Career Opportunity

Investment Officer - Asset Allocation, Risk Management, and Innovative Solutions - San Francisco Employees' Retirement System (0922) (149792)

Recruitment: REF44235C

Published: August 28, 2024

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About:

Who We Are
The San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS) 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. 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.

What We Do
The Investment Division serves as a resource to the Retirement Board in the development of investment policies and practices. In accordance with the annual investment plan, the investment team deploys capital with the objective of enhancing the structure and diversity of the investment portfolio and sustaining long-term performance. Additionally, the Investment Division’s professional staff analyzes, develops, and recommends asset allocation mixes, manages investment portfolios, and monitors the activities and performance of external investment managers.

•    Application Opening: August 27, 2024
•    Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
•    Salary: $129,974 to $165,958 annually
•    Recruitment ID: RTF0149791-01131848

This job announcement will not close before September 30, 2024. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Appointment Type
This permanent 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

What We’re Looking For

SFERS seeks an experienced investment professional for the position of Investment Officer (“IO”) for its Asset Allocation, Risk Management, and Innovative Solutions team. Reporting directly to the Managing Director of Asset Allocation, Risk Management, and Innovative Solutions ("Managing Director"), the IO will provide technical, professional, and administrative support to the Managing Director and the CEO/CIO of SFERS. The incumbent will perform difficult and complex research as well as due diligence work involving knowledge of asset allocation, risk management, innovative investment strategies, the capital markets, and the asset management industry.

Specific and essential functions of this position include, but are not limited to:

•    Assist with the design of policies and practices that capture, monitor, and manage risks and exposures;
•    Assist with the development and implementation of quantitative models used in asset allocation, risk management, liquidity management, cash flow pacing forecasts, performance analysis, stress testing, derivative exposure management for each asset class and for the portfolio as a whole;
•    Assist with strategic and tactical asset allocation decisions including policy leverage and asset/liability research;
•    Assist in determining appropriate contingency plans and risk mitigation actions for stressed market environments;
•    Research, design, and implement innovative investment strategies that are differentiated from traditional public and private investments;
•    Assist each asset class in appropriate strategy and risk analysis;
•    Perform both qualitative and quantitative analysis to monitor investment performance, diversification, and overall risk management;
•    Assist in developing and updating the investment playbook for investable opportunities and reactions to market shocks; assist with fostering a culture that supports disciplined rebalancing and opportunistic risk taking in the face of market dislocation and illiquidity;
•    Source investments opportunities, conduct thorough due diligence and model portfolio construction, and review and negotiate investment management agreements;
•    Provide recommendations/advice on investment structure, programs, and policy;
•    May perform additional duties as assigned.

How to qualify

Minimum Qualifications

Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in finance, economics, business administration, accounting, statistics, or similar field; AND

Three (3) years of investment experience with an investment management firm, pension plan, university, endowment, foundation, corporation, family office, or consulting firm.

Substitution
•    Possession of a graduate degree in Business Administration, Finance, Statistics, Investment Management, Economics or similar field, or possession of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, may be substituted for an undergraduate degree in a different field than described above.
•    Two years of investment management experience at a position equivalent to an Investment Officer or higher with an investment management firm, pension plan, university, endowment, foundation, corporation, family office, consulting firm or other investment institution with at least $1 billion in assets, or seven years of such responsibility at a firm of any size, may substituted for an undergraduate degree in a different field than described above.

How to Stand Out

Desirable Qualifications: The stated desirable qualifications may be used to identify job finalists at the end of the selection process when candidates are referred for hiring.

•    Experience with quantitative investment and financial modeling for multiple asset classes and strategies.

What else should I know?

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 to the Agency will be invited to participate in the selection process. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement in the selection process.

Additional Information / What else should I know?

• 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 “I’m Interested” 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, Michael Nettles, at michael.nettles@sfgov.org.

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

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.