Head of Research Job Description Template

The head of research runs the analyst team and owns the quality of the work that reaches the portfolio managers. The role covers coverage decisions, research standards and the development of the analysts themselves, and it usually carries some direct research responsibility as well. The value of the job shows up in whether the fund’s research is genuinely differentiated or simply repeats what the sell side already published.

Typical Duties and Responsibilities

• Set the research agenda and allocate coverage across the analyst team
• Review and challenge analyst work before it reaches the investment committee
• Establish standards for models, sourcing and documentation of a thesis
• Run the process for turning research into actionable investment ideas
• Hire, train and develop analysts, and manage their progression
• Maintain relationships with expert networks, industry contacts and data providers
• Carry out primary research on the highest conviction or most complex names
• Track the outcome of past recommendations and feed that back into the process
• Coordinate with portfolio managers on timing and sizing of new ideas
• Evaluate new data sets and research tools before the firm commits to them

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, accounting or a related field

Required Skills and Experience

• 10+ years of investment research experience, including on the buy side
• Proven record of research that led to profitable positions
• Deep skill in financial modeling, accounting analysis and valuation
• Experience managing and developing a team of analysts
• Ability to identify where consensus is wrong and prove it
• Strong written communication, since research notes are the product
• Judgment about which questions are worth the team’s time
• Comfort challenging senior investors on their conclusions

Preferred Qualifications

• CFA charter
• Sector expertise that complements the fund’s existing coverage