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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Asset Management Analyst

💰 $ - $

Asset ManagementFinanceInvestment OperationsRisk Management

🎯 Role Definition

An Asset Management Analyst supports portfolio managers and investment teams by delivering high‑quality quantitative analysis, operational support, and timely reporting across equity, fixed income, and multi‑asset portfolios. The role combines investment research, performance and risk attribution, trade support, NAV and cash management, regulatory compliance, and data integrity stewardship. Ideal candidates demonstrate strong financial modeling, portfolio accounting, and system skills (Excel, VBA, SQL, Bloomberg, FactSet, Aladdin), plus rigorous attention to detail and excellent stakeholder communication.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Investment Analyst / Junior Asset Management Analyst
  • Financial Analyst in Corporate Finance or Treasury
  • Operations Analyst or Trade Support within banks or asset managers

Advancement To:

  • Senior Asset Management Analyst
  • Portfolio Manager / Assistant Portfolio Manager
  • Investment Manager or Portfolio Strategist
  • Product Manager - Funds & Investments

Lateral Moves:

  • Performance & Reporting Specialist
  • Risk Analyst (Market or Credit Risk)
  • Client Reporting / Relationship Management
  • Compliance or Regulatory Reporting Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Produce regular and ad‑hoc portfolio performance reports across mutual funds, ETFs, SMA and institutional mandates, including time‑weighted and money‑weighted returns, attribution by sector/asset class/security and commentary for investment committees and clients.
  • Perform detailed performance attribution (Brinson, factor and security‑level) to explain sources of active return versus benchmarks and support portfolio managers with actionable insights for allocation and stock selection.
  • Monitor daily portfolio positions, valuations and market data to ensure accurate net asset value (NAV) calculations, including pricing overrides, illiquid securities valuation checks, and reconciliation with custodian records.
  • Support trade lifecycle: pre‑trade checks, order placement, trade allocation, confirmation, settlement monitoring, and trade exception resolution working directly with traders, custodians and middle office teams.
  • Reconcile cash, positions and corporate actions daily between portfolio accounting systems, custodians and OMS/EMS to identify and resolve breaks and exceptions; document root cause and remediation steps.
  • Conduct security‑level and macro research to support investment decisions, including financial statement analysis, earnings preview/review, credit analysis for fixed income, and scenario analysis for derivatives exposures.
  • Maintain and enhance portfolio models, valuation tools and financial models in Excel/VBA and/or Python to automate repetitive tasks, reduce manual error, and increase reporting cadence and accuracy.
  • Prepare and distribute client reporting packets, prospectuses, fact sheets and performance presentations; ensure all disclosures and regulatory language are accurate and up to date.
  • Execute portfolio rebalancing, contribution and withdrawal processing, tax lot management and tax‑aware trading support for taxable accounts.
  • Implement and maintain risk monitoring tools and dashboards: daily VaR, sensitivity (duration, spread, beta), concentration limits, counterparty exposure and stress testing scenarios; escalate limit breaches timely.
  • Support compliance and regulatory reporting (e.g., Form N‑PORT, Form PF, UCITS/KIID annexes) by preparing data, performing validations and responding to auditor/regulator inquiries.
  • Conduct due diligence and onboarding support for new funds, mandates or third‑party data providers, coordinating with legal, compliance, operations and PMs to ensure smooth launch and governance.
  • Support securities lending, derivatives collateral management and margin calculations working with prime brokers and counterparties to optimize financing costs and reduce operational risk.
  • Maintain master data integrity for securities, issuers, CUSIPs/ISINs, corporate actions and benchmark mappings across portfolio and accounting systems.
  • Perform monthly/quarterly performance reconciliation between front office, portfolio accounting and transfer agents, documenting and resolving discrepancies in P&L, NAV and fees.
  • Assist in manager research and selection processes for multi‑manager or outsourced mandates, preparing qualitative and quantitative scorecards and manager due diligence questionnaires (DDQs).
  • Develop and maintain benchmark and peer universe definitions; run peer and AUM‑weighted comparisons to contextualize fund performance and flows.
  • Analyze fund flows, redemption spikes and liquidity profiles to advise portfolio managers and operations on liquidity management and potential gate/redemption strategies.
  • Provide ad‑hoc quantitative support for new product development, including back‑testing strategies, stress tests, scenario analysis and constructing hypothetical performance track records.
  • Maintain up‑to‑date knowledge of market structure, new instrument types (e.g., ETFs, smart‑beta, ESG wrappers), tax rules and regulatory changes that impact portfolio construction and reporting.
