Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer (Stamford, CT)

Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer (Stamford, CT)

The Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer is responsible for the full spectrum of investment related activities for the US firm’s qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, including investment strategy development, portfolio construction, investment manager evaluation and selection, and performance and regulatory reporting.  The firm’s various retirement plans represent approximately $28.2B assets under management as of December 31, 2024, segregated as follows: Partner DBRP - $2.8B; Staff DBP - $2.3B; Inactive DBRP - $2.2B HR10 - $2.5B;; Rabbi Trusts - $281M; 401(k) - $18.2

The Opportunity

Reporting to the Chief Investment Officer, (CIO), the position has three primary functions as related to the firm’s investment activities: (1) develops and provides investment strategy recommendations; (2) manages all operational aspects of the investment plans and strategy, including implementing investment structure; and (3) lead two or three direct reports

The ideal candidate will be a thought partner to the CIO and a strong strategic planner.  This individual will also have a diverse investment management background, and people management skills.  The Deputy Chief Investment Officer reports to the Chief Investment Officer and assists in developing and implementing investment policies.

Your key responsibilities:

The Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer will be responsible for analyzing the appropriateness of a broad range of investment opportunities, with consideration of investment objectives and risk tolerance. This individual will:

• Address complex, unique problems specific to pension/retirement plans.  Make certain all operational decisions comply with the internal control framework established by the Retirement Investment Committee (RIC), Americas and Global Independence, and legal requirements established by various regulatory bodies.
• Have a significant level of autonomy in interpreting US pension rules and regulations
• Analyze new legal and regulatory developments impacting EY’s retirement plans/investment strategy.
• Oversee compliance with firm and regulatory policies and rules, with a particular focus on process improvement and policy development regarding investments.
• Review existing policies and procedures as needed, identify areas of weakness or improvement, implement change and share knowledge with the RIC as appropriate.
• Optimizing the investment performance of assets within a framework, taking into consideration benchmarks (i.e. relative performance), risk parameters, asset allocation constraints, and asset/liability matching.
• Managing the review of asset-liability results with the third-party investment consultant and developing asset allocation policy recommendations for RIC approval.
• Lead the tactical asset allocation process, drive change and sophistication into the investment process and managerial support for the CIO Optimizing.
• Continously seek and lower cost allowable structure for all investment strategies.
• Preparing monthly rebalencing recommendations whhich incorporate current and furure cash flows for approval by the CIO.
• Lead and manage special projects.
• Developing quantitative and qualitative evaluation metrics to conduct initial in-depth due diligence (including operational due diligence) and on-going monitoring of the key service providers.
• Managing risk, including but not limited to total portfolio risk metrics, effectiveness of liability hedging assets, manager exposures, holding exposures, monitoring securities lending program and counterparty risk.
• Working with Americas and Global Independence to make certain all investments and third party service providers are not proscribed and all investments are in compliance with joint investing considerations.
• Managing all performance measurement, including developing policy benchmarks, fund benchmarks, and peer group comparisons.
• Making certain the retirement plans have adequate liquidity to meet benefit obligations timely.

• This position may directly supervise one or two additional staff members in the near term.  Due to the nature of the position, the individual will also help manage the firm’s relationships with the external investment consultants and the myriad of individuals who manage the portfolios/funds in which the firm and its personnel invest.

To qualify for the role, you must have

• 10+ years of applicable experience is required.
• The Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer should be a subject matter leader with respect to investments. This position requires specialty knowledge on pension accounting, funding regulations, and capital market developments affecting the firm’s retirement plans.
• The Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer should have an in-depth knowledge of applicable SEC, AICPA and Americas/Global Independence rules and policies. The individual also needs detailed in depth knowledge and experience with various analytical tools and leads the development and integration of analytics for traditional and non-traditional investments. The individual should have an acute understanding of the financial markets and various drivers affecting the market.
• An undergraduate degree or equivalent experience in a related field like accounting finance, or economics is required. An MBA and or a CFA are preferred.
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) a plus
• Ability to travel as the position will require 15% to 30% travel as needed for conferences, investment manager reviews and other duties requested by the RIC or CIO.
• Ability to appropriate amount of hours to get the job(s) complete.

• Continuous learning: You’ll develop the mindset and skills to navigate whatever comes next.
• Success as defined by you: We’ll provide the tools and flexibility, so you can make a meaningful impact, your way.
• Transformative leadership: We’ll give you the insights, coaching and confidence to be the leader the world needs.
• Diverse and inclusive culture: You’ll be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs.