Career Opportunity

Senior Portfolio Manager of Private Credit - San Francisco Employees' Retirement System (1114) (143648)

Recruitment: RTF0143647-01087477

Published: February 26, 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 brings before the Board, new investment opportunities with the objectives 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: February 26, 2024
• Application Deadline: Open Until Filled
• Salary: $183,768 - $234,572 annually                   
• Recruitment ID: RTF0143647-01087477

This job announcement will not close before March 18, 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 Senior Portfolio Manager (“SPM”) for its Private Credit portfolio. Reporting to the Director of Private Credit, the SPM will support the broader Private Credit team’s oversight and management of a complex and growing Private Credit portfolio. The SPM will be involved in all investment activities associated with SFERS’ Private Credit portfolio including, but not limited to the following:

• Researching and selecting external investment managers.
• Monitoring external investment managers.
• Collaborating with SFERS’ Private Credit consultant to determine strategies for external manager searches.
• Developing and presenting manager hiring recommendations (and termination recommendations, when necessary) to the internal Portfolio Management Group (PMG) and the Retirement Board.
• Monitoring portfolio risk and return on a regular basis to evaluate deviations from objectives in order to recommend strategy modifications.
• Preparing and presenting written reports recommending strategies, evaluating performance, and addressing other important issues to the Private Credit Program.

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 related field; AND

Six 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 (CFA) designation, may be substituted for an undergraduate degree in a different field than described above.
• Three years of investment management experience at the Senior Portfolio Manager level 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 with a firm of any size, may substituted for an undergraduate degree in a different field than described above.

How to Stand Out

Desirable Qualifications:

• Broad and extensive Private Credit experience in, but not limited to, direct lending, structured finance/asset-based lending, mezzanine, credit opportunities, distressed, real estate and real-assets-related credit.
• Meaningful active relationships with Private Credit managers.
• Experience and skill in understanding, evaluating, and underwriting complex Private Credit strategies and concepts, as well as global Private Credit trends and developments.
• Experience in reviewing, evaluating, and negotiating complex partnership and contractual agreements.
• Ability to work independently as well as in a collaborative, team-oriented environment.
• Ability to help supervise and train junior members of the team.
• Excellent written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills
• A fast and eager learner with a strong attention to detail and an ability to prioritize effectively.
• Proven ability to build networks and positive working relationships with key internal and external contacts and represent SFERS well at general partner and advisory meetings as well as conferences.
• Excellent judgment, integrity, and personal values.
• Willingness to travel globally up to 20-25% of time.
• Demonstrated strong proficiency with Microsoft Excel.
• Possession of a master’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, or Economics and/or a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

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

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 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.

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 “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.

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.