Large, NY Based Hedge Fund seeks an Associate Director of Investor Reporting to join the firm’s growing Investor Relations department. The Investor Relations group serves as a key point of contact to the firm’s investor base. This individual will manage a small team dedicated to investor reporting and investment processing for a large investor base.

Responsibilities:

• Drafting, collation, and delivery of all investor communication materials, including capital calls, distributions, performance updates, fund financial statements, and tax forms among others
• Processing of all investments transactions (subscriptions, redemptions, transfers)
• Maintaining all aspects of the firm’s investor database, including contact information and correspondence preferences
• Monitoring fund and shareholder compliance with relevant policies and regulatory requirements (ERISA, annual fund audits, KYC, etc.)

Requirements:

• Demonstrated ability to work in a demanding, fast-paced environment
• Strong organizational and process management skills combined with process improvement experience
• Proven ability to prioritize high volumes of work across a team
• Sense of urgency, constant drive towards excellence, and very strong client service mentality
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Knowledge of CRM databases a must
• Knowledge of TheNextRound (TNR) a plus
• 5 or more years of related experience (Hedge Funds or Private Equity and/or Administrator)

Large, NY Based Hedge Fund seeks an IR Coordinator to join the firm’s growing Investor Relations department. The Investor Relations group serves as a key point of contact to the firm’s investor base, in addition to supporting the firm’s business development team. This role requires a hands-on individual with excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to manage several projects simultaneously to meet tight deadlines.

Responsibilities:

• Assist with scheduling and coordinating high volume of meetings
• Preparing meeting research memorandums
• Process meeting correspondence requirements, including pre-meeting and post-meeting action items
• Assist with travel arrangements and maintain travel itineraries
• Prepare and reconcile expense reports for travel and meetings
• Maintain CRM database
• Print and bind presentation materials

Requirements:

• Excellent planning, organizational, implementation and follow-up skills required
• Highly organized and efficient
• Heightened attention to detail
• High energy and self-motivation
• Ability to work to tight deadlines, using own initiative and without close supervision
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to manage changing demands in fast-paced environment
• Proficient in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Large, NY Based Fund of funds is seeking a senior sales professional who has a thorough understanding of the brokerage business, wholesale distribution and Alternative Asset products, as well as existing relationships in this area.  

Responsibilities:

• Identifies opportunities and qualifies leads to expand new business from existing and prospective target audience, offering products, while maintaining service standards.  Follows through on these opportunities to help drive the national sales effort.
• Provides information required to sell firm products through technical products knowledge, awareness of markets and financial services industry and effective use of literature.  This includes effective execution of all programs that focus on new products, identify sales opportunities, or support firm initiatives.
• Analyze investment opportunities and client needs, and recommend appropriate strategies.
• Build client relationships based upon developing strategies to their financial goals through the use of financial planning and wealth management.
• Market and sell appropriate investment products, financial and wealth management services/products to clients.

Requirements:

The ideal candidate will have spent 3-5 years in a sales/investor relations position with a focus on retail distribution channels.  Experience with hedge funds and fund of funds is a major plus.

• Outstanding academic qualifications, including an advanced degree, or professional certification with a minimum of 3 years of business experience and proven success in a previous sales related field or career.
• An aggressive, energetic and entrepreneurial style with the desire and ability to build a business.
• Experience in a hands-on role in client service or a senior manager role that provides extensive insight into the wirehouse channel.
• Track record and fluency in alternative investments.
• Prior experience in business development and strategic marketing.
• Ability to communicate effectively with co-workers and clients.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Articulate; ability to explain with confidence, products, services, and concepts in compelling manner.
• Strong telephone communication skills and outgoing personality.  The ability to share information in a clear, concise, and well organized manner that builds a positive rapport with clients.
• The ability to learn and retain information about a variety of investment products and services, including competing and complementary programs.
• Pro-active, enthusiastic team player; self-starter; and independent thinker.
• High energy level with flexibility to travel extensively and work long hours at times to accommodate special client needs.
• Time management skills-ability to multi-task, meet deadlines, and balance priorities.
• Series licensing will be required.

Requirements:  Candidate must be a CPA with a combination of 4-7 years of Public Accounting and Private experience at a Hedge Fund.  Must have strong Excel skills

While all of the above is true, many funds had a positive 2011 with respect to capital raising and the overall health of their business. Net inflows were positive at many of the large established firms, and a number of newer, up-and-coming funds saw meaningful growth spurts.  This gets to the heart of our business at Long Ridge Partners, executive recruitment, which is predicated on hedge funds that are enjoying AUM growth and business stability.  2012 is still young but there are already some very good signs, none more significant than the very positive performance numbers coming from most strategies.  We are seeing many firms looking to leverage last year’s momentum and add to their investment, sales, and infrastructure teams at all levels.

There is some obvious headwind as the US and European investment banks continue to downsize and in some cases shut down entire businesses, creating an oversupply of talented financial professionals.   Much of this talent is not very relevant for hedge funds, as the proprietary trading desks were gutted years ago.  That being said, hedge funds have been known to hire market makers, investment bankers, and sales professionals from investment banks.

