Asset & Wealth Management, Investment Risk – Alternatives, Associate, London

Goldman Sachs Asset Management is one of the world’s leading asset managers with over $3 trillion in assets under supervision. As the primary investment area within Goldman Sachs, we provide investment and advisory services for pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, financial advisors, and individuals.

We invest in corporate equity and debt, real estate equity and debt, and infrastructure-related assets and companies. Asset & Wealth Management operates on a global platform and our team works in a fast-paced, exciting environment. Within Asset & Wealth Management, the Risk Management function is charged with enabling the division to responsibly execute on strategic initiatives at a regional and global level, managing financial and non-financial risk through implementation of a global risk management framework, and driving returns through various capital and workflow efficiency initiatives. In addition, the Risk Management function serves as an important point of contact for funds & legal entity boards as well as regulators.

As a risk manager within Asset Management Alternatives, you will be engaged in proactive management of financial and non-financial risk, through portfolio monitoring, market observations, and process oversight. The Risk team is an independent function within the business that develops and enforces the risk management framework.

The position will be focused on Credit Risk Management within the Asset Management Alternatives business. The team focuses on general risk management oversight and reporting activities with a specific focus on Credit Risk related to loan underwriting in various asset classes. The position will have a (50-50) focus on both qualitative and quantitative risk management activities:

• Partially on more quantitative (executing, improving and developing), risk reporting, analytics and stress-testing;
• Partially on more qualitative credit risk and credit rating assessments, with a specific focus on structured asset (backed) finance and trade receivable loans.

The successful applicant will have an ability to understand various financial markets and products, and raise issues or concerns. He/she will have a high degree of integrity, strong attention to detail and be highly motivated and client-focused. Additionally, the successful applicant will be a team player, as the risk team is required to work closely with investment teams and other control functions across the firm.

Responsibilities

• Monitor risk usage, emerging risks, and risk metrics against thresholds and perform analytics where necessary.
• Engage the business to understand and mitigate risk, and challenge / escalate to senior management where appropriate.
• Collaborate across portfolio management, investment teams, and (second line) risk teams to monitor risk usage and emerging risks.
• Perform deep-dive analysis on emerging risk areas and assess the potential impacts both on transaction level as well as on various portfolios.
• Prepare (execute, improve and develop) periodic risk data, reporting, analysis, stress testing and presentations.
• Perform collateral and amendment monitoring, oversee credit ratings framework and periodic rating assignments and updates, perform industry/sector/country research and trend analysis.
• Support risk reporting including regulatory deliverables and committee and board reports.
• Continue to develop and implement risk oversight for our Investment Grade Private Credit and Asset Finance business, including developing policies and procedures.
• Contribute to risk transparency, develop the risk management framework including limits and thresholds, and work with engineering to enhance risk tooling.
• Assess and draw attention to the risks of new products and businesses within the Alternatives business.

Experience & Qualifications Required

• A minimum of 2-4 years of financial services experience related to risk management, portfolio management, trading, at an asset manager or a bank.
• Proven knowledge of quantitative analysis and modelling, and basic statistics (volatility and distributions).
• Strong in processing, structuring and analysing large, complex data sets (both quantitative as well as qualitative).
• Familiarity with risk methodologies (stress testing, sensitivities, limits) and financial risk metrics (duration, ratings, liquidity, etc.).
• Good understanding of financial reporting and accounting standards (Balance Sheet, P&L, Cashflow), with an affinity for financial modelling of projections.
• Ability to research, analyse, and challenge business cases, perform SWOT analyses, identify/quantify financial risks, and propose mitigants.

Preferred Experience:

• Advanced Excel (including VBA) and database/data analysis tools (SQL, Power BI, data architecture & governance).
• Underwriting, structuring, credit risk, credit ratings/models, asset-backed financing (ABS, CLO, Collateral, SPVs), and a working knowledge of US GAAP.

Professional Attributes

• Strong conceptual and analytical thinker who can separate facts from assumptions, see the bigger picture and make connections, identify scenarios, and assess probabilities and impacts.
• Highly organized, disciplined, diligent, detail-oriented, and proactive. Excellent at planning, prioritizing, and managing time under tight deadlines.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills (both oral and written) with a client-focused and relationship-oriented approach.
• Ability to work independently within a small team and thrive in a fast-paced, high-energy environment.

Locations

London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom

Benefits

We offer competitive vacation policies based on employee level and office location. We promote time off from work to recharge by providing generous vacation entitlements and a minimum of three weeks expected vacation usage each year. We assist employees in saving and planning for retirement, offer financial support for higher education, and provide a number of benefits to help employees prepare for the unexpected. We offer live financial education and content on a variety of topics to address the spectrum of employees’ priorities. We offer a medical advocacy service for employees and family members facing critical health situations, counseling and referral services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). We provide Global Medical, Security and Travel Assistance and a Workplace Ergonomics Program. We also offer state-of-the-art on-site health centers in certain offices. To encourage employees to live a healthy and active lifestyle, some of our offices feature on-site fitness centers. For eligible employees we typically reimburse fees paid for a fitness club membership or activity (up to a pre-approved amount). We offer on-site child care centers that provide full-time and emergency back-up care, as well as mother and baby rooms and homework rooms. In every office, we provide advice and counseling services, expectant parent resources and transitional programs for parents returning from parental leave. Adoption, surrogacy, egg donation and egg retrieval stipends are also available. We’re committed to finding reasonable accommodations for candidates with special needs or disabilities during our recruiting process.