Market Risk Associate recruitment
DEPARTMENT DESCRIPTION
It is the objective of Lyxor Risk Management team to protect the hedge fund investments of its clients and of Lyxor. Additionally, in the current market climate, it is critically important to protect the reputation of Lyxor and Société Générale by maintaining the highest level of professionalism in our investment process. A key aspect of achieving these objectives is through prudent risk management. Our overall risk management philosophy is to be extremely thorough in our knowledge of each hedge fund investment we make. It requires that we fully understand the risks inherent with each investment (i.e., beyond the simple nature of the market risk, we need to also ascertain the risk with the management company), and carefully consider the overall risk/reward tradeoff.
These objectives also apply in instances where Société Générale may not have a direct investment in a fund, but the fund is offered on our Manage Account platform. The direct economic risk to Société Générale may not be large, but the risk to our reputation and our clients is of paramount concern.
In sum, we believe that effective risk management requires an integrated approach, whereby quantitative analysis tools are combined with qualitative assessments of manager activities.
RESPONSIBILITIES
* Risk Reporting. Assist in the preparation of standard risk reports that are produced weekly and monthly. Most critical of these are risk limit reports and the monthly Risk Reports to the Investment Committee. Analyze the outputs.
* Hedge Fund due diligence. We annually review all mangers approved for direct investment. This requires a thorough understanding of their strategies and infrastructure as it relates to Risk Management. We also need to perform an initial due diligence on any new managers which the analysts recommend for inclusion in our investment universe.
* Ad hoc analysis. We are often called on to analyze performance and market sensitivities of individual managers. We will also review manager holdings, particularly illiquid "sidepocket" positions. Additionally we contribute to preparation of RFP's and the preparation of marketing materials related to market risk.
* Validation of orders and other transactions. In conjunction with the PM's we need to ensure that any transactions are consistent with Société Générale and Lyxor Risk Policies as well as portfolio limits agreed with our clients and other interested parties.
* Coordination with other Société Générale Risk teams. It is also necessary to liaise with Société Générale Risk, ensuring that we are in compliance with corporate risk guidelines
* Risk related systems projects. It is necessary to fully learn LYXOR's existing systems as well as participate in the development of new systems and functions. It is also critically important to learn third party systems that we currently use such as: RiskMetrics, PerTrac and Alternative Soft
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Required:
* Knowledge of hedge fund strategies and related trading instruments including, but not limited to, equity, credit, fixed income, commodity, and derivatives markets.
* Ability to communicate with Paris based teams effectively on hedge fund strategy analysis and market risk
* Strong grasp of financial markets and hedge fund landscape (both current and past)
* Knowledge of quantitative analysis techniques and related IT systems (Pertrac, Bloomberg, Excel, Proprietary Systems)
COMPETENCIES
Required:
* Possess a good balance of technical expertise, business knowledge and soft skills.
* Strong analytical and quantitative abilities
* Ability to communicate to peoples of all seniority across different departments of the firm
* Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and meet tight deadlines
* Ability to take initiatives and work without close supervision
* Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment
Preferred:
* Ability to speak French fluently
PRIOR WORK EXPERIENCE
Required:
* 3+ years experience in the financial markets
* 3+ years experience in hedge fund analysis and/or hedge fund portfolio management would helpful
EDUCATION
Required:
* College degree from a top-tier university
* Masters degree preferred from a top-tier international university