SENIOR QUANTITATIVE ANALYST

SENIOR QUANTITATIVE ANALYST Location Chicago, IL (West Loop Gate area) :

COMPANY DESCRIPTION: Solutions for Today's Challenges. Vision for Tomorrow's Opportunities. Join the Premier Global Boutique: William Blair. At William Blair, serving our clients starts with the capabilities and collaboration of our team—making our employees our most important asset. Unlike others, we're an independent partnership that is personally committed to our people and clients. What sets us apart is the way we do it—our culture, our values, and our commitment to local communities. We strive to attract the most qualified, passionate candidates who specialize in investment banking, investment management, private wealth management, and a variety of other business functions. Currently, our firm has more than 1,900 employees throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. A top priority of ours is talent development, fostering professional and personal growth of our employees. We take pride in empowering our people to bring their best thinking each day so we can deliver the tailored, thoughtful work and problem-solving abilities that our clients have come to expect. We work tirelessly to create an inclusive culture. Our employees have unique experiences, perspectives and backgrounds to thoughtfully meet the evolving challenges and opportunities facing our global client base amid dynamic market conditions and varying industries, whether technological, economic or geopolitical. We are equally proud of our long-term partnerships with the communities in which we live and work, a legacy we inherited from our founder more than 85 years ago. For more information about our firm, log onto William Blair Investment Management is committed to building enduring relationships with our clients. We work closely with private and public pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, and sovereign wealth funds, as well as financial advisors. We are 100% active-employee-owned with broad-based ownership. Our investment teams are solely focused on active management and employ disciplined, analytical research processes across a wide range of strategies, including U.S. equity, non-U.S. equity, emerging markets debt, and multi-asset. William Blair is based in Chicago with global resources providing expertise and solutions to meet our clients' evolving needs.

JOB SUMMARY & RESPONSIBILITIES:

We are seeking a Senior Quantitative Analyst to collaborate with a team of researchers, developers and portfolio managers to improve the methodology behind models, code and infrastructure that support fundamental research. Specific responsibilities include:

• Collaborate with team of researchers, developers and portfolio managers to improve the methodology behind models, code and infrastructure that support research, with focus on alpha generation, portfolio construction, portfolio tool development, and implementation.
• Collaborate closely with developers to translate research ideas into production software.
• Establish, direct and conduct research projects that may include including model building, signal generation, strategy backtesting, risk management and performance measurement. Lead the interpretation, presentation and implementation of results.
• Develop and maintain research methodology and associated procedures and standards.
• Improve models, code, tools, and infrastructure that support research.
• Explore and evaluate new data sources and modeling techniques.
• Continually develop knowledge of statistics, quantitative modeling techniques, programming, and finance in collaboration with other team members.
• Ensure all activities are in compliance with applicable rules, regulations, policies and procedures.
Additional responsibilities as requested.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's Degree required; MS or PhD in financial engineering, statistics, applied math, computer science or related quantitative field preferred
• 7+ years of industry experience required, including that as a quantitative analyst or comparable position
• Expert knowledge of R and Python for programming, statistics, and graphics, especially using packages for financial applications and visualization (R Shiny)
• Ability to work with analysts and portfolio managers to reconcile research and development plans with broader business goals
• Ability to provide thought leadership for a team of quantitative analysts and programmers
• Excellent analytical skills, demonstrated from hands-on experience with quantitative methods, statistical analysis and data manipulation
• Deep understanding of the theory and practice of portfolio construction, including asset selection, risk measurement, risk control, portfolio optimization, and performance evaluation
• Experience with development concepts and tools such as software engineering, agile development, change management, application construction, and application deployment
• Experience using SQL is a plus
• Strong aptitude for working collaboratively in a team environment
Highly effective verbal and written communication skills

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