Junior Associate, Rotational
The Asset Management Diversity Accelerator (AMDA) is a 24-month rotational development program for entry-level job seekers interested in asset management. Participants will spend eight months as junior associates at each of three Chicago-area asset management firms. By attracting recent university graduates who may not otherwise explore careers in asset management—including women and those from disadvantaged and/or underrepresented backgrounds—the AMDA seeks to create a new pipeline of junior talent, increase diversity of background and thought within investment teams, and better our communities. High-performing participants will have the opportunity to interview for full-time positions with participating firms after program completion. This program has been created to give individuals who do not have a finance/accounting/economics or related degree a pathway into the asset management industry. Training and development opportunities will be geared specifically to those graduating with a bachelor’s degree outside these majors.
Job Summary
As part of this two-year rotational program, the selected individuals will gain experience from three independent asset management firms. Working within analytics and risk teams, the junior associate will focus on monitoring and optimizing production processes, data sourcing, analysis and report management.
What We're Looking For
We’re searching for intellectually curious individuals interested in being trained in the development of an investment data and analytics platform, delivering reporting and analysis that drive investment and business decisions, and learning more about the world of investing.
Numbers should come easily to these individuals, with some experience working with databases (e.g., SQL, Oracle) and reporting and analytics tools (e.g., Excel, Tableau). Additionally, problem-solving and high attention to detail are critical in this role as junior associates will be heavily involved in analytics and report management. Junior associates will receive training in analytics and will be required to deliver satisfactory performance for continuation in the program.
What You’ll Do
The role focuses on monitoring and optimizing production processes, managing data sourcing, and overseeing analysis and report generation. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with analytics and/or risk teams on diverse projects, including complex research requests and the development of new investment-related tools, ensuring data quality and consistency across platforms while improving processes.
Key Responsibilities
- Support daily production and reporting processes, identify key challenges, and recommend process improvements.
- Collaborate with risk, data analytics, and quantitative teams on various projects, as well as identify data issues within investment tools and escalate them accordingly.
- Apply analytical and quantitative methods to analyze and process data, ensuring consistency across platforms by working with other investment data owners.
- Validate the accuracy of calculation logic and vendor analytics, support portfolio surveillance, and assess the quality and completeness of new data sources.
- Generate, analyze, and report investment performance to meet the needs of internal groups and the external clients. Follow established guidelines, policies and procedures. Research returns that are outside of acceptable ranges.
- Develop familiarity with Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS). Apply GIPS in daily job activities.
- Assist in the maintenance of performance composites in compliance with GIPS.
- Develop familiarity with performance attribution techniques. Generate and interpret performance attribution reports to assess relative performance.
- Participate in performance-related projects.
- Assist with responding to requests for additional information from internal departments. Answer questions and troubleshoot issues pertaining to investment performance.
Qualifications
- Strong quantitative reasoning, problem solving and analytical skills
- Good interpersonal and communication skills
- Commitment to satisfying internal and external customers
- Extreme detail orientation and commitment to meeting identified quality standards.
- Solid and developing understanding of the investment management business
- High technical aptitude