Quantitative Portfolio Manager Job Description Template

The quantitative portfolio manager runs capital against systematic strategies, owning the decisions about which signals to fund, how to combine them and how much risk to run. The role differs from discretionary portfolio management in that most of the judgment is exercised in advance, through strategy selection and portfolio construction, rather than trade by trade. Accountability for results is the same.

Typical Duties and Responsibilities

• Own a systematic portfolio and its performance
• Select, weight and combine strategies within the portfolio
• Set risk targets, leverage and exposure constraints
• Oversee portfolio construction and optimization methodology
• Review live performance against research expectations and act on divergence
• Direct the research agenda toward the portfolio’s needs
• Manage capacity, turnover and transaction cost trade offs
• Work with risk on limits, stress testing and factor exposure
• Present the strategy and its results to investors and management
• Decide when to reduce or retire a strategy that has stopped working

Education

• Master’s or PhD in a quantitative field, or equivalent experience

Required Skills and Experience

• 7+ years of systematic investing experience including capital responsibility
• Deep understanding of portfolio construction and risk allocation
• Track record of running systematic strategies in live markets
• Command of transaction costs, capacity and turnover trade offs
• Ability to judge when a strategy is genuinely broken rather than unlucky
• Strong technical skills and credibility with researchers
• Clear communication with investors about a process they cannot see
• Discipline to follow the process during drawdowns

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience across multiple asset classes or strategy families
• Background at a multi-manager platform