Vice President, Portfolio Research & Analysis

Overview

55ip's Quantitative Research & Development (R&D) team is seeking a Vice President to lead portfolio research, analysis, strategy validation, and operational enablement for systematic investment strategies. This role partners closely with Quant Researchers, Portfolio Managers, Product, and Technology to ensure portfolios and research outputs are scalable, robust, and aligned to investment objectives. The VP will drive rigorous investigation of investment outcomes, oversee simulation and testing frameworks, and strengthen governance, controls, and documentation supporting the portfolio management lifecycle.

The ideal candidate combines strong markets and portfolio expertise with hands-on analytical capability and the leadership needed to drive cross-functional execution in a fast-moving environment.

Key Responsibilities

Portfolio & Strategy Oversight

• Serve as a senior analytics partner to Portfolio Managers and Quant Research, providing independent challenge and validation of portfolio positioning, risk, and performance relative to strategy objectives.
• Lead analysis of trade recommendations, exposures, constraints, and risk metrics (e.g., factor/sector/country/style) to confirm alignment with the investment thesis and systematic process.
• Conduct research and produce decision-driving findings around portfolio behavior and construction.
• Diagnose and reconcile performance and attribution anomalies; drive root-cause analyses and ensure issues are addressed through durable process, data, or model improvements.

Research Enablement, Simulation & Testing Leadership

• Own and evolve historical and forward-looking simulation practices (back-testing, scenario analysis, stress testing), setting standards for reproducibility, accuracy, and controls.
• Partner with researchers and developers to enhance investment algorithms, improve data quality/coverage, and accelerate research-to-production workflows.
• Define and prioritize platform enhancements for back-testing, simulation, and visualization capabilities; translate business needs into clear requirements and acceptance criteria.

Operational Excellence & Stakeholder Management

• Act as a senior point of escalation for trade operations and investment teams on issues impacting execution, data integrity, and portfolio construction; drive timely resolution and post-incident prevention.
• Establish and maintain operating rhythms across Product, PM, Research, and Technology to launch, refine, and monitor strategies and releases.
• Lead governance routines to ensure methodologies, changes, and exceptions are reviewed, documented, and compliant with applicable standards and internal controls.

Reporting, Communication & Documentation

• Produce executive-ready insights (dashboards, recurring reports, ad hoc deep dives) using tools such as Excel and Tableau to support investment decision-making and oversight.
• Create and maintain high-quality documentation for operational procedures, workflows, controls, and key decision logs to ensure clarity, consistency, auditability, and scalability.

Delivery & Workflow Management

• Manage and triage work intake using JIRA; assign, track, and report on work items across stakeholders, ensuring predictable delivery against timelines.
• Drive forward group projects as a leader, ensuring alignment, momentum, and accountability across contributors.
• Mentor junior analysts and contribute to team standards for analytical rigor, documentation quality, and stakeholder communication.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Accounting, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related discipline.
• 8+ years of relevant experience in portfolio research, quantitative investing, asset management, risk/attribution, trading support, or systematic strategy operations.
• Direct people management experience, including managing analytical or technical talent.
• Experience managing analytical projects end-to-end, from planning and delegation through delivery.
• Strong understanding of markets and the investment management process, including portfolio construction concepts, exposures, and risk frameworks.
• Advanced Excel skills and strong quantitative/statistical foundation.
• Hands-on ability to analyze and troubleshoot data and strategy outcomes using SQL and Python (or equivalent).
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives, manage multiple priorities under tight deadlines, and operate effectively in ambiguous environments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce executive-level summaries and recommendations.
• Demonstrated integrity, sound judgment, and a high bar for analytical rigor and controls.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Finance or Mathematics.
• CFA and/or FRM strongly preferred.
• Experience with risk models and vendor platforms such as BarraOne, FactSet, and Bloomberg.
• Experience building or improving back-testing/simulation pipelines and data visualization/reporting products (e.g., Tableau).
• Experience leveraging Agentic AI / LLM tools (e.g., Copilot, Claude) to enhance research, analysis, or workflows.

Prior people leadership, mentoring, or formal project/workstream leadership experience