Senior Investment Manager - Equities in London

Nest Invest is on an ambitious journey to become one of the world’s largest asset owners. With c. £60 billion AUM today and taking in over £600m of pension contributions per month, we’re on track to more than double that figure by the end of the decade. This rapid growth brings exciting opportunities and increasing operational complexity.

As our portfolio expands, we shall internally manage more of the investment decision making and process, whilst concurrently engaging with a broader range of external partners. As a result, operational excellence becomes more critical than ever. We’re building a capability and culture that embraces innovation, leverages technology, and harnesses the power of data to deliver exceptional outcomes for our members.

The Senior Investment Manager, Equities will be responsible for the long-term investment strategy, performance, and risk management of Nest’s equity funds, which comprise roughly half (c. £35bn) of the total assets currently under management. Nest Invest’s equity funds are invested through a number of External Fund Management partners who provide specialist equity investment expertise to support a range of strategies including Retirement Date, Ethical, Sharia and Higher Risk funds.

The Senior Investment Manager for Equities will take responsibility for the effective running and oversight of this growing portfolio of externally managed and sub funds, strengthening and developing long term partnerships with a select number of key external managers that are well aligned to Nest Invest in terms of capability and philosophy.

The Senior Investment Manager for Equities will play a key role within the wider Investment function, directly influencing performance and outcomes for the business’s investment strategy, as well as enhancing decision making across Nest Invest’s external manager investment process.

In addition, the Senior Investment Manager, Equities will analyse, monitor and evaluate Nest’s current equity portfolio, at a strategy and fund level, from a performance, ESG, operational and reporting as well as a reputational and investment risk perspective. The Senior Investment Manager, Equities will recommend appropriate benchmarks and target returns, understand macroeconomic dynamics and the return and risk drivers across global listed equities. You will also identify new investment opportunities for further research and maintain a network of active manager and peer relationships across public equity markets.

The Senior Investment Manager – Equities will report to and make investment recommendations to the Director of Private & Public Markets, the Asset Allocation Committee, the Valuation Committee and the Executive Investment Committee. The investment results of the public equities portfolio are a critical component of Nest’s overall investment portfolio and have a direct impact on Nest Invest meeting its overall objectives.

Key Responsibilities will include:

• Oversee the management of all externally managed equity funds.
• Design and plan resources and strategy to deliver Nest’s agreed investment goals within equities.
• Monitor the performance of existing equity mandates and their underlying investments and assets, tracking key performance indicators, analysing manager reporting and the underlying company’s financial reports, and preparing regular updates for relevant committees and senior management.
• Develop and maintain relationships with third party service providers including external equity fund managers, advisers, consultants, and research providers and build Nest’s reputation as a preferred partner.
• Conduct due diligence on potential investment opportunities, including researching industries, markets, competitors, and potential risks to assess the viability of an investment.
• Review asset valuations prepared by managers to provide a sense check on existing Nest exposures.
• Lead external manager selection and monitoring and the onboarding of new managers, including working with the legal team to finalise documentation, conducting negotiations with managers.
• Work with the Director of Public and Private Markets as well as the CIO to identify and develop new equity capabilities / propositions relevant to needs of Nest members.

The Person

This role will give the successful candidate access to best-in-class managers across the world and top talent at these firms. We are looking for:

• An accomplished leader of externally managed / Multi Manager equity portfolios at scale.
• Extensive experience working within a pension fund investment team, asset manager, asset owner, investment bank or related fields.
• A keen interest and understanding of equity investment markets, long-term investment, and a commitment to responsible investment and sustainability.
• Ability and interest in developing long term partnerships with external equity fund managers that provide sustained value for members.
• Proficiency in conducting market research, industry analysis, competitive landscape assessment, and operational evaluation.
• Strong influencing skills and ability to collaborate effectively across a broad set of teams.
• A strong communicator with high levels of integrity and trustworthiness.
• Strong understanding of regulatory environment, risk management, and governance/compliance issues.
• Proficiency in Excel, financial modelling, and data analysis.
• Ability to identify investment risks, including evaluating the downside potential of investments and recommending risk mitigation strategies.
• Experience working in a team-based environment, collaborating with colleagues from various disciplines such as legal, risk, responsible investment, and fund administration/investment operations.
• Ability to manage diverse high performing teams.
• Experience presenting at industry forums.

Please note: The role holder will need to be approved by the firm (Nest Invest) to hold the Client Dealing Function and Manager of Certified Function under the FCA’s Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR).

Organisational Overview

Nest is an award-winning workplace pension scheme, the largest in the country. Set up by the government to give every worker in the UK somewhere to save, our first-class responsible investment practice and governance are the backbone of what we do, supported by all the functions you’d expect to find in a thriving business. We’re committed to creating a workplace where you can be your authentic self and offer an inclusive and flexible working environment.

To apply or for an informal discussion, please contact Braidie Cole: Braidie.Cole@Sandersonplc.com

Directorate/Department Overview

The Investment directorate (Nest Invest) is responsible for investing members’ contributions in order to grow their retirement pots over the long-term. The responsibilities of the team include:

• Asset allocation and portfolio risk management
• Manager selection and monitoring
• Responsible investment
• Investment communications
• Fund administration
• Investment technology and financial modelling
• Contributing to the development of the investment proposition

From December 2019, the Nest Investment team was seconded into Nest Invest Ltd (Nest Invest), the investment subsidiary of Nest Corporation. Nest Invest is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). For the role holder, this means working in a regulated entity, and being required to adhere to certain rules and behaviours included in the FCA’s Code of Conduct (COCON), specifically the individual Conduct Rules defined by the FCA.

Flexible and agile working

Everyone's personal situation is different. To make the most out of hybrid working, we’ve introduced different ways of working, which include (subject to role requirements):

• hybrid of office (Canary Wharf, London) and home working (there will be an expectation to attend the office, once - twice a week, or more, as required)
• reduce or vary working hours
• reduce or vary the days worked
• work compressed hours
• job share

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Everyone is welcome to apply for our roles, and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment because of their age, disability, gender identity, marital status, national origin, pregnancy or caring responsibilities, race, religion/belief, sex, sexual orientation or socio economic background. We also recognise the importance of diversity of thought and other forms of neurocognitive variation. Nest is a Disability Confident Leader, which is the highest level of the Disability Confident Scheme. If you have a disability, please declare that you’re applying through the scheme. We aim to offer an interview to those applicants who apply through the Disability Confident Scheme and best meet the minimum criteria. However, there may be some circumstances where this is not possible due to the volume of applications.

Please note that this advert may close early if we receive a sufficient number of satisfactory applications. If you have any difficulty in sending your application or need the application pack in an alternative format, or you require any reasonable adjustments please contact: careers@nestcorporation.org.uk.