Within investments we are seeing strong demand for equity analysts covering the financials and industrials sectors, as well as those regionally focused on Europe.  Funds believe there are real opportunities to make money in these areas and many do not currently have the personnel to capitalize on them.  Firms specializing in rates, FX and other liquid fixed income strategies have been actively hiring for the last few years and have steadily remained  in the market for talent over the past 2-4 quarters. Discretionary commodity managers are coming off a tough performance year but a decent capital raising year, resulting in interesting activity and moves at the start of this first quarter.

In marketing and investor relations, we are seeing more of the same that played out in 2011: activity across the board, from junior relationship management roles, to senior fundraising positions.  Early indications suggest the same seasonality in these hires as many firms look to secure senior professionals in the first 2 quarters, while adding junior and mid-level positions as needed throughout the year.  Again, funds with decent performance and interesting strategies are looking to build solid sales and marketing teams with hopes of continuing the successful capital raising that took place in 2011.

The Research Analyst will be based in New York and will be a member of the Portfolio Management, Research and Investment Team. The Research Analyst will support the Senior Research Analysts and Portfolio Managers on the investment team, and will interact with Senior Professionals outside of the group. Ideally the best candidate will be a motivated self-starter, with a strong interest in investing and the broader global capital markets, generally.

Manager Sourcing

• Attend manager meetings, take notes, and document in an Initial Manager Assessment
• Attend conferences hosted by capital introduction desks of major prime brokerage groups
• Read manager letters to gain greater insight into manager investment styles
• Listen to manager and capital markets conference calls and circulate notes
• Talk with existing managers to determine other interesting market participants in their arena
• Utilize personal investment focus to source managers

 Reviewing Managers

• Meet with existing managers alongside other members of the Investment Team to obtain updates on portfolio and business
• Constantly re-assess merits and weaknesses of the investment
• Document every meeting and circulate notes with investment team

Requirements:

The ideal candidate will have spent 2-5 years in a trading oriented capital markets group at a major investment bank.

To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies to perform the essential functions of this position:

• Problem Solving- the individual identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner, gathers and analyzes information skillfully and maintains confidentiality
• Interpersonal skills- the individual maintains confidentiality, remains open to others’ ideas and exhibits willingness to try new things
• Oral communication- the individual speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations and demonstrates group presentation skills
• Written communication- the individual edits work for spelling and grammar, presents numerical data effectively and is able to read and interpret written information
• Planning/organizing- the individual prioritizes and plans work activities and uses time efficiently
• Quality control- the individual demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness and monitors own work to ensure quality
• Adaptability- the individual adapts to changes in the work environment, manages competing demands and is able to deal with frequent change, delays or unexpected events

The firm is a closely held, multi-strategy investment management firm located in Dallas, Texas.  The firm was founded as the investment arm of the mid-sized energy exploration company and now manages the founding family’s assets.  The investment strategy is comprised of (i) direct investments in public equity securities and (ii) indirect investments through managers across multiple asset classes and strategies.

The Senior Research Analyst will be responsible for generating and evaluating long/short equity investment ideas in Energy, Utilities, Industrials or Technology sectors. 

Requirements:

The ideal candidate will be an independent thinker with an innate ability to learn and absorb information quickly and to perform high-quality analytical work with keen attention to detail.  The ideal candidate will have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to thrive in a team-oriented, entrepreneurial culture, and a passion for investing and the markets.  Other requirements include:

• 4-8 years of investment experience (hedge fund or long-only equity investing; private equity experience will be considered),
• Exceptional academic credentials,
• A strong work ethic,
• Strong background in Energy, Utilities, Industrials or Technology sectors.

The firm is a Fund of Funds with $6 billion of assets under management which makes investments through the use of a proprietary managed account platform, built over the last six years, which provides more active portfolio management, better asset control and full transparency. Investors include pension plans, corporations, insurance companies, university and college endowments, public and private foundations, family offices and individual investors.

They are looking to add a senior investment professional to focus on sourcing, evaluating and making investments in early-stage hedge funds, focused on equities.  This individual will also be responsible for managing a group of existing investments in sector specific equity L/S managers.  It is expect that a material portion of the individual’s time will be spent with existing and potential clients of the firm.

Requirements:

The successful candidate will have significant direct investment experience at a hedge fund, as an analyst or portfolio manager.  Experience at an equity hedge fund firm that has dedicated sector specialists is probably most relevant for this position.  

 10+ years of experience is required. 

MBA a plus.

The investment management business within a large investment bank which is responsible for structuring, execution and ongoing investment management of regulated investment funds & separately managed accounts for institutional and retail investors is looking for a senior product specialist. The group manages more than USD 26 billion on behalf of clients globally with a dedicated team of over 100 investment professionals and operations specialists.  They also are able to leverage the resources of the investment bank as a whole to achieve their investment aims.

