Research Analyst recruitment
FTSE is a fast growing, high profile independent company owned by the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange Group. Its mission is to provide investors globally with the best index and benchmarking solutions and decision making support tools. The strategic intent of the company is to create an index business valued in excess of $3 billion by 2014-15, occupying a leadership position in all major developed and significant emerging markets.
FTSE is a leading provider of index data for institutional investors worldwide with over $3 trillion of assets benchmarked to FTSE indexes. Growing at over 20% each year, and working from a position of market leadership in the UK and Europe, FTSE’s strategy is to increase FTSE brand awareness globally and to continue to grow its business worldwide through acquisitions and partnerships as well as organic growth.
FTSE is relied upon by financial markets globally, running the FTSE 100, FTSE MIB (Italy), Straits Times (Singapore), FTSE/JSE (South Africa) and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI. The company is at the forefront of indexes for the emerging market in China, operating the FTSE China A50 which supports the leading A Share ETF in Hong Kong. FTSE also works with the world’s biggest asset owners such as CalPERS, AP2, PGGM, AP3, AP7, ABN Amro, UBS, MPF and the Futures Fund, as well as the world’s largest passive fund managers, including Blackrock, State Street, Vanguard, Legal and General and UBS.
FTSE operates from three major centres in London, New York and Hong Kong. The company also has satellite offices in San Francisco, Paris, Milan, Dubai, Tokyo and Sydney. FTSE also has a presence in China (Shanghai and Beijing) and India (Mumbai) as part of its strategy to establish a leadership position in major emerging markets.
The Business Need
FTSE has established a very strong reputation within the market place for the quality and reliability of its index products and its expertise in dealing with unusual or complex stock events is widely acknowledged. With a strong presence in the European financial markets, and a rapidly growing presence in the North American and Asian markets the company is now looking to increase its market share globally and become the number one provider of index client solutions globally.
As a member of the Research Analytics Team, a Research Analyst responsible for the development and promotion of factor and risk based indices is sought.
Key Functions and Responsibilities
Reporting to the Director of Research Analytics within the Research Analytics Department, and working within a team of Research Analysts, the individual will undertake index development, research and delivery. Key areas of responsibility are:
• Development of a new generation of alternative and risk based indices
• Assume responsibility for index rebalance mechanisms
• Development of investment analytics and research tools
• Construction and calculation of investment metrics and use of fundamental data sources
• Respond to internal and external research enquiries related to index construction and development
• Creation one-off and regular research reports highlighting the application of research tools and the characteristics of specific indices
Key aspects of the position are:
- Comprehensive knowledge of quantitative investment analytics; including model development, portfolio construction techniques and risk and performance attribution
- Extensive knowledge of competing data sources and the construction of fundamental measures of alpha and investment metrics
- Substantial experience in the use of either Mathematica or Matlab in an analytical environment and a desire to acquire such knowledge where it is lacking
- Experience of buy and or sell side end-user requirements
- Ability to work within a small team and readily assume additional responsibilities
Qualifications/Experience
It is expected with limited supervision the candidate will be able to deliver each of the key objectives of the role identified above. It is therefore expected that he or she will have:
• Extensive analytical investment experience - on either buy or sell sides
• Significant knowledge and experience of quantitative investment techniques
• Post-graduate degree in a quantitative discipline
• Wide ranging I.T. skills including SQL.
• Experience of analytical product development
Type of Person
Insert details of skills/competencies and personal characteristics required:
• Significant background in and familiarity with investment analytics
• Good mathematical and statistical background and knowledge of Mathematica and or Matlab
• Practical programming skills and SQL database knowledge
• Ability to work within a small team