Arlington, Virginia

This is a unique opportunity to join a new in-house investment team and play an important role ensuring the work of Knight Foundation is well-funded into the future. We look forward to hearing what excites you about this opportunity.

The Organization:

Knight Foundation supports a more effective democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and in the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once published newspapers.  

Our approach is inclusive and non-partisan. We value freedoms of speech and the press, and we often embrace new and innovative technology to achieve our goals. Our drive to create positive change is amplified by our ability to collaborate internally and with our partners.  We look for authenticity, agility, and accountability, knowing we are at our best when we leverage our collective strengths and experiences. We proactively approach our work with a sense of pride and responsibility – adapting, as needed, to the changing realities in our communities.

Please visit our website at www.kf.org to learn more.

Position Summary:

Knight Foundation seeks to recruit a Director of Public Market investments to lead diligence and monitoring of global public investments spanning equities, fixed income, and hedge funds. Reporting to the Chief Investment Officer, the Director will be part of a new, highly collaborative in-house investment team overseeing the foundation’s endowment and will help develop the strategy for public markets, from asset allocation to portfolio structure (passive vs. active decisions) to sourcing, researching, closing, and monitoring of manager relationships. The position is designed to build on historical successes while refining and reinvigorating public market implementation, including the selection and transition to new analytic resources that will support the endowment’s public market activities. As a key member of the investment team, s/he will also be integrally involved in portfolio construction, engage from time to time with the Investment Committee, and be a member of the broader organization based in Miami, Florida.

Responsibilities:

The successful candidate will be an integral part of a small, high-caliber in-house investment team and will ideally have exposure to a wide range of public asset classes to be able to contribute across the portfolio. S/he will take a lead role in evaluating and monitoring external managers, and will participate in decisions related to asset allocation, portfolio construction, and risk management. Additional responsibilities include:

Lead the strategy, research and recommendation / decision-making process for public investments and overall portfolio structure of the KF public investments.
Lead manager analysis, monitoring, benchmarking, hire/fire recommendations for all public equity, fixed income, and hedge fund mandates.
Get to know and lead robust evaluations of existing mandates and managers, including relative capabilities, investment styles, processes, biases, areas of overlap, fees/costs; identify and recommend adjustments to implementation to achieve the best long-term, risk-adjusted performance outcomes for the portfolio.
Analyze the construction and performance of the portfolio and contribute to overall portfolio management, which could include influencing asset allocation and benchmarking decisions, rebalancing of positions to policy, understanding liabilities/liquidity across the portfolio and stress testing/scenario analyses, managing derivative equity overlays and/or transition management for changes in public portfolios, as needed.
Systematically monitor and review performance and holdings of public mandates, including any manager-provided  correspondence/reporting.
Establish institutional processes and deliverables for evaluating, monitoring, recommending, and reporting on managers and overall public investment portfolio exposures and performance.
Contribute to portfolio management decisions by monitoring global market conditions and industry, peer, and regulatory developments across public asset classes.
Contribute to the development of investments systems and processes for tracking manager information, documentation, and managing deadlines; work with investment operations colleagues to develop and produce reports to monitor the portfolio’s allocation, performance, exposures, and liquidity.
Lead the development of a range of client deliverables for committee reporting and presentations.
Support compliance reviews, internal and external audits, reporting requirements, as needed.
Direct and oversee the work and development of junior colleagues.

Things we look for in a successful candidate:

8+ years of direct institutional investment experience in public equity and fixed income at an endowment, foundation, family office, OCIO firm, fund of funds, or similar organization allocating capital to external investment managers.
Experience producing investment research and a demonstrated ability to incorporate rigorous qualitative and quantitative analyses in the evaluation of investment strategies, human and organizational dynamics, investment processes and investment performance, cost-benefit analysis, benchmarking.
Proficient knowledge of Bloomberg, eVestment, Morningstar, and/or FactSet desired.
Strong verbal, written and presentation-based communication skills to convey complex investment and economic concepts, both orally and in writing, to diverse audiences with clarity.
Strong work ethic and a curious, analytical mindset, eager to develop and critically evaluate ideas in a collaborative setting.
Ability to contribute to team management and mentorship.
High degree of comfort working in a flexible, entrepreneurial environment.
Willingness to travel.

This position is based in Arlington, Virginia. Candidates should be local or willing to relocate to the DC area.

Knight Foundation offers competitive pay and a generous benefits package and is an equal opportunity employer.

Send your resume to: [email protected]

For more on Knight Foundation, visit www.kf.org.