Associate Investment Analyst - Alternative Investments (Research)

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What We Offer You!
We offer employees a generous benefits package, flexible work schedules, the opportunity to be involved in community outreach and tuition reimbursement.
The Associate Investment Analyst works directly with the Manager of Research to provide research support to the investment process and assist in the research and due diligence activities for assigned areas in alternatives on behalf of GuideStone Financial Resources (GSFR) and GuideStone Investment Services (GSIS).
What you will do:
This position provides the opportunity for an individual with limited experience in the investment industry to join the GuideStone portfolio management team.
The Associate Investment Analyst plays a vital role in a variety of research functions working in coordination with the private markets investments team to conduct in-depth analysis of potential investments. This role has the opportunity to serve as a generalist across multiple investment areas, but in particular will focus on the research efforts for hedge fund investments and other liquid and semi-liquid investment opportunities.
Working with the Manager of Research, the candidate will develop into the primary analyst sourcing and conducting diligence activities covering our liquid and semi-liquid investment opportunities. In particular, the analyst's primary coverage will be hedge funds (including but not limited to multi-strategy funds, macro funds, fund of funds and opportunistic strategies), asset allocation completion strategies (adding specific desired exposures to portfolios such as high yield if spreads widen), hedging strategies (tail risk hedging, FX, LDI) and to a lesser extent other liquid strategies (such as enhanced cash strategies). In addition, this analyst may assist with ongoing monitoring of managers outside of his primary area of coverage. The analyst will research investment opportunities for institutional pools of capital (Endowments, Foundations, operating reserves, etc.) and all investing is done generally into primaries, secondaries, co-investments, or SMAs (no direct investments in house). The Analyst may also to a lesser degree assist the Director of Alternatives and/or Associate Portfolio Manager with portfolio analytics.
Manager Research & Diligence

• Participate in manager/fund sourcing and diligence efforts as assigned, establishing a strong sourcing and referral network, and work with Manager of Research to maintain a robust pipeline of alternative investment managers, funds, and potentially secondary or co-investment opportunities for area of coverage.
• Assist in the development of investment themes, identification of market inefficiencies, dislocations and other attractive investment opportunities across alternative investment opportunities on a global basis that are considered liquid or semi-liquid.
• Participate as a deal team member across all areas of alternative investment strategies (including equity, debt, real assets, hedge funds) by actively participating in meetings of other analysts/senior analysts to provide feedback, challenge investment thesis, and review other's work.
• Actively diligence co-investment or secondary opportunities alongside fund investments, when available.
• Work to build an advanced skill set on all analytical tools and reporting applications to support the investment management and research process.
• Actively participate in macroeconomic discussions, developing convictions and providing relative assessment of investment opportunities by completing a quarterly heat map and contributing to our thematic investing strategy.
• Develop market information, analysis and insights concerning factors influencing performance of managers/funds and client accounts.
• Maintain strong working relationship with each manager and fund under assignment for the purpose of building strategic relationships and facilitating all ongoing portfolio management diligence and reporting needs including meeting coordination, etc.
• Work with the Manager of Research on initial and ongoing ranking of all managers (existing and select pipeline opportunities) within established, proprietary manager ranking system.
• Work with Manager of Research to prepare detailed and thorough investment recommendation memos on investments.
• Ensure that all research meeting notes are properly documented in a standardized form and in a timely manner.
• Organize investment manager due diligence records in a manner that is easily and efficiently accessible by other members of the portfolio management team, including both manager call notes, opinion documents, research briefs, recommendation memos and research collected from external sources.
• Produce quarterly manager reports on all assigned strategies including an update on performance drivers, positioning, market outlook, firm/strategy update, analyst conclusions and follow-up items.
• Across assigned coverage, review assigned funds and their attributes/exposures to help ensure all data has been properly loaded within Addepar and alert Operations of any potential corrections necessary.
• Update investment liquidity models for funds under coverage.
• Effectively collaborate with the legal, compliance and finance professionals in the due diligence process to fully understand all diligence requirements and adherence to stated policies.
• Establish and maintain manager mandates/guidelines (as applicable).
• As requested, assist with portfolio analytics that may include a variety of projects which may include projects such as updating cash flow projections on portfolios.

What you will need:

• Bachelors Degree.
• Interest in pursuing MBA or similar graduate-level degree, preferred.
• Working on or have already attained Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, preferred
• Working on or have already attained Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation, preferred.
• At least 2 years in the investment industry.
• At least 1 year directly applicable experience preferred
• Strong understanding of investments, preferably with exposure to and working knowledge of hedge fund investment vehicles, strategies and terminology.
• Utilization of and strong understanding of quantitative evaluation methods and statistical measures necessary for thorough investment analysis.
• Ability to effectively communicate both orally and in writing to investment managers, internal staff, investment consultants, and third-party vendors.
• Ability to conduct independent research and develop well thought-out conclusions/recommendations.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Solid PC skills including spreadsheet and internet capabilities.
• Experience working with Addepar, Bloomberg, Style Advisor, and/or Preqin is a plus.
• Must have complete confidentiality regarding GuideStone business matters.
• Membership in evangelical Christian church required.
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