Analyst, Portfolio Construction

**OUR COMPANY BACKGROUND & CULTURE**
The UPP is a new, jointly sponsored pension plan that serves all active, retired, and deferred members and beneficiaries of the five current pension plans of the founding institutions - Queen’s University, the University of Guelph, and the University of Toronto. UPP serves more than 35,000 members and manages assets of approximately $10.5 billion. The UPP is an exciting and ground-breaking pension start-up, intended to help enhance the long-term sustainability of defined benefit pension plans in the university sector for generations to come. Drawing on the decades of experience of our predecessors, our commitment is to protect the stability of our members’ pensions and deliver service excellence to our members and employers.
As a long-term investor, we recognize that environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors support risk management and value creation. As stated in our Responsible Investing Policy, we are committed to incorporating ESG considerations into our investment management activities and we collaborate with other industry participants in the promotion of a sustainable economy and society.

Our people drive performance. We live a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion - across race, place, gender expression, sexual identity, and cultures. The ability to bring your whole self to work drives performance. We actively look for talent that shares this commitment to inclusion and connectedness.

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THE ROLE*
A great opportunity for a proactive and curious individual with a quantitative background and multi-asset investment experience to join the Portfolio Construction & Investment Risk team (“PCIR”). The Analyst will join a team of high performing professionals and make a significant contribution to UPP’s story. Reporting to the Director, Portfolio Construction, the Analyst will play a key role and provide analytical support to the team in the development of UPP’s long-term asset allocation framework.
The Analyst will support the fund’s long-term investment strategy through development and refinement of capital market assumptions, supporting the asset and liability analysis (ALM) and building analytical tools.

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: *
The UPP will grow as an organization and aspires to be a strong steward of its beneficiaries’ assets. Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

- Build total fund analytical tools and dashboards to support the Portfolio Construction & Investment Risk (PCIR) team
- Analyze core UPP investments, including alternative assets, from a total risk and factor perspective
- Support team in development of Board and Investment Committee material
- Assist with asset liability studies and support the portfolio optimization process
- Assist in the development and refinement of UPP’s capital market assumptions (CMAs), obtain and maintain external CMAs
- Ad hoc support and analysis for private and public investment teams

**QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE**:

- 1-3 years of experience in a multi-asset class setting such as asset liability modeling, portfolio construction and factor analysis, is an asset
- Undergraduate or graduate degree with significant advanced course work in Statistics, Quantitative Finance, Sciences and/or Mathematics
- Superb quantitative and analytical skills
- Knowledge of financial markets and constituent asset classes
- Experienced programmer (e.g., VBA, R, Python, MATLAB)
- Experience with data visualization tools (e.g., Domo, Tableau) considered an asset
- CFA or CAIA designation or progress towards
- Working knowledge of Bloomberg, Aladdin, Charles River, MSCI Barra or Ortec (or equivalent)
- Prior internship experience at Canadian pension plans considered an asset

**ATTRIBUTES**:

- Intellectually curious; identifies creative solutions and balances practicality
- A nimble, resourceful collaborator who thrives in a start-up environment
- Excellent interpersonal skills and a positive attitude; able to build positive relationships
- Demonstrated ability to meet high performance standards and maintain a calm, pleasant demeanor in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment
- Alignment with UPP’s desire to be a leader in Responsible Investing, ESG, and climate change.

**PERSONALITY TRAITS**:

- Self-driven
- Humility
- Strong work ethic
- Passion for learning
- Empathetic
- Collaborative
- Authentic
- Personable
- Confident