Junior Product Specialist

About AQR Capital Management

AQR is a global investment management firm built at the intersection of financial theory and practical application. We strive to deliver superior, long-term results for our clients by seeking to filter out market noise to identify and isolate what matters most, and by developing ideas that stand up to rigorous testing. Underpinning this philosophy is an unrelenting commitment to excellence in technology — powering our insights and analysis. This unique combination has made us leaders in alternative and traditional strategies since 1998.
AQR takes a systematic, research-driven approach, applying quantitative tools to process fundamental information and manage risk. Our clients include institutional investors, such as pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, single family offices and sovereign wealth funds, as well as financial advisors.

About the Team

The Specialized Investments Group focuses on situations where laws and regulations have meaningful effects on trading decisions, portfolio design and the choice of investment vehicles. The team oversees the design, implementation and day-to-day portfolio management of tax aware funds and accounts.
The product specialist function is responsible for commercializing the innovations of AQR’s research team, as well as for developing the High Net Worth and Family Office distribution channels. AQR’s tax aware product portfolio consists of a growing number of tax efficient alternative and traditional investment strategies and of bespoke client solutions that utilize these strategies.
Product specialists play a key role in AQR’s portfolio management, product development, and enhancement and are involved in many stages of the investment process including new business presentations, new account onboarding, portfolio implementation, performance monitoring and analysis, and portfolio review meetings with clients. Product specialists interact closely with the rest of the firm including research, portfolio management, trading, business development, legal, compliance, risk and marketing. Through this collaboration, product specialists have in-depth knowledge of the strategies they cover and are expected to be in-house experts on their respective products. They are an integral part of initiatives to create, manage, and sell AQR products.

Your Role

AQR Capital seeks to recruit a junior level product specialist to focus on the firm’s Tax Aware product line and Tax Aware solutions. In this role the junior member of the team will partner with senior specialists on producing and sharing customized materials and analytics for internal stakeholders and external clients based on a deep understanding of AQR’s Tax Aware product offerings and capabilities. This professional will work in close collaboration with AQR’s research, portfolio management and business development teams to ensure proper representation of AQR’s Tax Aware products and a high level of client service to investors. AQR teams operate with the highest degree of mutual respect and collaboration. This position is a highly valued position within the firm and of critical importance to AQR’s ongoing growth and success.

Responsibilities include:

1. Using existing infrastructure (backtesters, reporting infrastructure, etc.) to support the team’s partnership with business development and clients on providing solutions to client-specific situations
   o Generate summary data for pitch books used by business development in client meetings and conferences
   o Design solutions for specific private wealth clients, including transition from appreciated portfolios, diversification of concentrated risks, optimal asset allocation given client-specific investment goals
   o Produce custom portfolio analysis to support both internal and external requests
2. Maintain and improve on existing infrastructure, often in collaboration with other teams, to maximize efficiency and accuracy of data delivery and to increase data gathering and storage functionality
   o Use knowledge of the underlying strategies to anticipate code maintenance that may be required as strategies evolve over time (new asset classes, new sub-strategies, etc)
   o Identifying weaknesses in existing processes and trends in demands to propose and then implement improvements to existing code or processes used for data management and delivery

What You’ll Bring

• Excellent academic credentials in a quantitative or technical discipline
• At least 2 years of relevant post-undergraduate experience at an investment management, asset management, or consulting firm
• Understanding and application of investment concepts including portfolio theory
• Demonstrated experience working with intricate data sets to distill, analyze, and present information based on audience and business objectives
• A client-first mentality with a high attention to detail and strong sense of ownership
• Ability to apply practical intuition and common sense in conducting complex data analysis
• Strong technical aptitude with proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint, programming skills in Python, and knowledge of SQL, knowledge of XML is a plus
• Ability to communicate with maturity, credibility, and clarity both verbally and in writing
• Demonstrated work ethic, competitiveness and tenacity required to achieve top performance

Who You Are

• Well-organized, detail-oriented; able to multi-task and keep track of various deadlines in a fast-paced, high demand environment
• Confidence to work independently, and engage directly with our US-based business to refine requirements and escalate issues when needed
• Mature and thoughtful, with the ability to operate in a collaborative, team-oriented culture
• Highest level of integrity, empathy and character
• Creative, resourceful, and driven - an intelligent risk taker and someone who does not grow complacent with success
• Hard-working and eager to learn in a highly intellectual, innovative environment