Senior Investment Officer

Org. Setting and Reporting

The United Nations Secretary-General is responsible for the investment of the assets of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF). The Secretary-General has delegated this responsibility to the Representative of the Secretary-General for the investment of the assets of the UNJSPF (RSG). The RSG heads the Office of Investment Management (OIM), which manages a $95+ billion multi-asset class, global investment portfolio, about 85% of which is actively managed in-house. Asset classes under management comprise global equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, private equity, real estate, infrastructure, timber, and commodities. OIM’s staff are all based in New York but come from over 40 countries. For more information, please visit OIM’s website at https://oim.unjspf.org/. This position is located in the Fixed Income Team. The incumbent reports to the Director of Fixed Income. The Fixed Income portfolio of the UNJSPF consists of allocations to US treasuries, credit, securitized, high yield and local currency emerging market debt.

Responsibilities

Within delegated authority, the Senior Investment Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

• Provides leadership, decision making and accountability in the management of the portfolio and to increase its return against the benchmark while managing risks prudently.
• Manage the use of derivatives within the portfolio in order to enhance portfolio construction and optimization.
• Provides policy guidance to section, on conceptual strategy development and management of the implementation of overall strategies by undertaking top-down analysis of economic/financial trends, liquidity flows, political and regulatory framework relevant to security selection in US securitized markets.
• Performs bottom-up and top-down investment research, utilizing multiple sources, including primary research through relevant government bodies and/or company visits; recommend specific securities to be purchased and sold.
• Plans and oversees the management of activities undertaken by the unit; ensures that substantive work programmes and programmed activities are carried out in a timely fashion, coordinating diverse projects in the unit by formulating investment policies and strategies to construct a portfolio of securitized assets; analyze outside market funds to recommend funds appropriate to the UNJSPF, when necessary.
• Prepare investment strategies and contribute to asset allocation by asset classes as well as sector allocation within the US securitized market;
• Manages, supervises, and carries out the work programme of the Unit under his/her responsibility.
• Co-ordinates the work carried out by the Unit; provides programmatic and substantive reviews of drafts-prepared by others.
• Provides substantive input in the preparation of position papers and reports for presentation to intergovernmental bodies such as the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budget Questions, Pension Board of the General Assembly, as appropriate among others: a) Preparing reports on investment returns and strategy for review and discussion in regular scheduled internal portfolio review and staff-advisor meetings. b) Participates in Investments Committee meetings and prepare the required inputs. c) Initiating e and leading special projects designed to improve the investment management decision process at OIM and enhance performance. d) Evaluating the advice and recommendations provided by external non-discretionary advisors and externally managed funds.
• Ensures that the outputs produced by the Unit maintain high quality standards; that reports are clear, objective and based on comprehensive data. Ensures that all outputs produced by the unit under his/her supervision meet required standards before completion to ensure they comply with the relevant mandates.
• Prepares inputs for the work programme of the unit, determining priorities, and allocating resources for the completion of outputs and their timely delivery.
• Carries out administrative tasks necessary for the functioning of the Unit, including monitoring of performance parameters and critical indicators, reporting on budget performance, preparation of inputs, evaluation of staff performance, interviews of candidates for job openings and evaluation of candidates: a) Recruits staff for Unit taking due account geographical and gender balance and other institutional values. b) Manages, guides, develops, and trains staff under his/her supervision. c) Fosters teamwork and communication among staff in the Unit and across organizational boundaries. d) Represents the Organization at interagency meetings, seminars, etc. on substantive issues. e) Participates in international, regional or national conferences and provides programmatic/substantive expertise on an issue or hold substantive and organizational discussions with representatives of other institutions.
• Reporting. a) Reports accurately and timely to the Representative of the Secretary-General for the Investments of the UNJSPF, the Chief Investment Officer and CIO of OIM when requested. b) Assists in reporting on investments and related matters to Governing Bodies, including the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board, the Fifth Committee, the ACABQ, the BOA, and OIOS c) Collects and analyzes data to identify trends or patterns and provide insights through graphs, charts, tables and reports using data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting.

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in Business Administration (MBA), Finance, Economics or related field is required. A first level university degree in combination with professional qualifications and experience in investment management may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.

Work Experience

• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible investment management experience in US securitized markets is required. A minimum 7 years’ experience as a buyside Portfolio Manager of a large and complex securitized portfolio is required. A minimum 5 years’ experience managing a securitized portfolio with assets under management of at least USD2.5 billion is required.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat. For this position, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN official language is an advantage.

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/248750?language=en