The group generally provides advisory services to Funds (including those that it sponsors or manages) and with respect to Sub-Advised Funds and to other institutional investors, including, public pension plans, corporate pension plans, collective trust funds maintained by a bank (including their trustees), corporations, endowments, foundations, funds of hedge funds, family offices, registered investment advisers, registered investment companies, third party broker-dealers, private banks, state and municipal government entities and other asset management firms.

The New York based Product Specialist will focus on covering institutional clients nationwide. The successful candidate would report to the Managing Director, Head of Distribution for the Americas, who is based in New York, NY. This individual is responsible for marketing customized multi-asset class investment strategies to U.S. institutional investors.

Requirements:

• 8-10+ years experience of client facing roles within Asset Management with successful track record in raising AUM through institutional channels
• Bring a creative, solutions based approach to business development rather than simply “pushing’ product
• Track record in marketing customized multi-asset class investment strategies to US institutional investors
• Play an instrumental role in executing coordinated coverage with varied sales teams at the firm. This will be accomplished through regularly communicating with sales personnel to discuss territory-related matters, product emphasis and positioning, special marketing efforts, industry news and special issues that affect product sales.
• Engage clients and prospects in a wide ranging conversation about their asset allocation needs and bring the full solutions orientation of firm to bear, applying the full platform of the firm’s strategies to solve client needs
• Oversee responses to incoming queries and opportunities
• Work closely with the team in the US to develop a consistent approach to the institutional market across the US and Canada and to capture cross selling opportunities
• Being completely conversant with all aspects of the investment discipline and approach of our clients’ products & strategies.
• Working closely with each of the portfolio managers, understanding investment activity in the portfolios and the manager’s individual style.
•  Ensuring the clients are well informed and knowledgeable about the performance of the assets they have entrusted to firm.
• Participating in investment team meetings, so as to always be aware of changes in investment strategy and the portfolio managers perspective on the markets.
• Work with firm’s Americas Head of Distribution to develop yearly sales plans for the US market
• Bring asset management sales rigor to the team
• Meeting with clients on a periodic basis to review their portfolios, interacting with the sales force, pension consultants, wholesalers, brokers, and the media, and attending conferences as appropriate.
• Staying current on the competitive environment in order to position the firm’s strategies effectively
• Participating in product development, providing client and market perspective and feedback
• High degree of integrity /professionalism
• Self -motivated ; high energy ; driven and performance oriented individuals
• Articulate, sophisticated, worldly; able to connect well with institutional CIO’s
• Effective interpersonal and influencing skills; outstanding communicator, verbally and in writing
• Able to deliver high impact presentations

Bonuses Less of an Impediment to Late Year Movement

With respect to investment professionals, the 4th quarter of each year has historically been a very quiet time, almost a calm before the storm that is the first 3 months of the upcoming year. This is when senior investment professionals who are inclined to make a move would collect their bonuses and leave for new positions. Industry volatility over the past 2-3 years has resulted in many individuals who were willing to move mid or late-year because, for the first time in a long time, they were not expecting a significant bonus in Q1’. Many were either laid-off or employed at firms that were shutting, thus allowing opportunistic firms to acquire talent “off-cycle”. This year, with most hedge funds flat-to-down and investment banks hinting at disappointing bonuses and significant layoffs, many firms have chosen to act sooner rather than later. They are already in the process of hiring senior investment professionals now.

Sales and Marketing Hiring in the First and Second Quarter

Since we started recruiting for Hedge Funds 10+ years ago, hiring marketers has always been a 1st and 2nd quarter endeavor. We have been told by many clients that management typically uses the month of December to plan and budget for the upcoming year’s sales and marketing staff. Come early January, many firms will communicate to us their first wave of needs and expect to have their new employee(s) start within 2-4 months. Towards the end of the 1st quarter, a second wave of searches comes in from firms that were a little late in assessing their needs, as well as firms who have had an individual leave the team. It is not uncommon for it to be late spring by the time these individual are in their seat, just in time to be up and running for the summer and fall capital raising stretch.

For the most part, the timing for senior sales and marketing searches has held steady but we have seen a slight uptick in these searches happening “off-cycle”. We attribute most of this to hiring firms responding to the availability of talent which is due to the higher number of funds shutting down and/or having great difficulty raising capital.

Mid and Jr. Level Positions Active Year-Round

There has typically been no seasonal pattern when it comes to hedge funds hiring junior and mid-level professionals. Yes, management will often meet at the end/beginning of the year to plan and budget for these hires, but it is really on an immediate need basis. Whether it is a sector analyst, execution trader or IR associate, the firms will not consult the calendar when deciding on starting a search. While investment banks and private equity funds typically have formal recruiting periods and start dates, hedge funds tend to be much less structured when it comes to adding headcount.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the disruption in the financial services industry over the last few years has had an impact on the hedge fund executive search market. There is strong evidence to suggest that this volatility has affected the formally seasonal nature of recruiting, causing searches to be distributed more evenly across the calendar rather than concentrated in a few months’ time. Hedge Funds, by nature, are opportunistic and tend to have more immediate hiring needs than investment banks or other financial firms. The availability of strong talent throughout the year has certainly been a welcome outcome and one that has paid immediate dividends at many firms.