Established in 1922, the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (“SFERS”) is dedicated to securing, protecting and prudently investing pension trust (the “Trust”) assets and administering a defined benefit pension fund for eligible members of the City and County of San Francisco (the “City”), San Francisco Unified School District, City College of San Francisco, and the Superior Court for the County of San Francisco. SFERS’ Retirement Board (the “Retirement Board”) and investment team oversee the management of $25 billion in Trust assets in global public equities, fixed income and alternative investments.
SFERS is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Investment Analyst for its large and growing private markets portfolio, which currently includes over $8 billion in investments in venture capital, private equity, and real assets. Under direction and working closely with the Senior Portfolio Managers (“SPMs”), the Investment Analyst will perform complex research work in helping construct and manage a global private markets portfolio through the sourcing, underwriting, execution and active management of investment partnerships, co-investments and direct investments in accordance with SFERS’ private markets strategy and risk-adjusted return objectives for the underlying asset classes. While the Investment Analyst will be exposed to a variety of private markets strategies within the portfolio, it is expected that the majority of time will be allocated to private equity investment opportunities, particularly venture capital and growth.
The essential functions of this position include, but are not limited to:
- Assist in the evaluation of investment opportunities, including meeting with investment managers, conducting reference checks, investment modeling, and performing other qualitative and quantitative analyses.
- Manage the internal process for monitoring existing and potential investments, including reviewing marketing materials, taking meeting notes, reviewing quarterly reports, and administering capital calls and distributions.
- Prepare screening memos and detailed investment memoranda that discuss the merits and considerations of the most compelling investment opportunities.
- Present investment recommendations (both written and oral) to the SPMs, Managing Director, CIO and Retirement Board for review and approval as assigned.
- Conduct ongoing active portfolio management, including direct interactions with SFERS’ investment managers globally; monitoring of specific portfolio exposures, including geographic, subsector and/or other factors; reviewing relevant benchmarks; and monitoring of investment cash flows, including fees and expenses.
- Monitor the competitive landscape and maintain a forward calendar of new and upcoming investment opportunities, including management of the private market databases.
- Conduct thematic research by analyzing and monitoring primary source data to identify investment trends, risks and investable opportunities.
- Assist in development of requests for proposals, vendor evaluation, and recommendations regarding tools and/or systems.
Minimum Qualifications
These minimum qualifications establish the education, training, experience, special skills and/or license(s) which are required for employment in the classification. Please note, additional qualifications (i.e., special conditions) may apply to a particular position and will be stated on the exam/job announcement.
Education
Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; AND
Experience: Two (2) years of relevant investment experience with a major financial institution, consulting organization, pension fund, endowment, foundation, family office, or sovereign wealth fund, including experience monitoring and measuring performance within institutional portfolios and the capital markets; developing quantitative applications to analyze and monitor public and/or private investments including qualitative skills for assessment and recommendations.
Substitution
Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university with a major coursework in economics, business, finance, accounting, mathematics, statistics, banking may substitute for one (1) year of the required experience.
Possession of a master’s degree in economics, business, finance, accounting, mathematics, statistics, banking, or similar field may substitute for the required education and experience.
Possession of a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) or Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation may substitute for the required education and experience.
Desirable Qualifications
The stated desirable qualifications may be used to identify job finalists at the end of the selection process when candidates are referred for hiring.
- Desire to assist with both administrative efforts and investment analysis.
- Possession of or in the process of completing the Chartered Financial Analyst program, the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst program and/or an advanced degree.
If interested, please apply here.
