Portfolio Operations Associate

Company Profile

Founded in 1977, GMO is a global investment manager committed to delivering superior long-term investment performance and advice to our clients. We offer strategies and solutions where we believe we are positioned to add the greatest value for our investors. These include multi-asset class, equity, fixed income, and alternative offerings.

We manage approximately $69bn for a client base that includes many of the world’s most sophisticated institutions, financial intermediaries, and private clients. Industry-wide, we are well known for our focus on valuation-based investing, willingness to take bold positions when conditions warrant, and candid and academically rigorous thought leadership. Jeremy Grantham, GMO’s Co-Founder and Long-Term Investment Strategist, is renowned as an expert in identifying speculative investment bubbles and also as a leading climate investor and advocate.

GMO is privately owned and employs over 430 people worldwide. We are headquartered in Boston, with additional offices in Europe, Asia and Australia. Our company-wide culture emphasizes commitment to clients, intellectual curiosity, and open debate. We celebrate and respect our differences, while embracing and valuing what each of us brings to work, as we know that diverse teams in an inclusive, caring environment achieve higher engagement and better client results.

Please follow the prompts included in this job posting to apply. The application window for this role is anticipated to remain open until the job is filled, or as otherwise determined by GMO.

Overview

The Portfolio Operations Associate is responsible for ensuring the integrity of data provided by custodian banks, prime brokers, and administrators. You will perform various controls, audit, analytical, accounting and reporting responsibilities for a number of GMO’s mutual funds, hedge funds, ETFs, and separately managed accounts. “Ownership” is the key. You will take ownership of each account for which you are assigned. You will support the investment process (portfolio managers, traders, and analysts) by identifying, researching, and resolving any and all discrepancies discovered through the review and validation of all investment activity. You will work with a variety of teams at GMO including the front and middle office as well as our technology, and client relationship teams.

Responsibilities

• Obtain a thorough understanding of all aspects of assigned accounts
• Reconcile all assigned account holdings, cash and security transactions to custodian banks, proactively resolve complex accounting and custody issues and communicate effectively with the investment divisions
• Perform daily/monthly NAV review by comparing GMO’s net assets to the fund administrator’s net assets
• Report cash availability and overdrafts to GMO’s cash desk and FX team
• Work with the Pricing team and fund administrators on all security valuation issues
• Provide timely and accurate client specific or ad hoc reporting; check reports for quality assurance
• Actively follow-up on outstanding issues with the respective custodians; the analyst owns the issue until it is resolved and works to resolve issues and reduce errors from occurring in the future
• Effectively communicate with internal teams to highlight discrepancies that may impact GMO’s investment decisions
• Work closely with the Data Management team to resolve data integrity issues
• Partner with other Operations teams in the GMO London office to gain an understanding of day-to-day functions and assist in those duties as needed
• Collaborate with GMO’s Middle Office on daily portfolio functions as well as ad hoc projects
• Perform other duties as assigned such as:

- Data integrity projects (review of databases/systems, etc.)

- Contribute to new system onboarding

- Process improvement projects for the team and firm

- Participation in SOC1 audit

- Firm wide regulatory reporting requirements (AIFMD/Form PF/NFA)

Required Skills & Characteristics

• Bachelor’s degree
• 1-5 years of relevant experience; fund accounting a plus
• Derivatives experience preferred
• Experience with BlackRock Aladdin a plus
• Experience with FIS’s Data Integrity Manager a plus
• Strong analytical skills
• Self-motivated with proven ability to work effectively on a team
• Proficiency with Microsoft Word and Excel is required, Microsoft Office programming skills are a plus