Career Opportunity

Investment Fellow - Asset Allocation, Risk Management, and Innovative Solutions - San Francisco Employees' Retirement Systems (9910) (095831)

Recruitment: REF13917E

Published: February 21, 2023

Apply using SmartRecruiters, the City and County of San Francisco's application portal Learn More

About:

The San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System ("SFERS") offers an exceptional opportunity for the right candidates to serve this historic, well established City Department by engaging in interesting and rewarding mission critical work. Established in 1889 as a fund for families and orphans of firefighters and police officers, today the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System serves more than 75,000 active, vested, and retired employees of the City and County of San Francisco and their survivors.

SFERS currently manages an investment portfolio totaling approximately $33 billion. The fellowship is an exciting opportunity to be part of the Investment Team and work with world class asset managers across the globe.

Our Mission
The San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System is dedicated to securing, protecting, and prudently investing the pension trust assets, administering mandated benefits programs, and providing promised benefits to the active and retired members of the City and County of San Francisco.

Specific information regarding this recruitment process is listed below:

•    Application Opening: February 21, 2023
•    Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
•    Salary: $35 per hour
•    Recruitment ID: 095831-RTF0095830

This job announcement will not close before March 7, 2023. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

***This recruitment has been reopened on February 21, 2023 to broaden the applicant pool. Applicants who applied prior to February 2023 do NOT need to reapply and will be included in the applicant pool.***

Appointment Type
This temporary exempt position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service Examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer. 

Role description

SFERS is seeking a talented, highly motivated Fellow who has demonstrated significant academic achievement and an interest in gaining invaluable knowledge and experience in the on-going efforts of its Asset Allocation, Risk Management, and Innovative Solutions team. 

Duties will primarily focus on assisting Investment Staff with risk management of current and potential investments and with helping to prepare a comprehensive risk review of SFERS’ Absolute Return portfolio. The Fellow will also be involved in several research projects that will require independent investigation, culminating in written and oral presentations for Investment Staff. Research will be determined on an as-needed basis and may focus on a variety of areas including, but not limited to: investment strategies, markets, regulatory matters, and quantitative analysis. This role will likely require routine collaboration across asset classes and functional teams at SFERS. 

Examples of essential functions of this role include, but are not limited to: 

• Assist with existing asset allocation and risk management processes;
• Liaise with external consultants and custodian to ensure the accurate reporting of portfolio investments;
• Perform administrative duties related to custody, legal, compliance and other portfolio initiatives;
• Conduct ad hoc analysis and research;
• Assist Risk Management and Absolute Return teams in preparing comprehensive risk review of SFERS’ Absolute Return program. Specifically, the duties will include the review of:  
  • Compliance with program guidelines
  • Liquidity forecast including unfunded commitments
  • Leverage report for each fund and total portfolio
  • Exposure evolution reporting
  • Stress test for each fund and total portfolio 
  • Review of historical and expected returns 
  • IDD (Investment Due Diligence) and ODD (Operational Due Diligence) ratings for each fund from multiple vendors
  • Performance analytics and factor exposures for each fund and total portfolio
  • Credit exposure and credit overlay analysis
  • Co-investment exposure analysis
  • Performance attribution by Manager
  • Investment Manager Relationship concentration for aggregation across Total Plan
• May perform additional duties as assigned. 

Training will be provided by SFERS Investment Staff. Upon completion of this fellowship, the experience gained will be deemed as qualified experience towards the minimum qualifications for an Investment Analyst position (Job Code 4331). The anticipated duration of the fellowship is 18 months.  

How to qualify

Minimum Qualifications

• Investment fellows must be enrolled in an accredited college undergraduate or graduate degree program in Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Engineering, Finance, Statistics, Data Sciences, Computer Sciences, or a closely related field; and
• Possess a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. 

Verification
Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements. 

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

All work experience, education, training, and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application. 

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification, or may lead to lower scores.

Selection Procedures
Applications will be screened for relevant qualifying experience. Additional screening mechanisms may be implemented in order to determine candidates’ qualifications. Only those applicants who most closely meet the needs of the Agency will be invited to participate in the selection process. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement in the selection process.

After submitting your application, please complete a short questionnaire regarding the minimum qualifications required for this position. The questionnaire should take five (5) minutes to complete. Link: https://forms.office.com/g/UMT3JJnLjp

What else should I know?

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About The Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Seniority Credit in Promotional Exams
• Veterans Preference
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

HOW TO APPLY

All applicants must submit a resume and completed job application (all sections, including Experience and Education, must be completed) in order to be considered. Resumes will not be taken as a substitute for completing the application. 

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process.

Visit careers.sf.gov and begin the application process.

• Select the “Apply Now” button and follow instructions on the screen.

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com).

Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the recruitment analyst, Karen Perez, at karen.perez@sfgov.org.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT:  All City and County of San Francisco employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Someone is fully vaccinated when 14 days have passed since they received the final dose of a two-shot vaccine or a dose of a one-shot vaccine. Any new hire must present proof of full vaccination status to be appointed. Any new hire who will be routinely assigned or occasionally enter High-Risk Settings, must provide proof of having received a COVID-19 booster vaccine by March 1, 2022, or once eligible.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.