Research Consultant (Real Assets)

Location - London with hybrid working as per departmental requirements (currently a MINIMUM of 60% (3 days per week)). LCP is an award-winning actuarial and analytics consultancy providing market-leading capabilities and advice across pensions and financial services, energy, health, and analytics. We have an exciting opportunity to join our Investment Consulting department as a Research Consultant (Real Assets). LCP’s Investment Consulting practice is widely recognised for delivering rigorous, independent advice. We partner with a broad range of clients from pension schemes and central banks to charities and insurers helping them achieve their investment goals. At the heart of what we do is in-depth fund-manager research and analysis, giving clients the insight they need to select the right managers and maximise long-term returns.

What will you be doing?

• Drive research into real-asset strategies and their managers.
• Research Real Assets investment products offered by investment managers.
• Provide clear, well justified recommendations on the suitability of fund management products for use by our clients.
• Identify emerging trends and market opportunities in the real estate and infrastructure sectors, and assess their potential impact on client portfolios and investment strategies.
• Collaborate closely with client-facing teams, analysts, and other stakeholders to ensure alignment of research efforts with overall client aims.
• Maintain strong relationships with industry experts, peers, and other external sources to gather valuable market intelligence and stay ahead of industry trends.
• Produce high-quality research reports, whitepapers, and other thought leadership materials to enhance the firm's market presence and credibility.
• Research approaches and providers of services (e.g., brokers, platforms) to sell funds on the secondary market.
• Research other ways for investors to raise liquidity from their illiquid assets.
• Conduct investment manager research and formulate views on investment managers’ capabilities across asset classes to which you’re assigned.
• Attend regular in-person research meetings and internal discussions.
• Identify funds and managers that require researching.
• Lead or contribute to research meetings with managers through the planning of meetings, interviewing, analysis and proposing recommendations.
• Produce high quality written and presentational materials to communicate our views to client-facing consultants and clients.
• Support clients on the appropriate design of Real Assets strategies that meet their own investment objectives.
• Conduct operational due diligence reviews on fund management companies in-line with LCP’s processes.
• Conduct reviews of fund documentation.
• Ensure the recommendations on managers’ products can be justified: data and decisions are well documented; arguments and views are logical and consistent.
• Review work done by others, including both detailed checks and a check for overall reasonableness.

Skills and Experience:

• Several years of Real Assets experience in a manager research or asset management role at an investment consultancy, wealth manager, family office, fund-of-funds or in-house asset-owner.
• Experience and knowledge of Real Assets and investment strategies.
• Experience in assessing environmental and social impacts of real estate and infrastructure investments; and experience of metrics and techniques used.
• Excellent presentation and communication skills including the ability to present persuasively and debate your views.
• Time management and delegation ability, to juggle variable, sometimes high workloads.
• Good Excel, data-processing and project management skills.
• Professional qualification in investment, finance or surveying (preferable).

What’s in it for you?

As well as joining a multi-award winning, fun, collaborative, people first organisation where your personal and professional skills will be developed to make you the best you can be, we offer an attractive benefits package designed to promote your overall wellbeing so that you are able to perform to your full potential both in and out of work. Currently our core benefits package includes:

• For you: Hybrid working (see top of the advert for details), Professional study support (where applicable), Access to our internal Wellbeing, LGBTQ+, Multicultural and Women’s networks.
• For your family: Life assurance, Income protection, Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption and shared parental leave.
• For your health: 26 days annual leave (pro-rata for part-time working) plus bank holidays (most of which can be taken flexibly!) with options to buy & sell holiday, Private medical insurance, Discounted gym memberships, critical illness and dental insurance through our flexible benefits, Eye care vouchers, Cycle to work scheme, Digital GP services.
• For your wealth: Competitive pension scheme, Discretionary bonus scheme, High street discounts, Season ticket loans.
• For others: Volunteering opportunities.
• For the environment: Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme (qualifying period applies).

And much more! We continuously strive to build an inclusive workplace where all forms of diversity are valued, including age, background, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, race, religion or sexual orientation.