. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs.
Morgan Stanley’s goal is to build and maintain a workforce that is diverse in experience and background but uniform in reflecting our standards of integrity and excellence. Consequently, our recruiting efforts reflect our desire to attract and retain the best and brightest from all talent pools. We want to be the first choice for prospective employees. It is the policy of the Firm to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, sex stereotype, gender, gender identity or expression, transgender, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability, marital and civil partnership/union status, pregnancy, veteran or military service status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversifying its workforce (M/F/Disability/Vet).