  • Prepare and present materials for investment committee meetings, client due diligence meetings and RFP responses, synthesizing analytical findings into clear, client‑facing narratives.
  • Coordinate with IT and data vendors to resolve system issues, optimize data feeds and participate in testing for system upgrades, new integrations (Aladdin, Bloomberg, FactSet) and automation projects.
  • Implement ESG and sustainability data and scoring into portfolio reporting and due diligence materials, supporting integration of non‑financial factors into the investment process.
  • Document procedures, control matrices and runbooks to ensure operational resiliency, facilitate audits and support cross‑training across the investment operations team.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad‑hoc client and RM requests, providing timely extracts, custom analytics and scenario runs for pitches and client meetings.
  • Contribute to process improvement initiatives to streamline trade processing, reporting cycles and reduce operational risk and manual interventions.
  • Collaborate with business intelligence and data engineering teams to translate reporting needs into data models, automated pipelines and dashboard requirements.
  • Participate in UAT and change control for upgrades to portfolio accounting, OMS, middle office and reporting systems; validate outputs and confirm reconciliation results.
  • Provide training and documentation to junior analysts and cross‑functional staff on systems, models and reporting conventions.
  • Assist in vendor selection and ongoing vendor performance monitoring for benchmark, pricing and reference data providers.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced Excel modeling skills including pivot tables, INDEX/MATCH, array formulas and VBA for macros and automation.
  • Proficiency with portfolio, accounting and order management systems such as BlackRock Aladdin, Charles River, SimCorp, or SS&C, and ability to reconcile outputs across systems.
  • Experience with market data and research platforms: Bloomberg Terminal, FactSet, Morningstar, MSCI, eVestment.
  • SQL proficiency for data extraction, transformation and validation across large datasets; familiarity with relational databases.
  • Programming skills in Python or R for automation, data analysis, performance attribution and back‑testing (pandas, numpy, scikit‑learn a plus).
  • Strong experience in performance attribution methodologies, both returns‑based and holdings‑based attribution, including factor and sector decomposition.
  • Solid knowledge of fixed income analytics (duration, DV01, spread, curve fitting), derivatives valuation basics and repo/financing mechanics.
  • Experience with NAV calculation, reconciliation processes, and understanding of fee calculations and expense accruals.
  • Familiarity with regulatory reporting requirements (Form N‑PORT, Form PF, AIFMD, UCITS) and compliance controls within asset managers.
  • Ability to work with APIs and data feeds (Bloomberg API, FactSet API) and perform validation of automated data ingestion.
  • Understanding of accounting principles for investment funds, including GAAP/IFRS implications and transfer agent workflows.
  • Experience building dashboards and visualizations (Tableau, Power BI, Looker) to communicate portfolio analytics and KPIs to stakeholders.
  • Knowledge of ESG data frameworks, carbon metrics and integrating sustainability criteria into portfolio analytics preferred.
  • Solid understanding of securities settlement lifecycle, corporate actions processing and custody relationships.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy and control discipline.
  • Strong analytical problem‑solving skills and the ability to synthesize complex quantitative analysis into clear business recommendations.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication; experience producing client‑facing materials and presenting to investment committees.
  • Ability to manage multiple priorities, meet tight deadlines and thrive in a fast‑paced, deadline‑driven environment.
  • Collaborative team player with stakeholder management skills across front‑office, operations, compliance and IT.
  • High ethical standards and professional integrity when handling confidential client and portfolio data.
  • Continuous improvement mindset with curiosity to automate manual tasks and improve processes.
  • Adaptability to changing market conditions, regulatory environments and business priorities.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Accounting, Mathematics, Computer Science or related quantitative field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree in Finance, Financial Engineering, MBA or CFA (Level II/III preferred) or CAIA designation.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Finance
  • Economics
  • Accounting
  • Mathematics, Statistics or Data Science
  • Computer Science or Engineering with finance focus

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–5 years of experience in asset management, investment operations, performance & risk analytics, or sell‑side/ buy‑side research.

Preferred:

  • 3–7 years experience supporting portfolio management for institutional or retail mutual funds, ETFs, or separate accounts with demonstrated experience in performance attribution, NAV processes, reconciliations and regulatory reporting.
  • Experience with major front‑to‑back systems (Aladdin, Charles River, SimCorp), Bloomberg and advanced Excel/Python/SQL capabilities is highly desirable.
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