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Investment Valuations Analyst
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
To assist in the performance of investment valuations (primarily illiquid equity and debt interests) and valuation control activity for the Investment segment of USS
Key responsibilities
• Assisting with, and performance of, quarterly (and occasional ad hoc) valuations of illiquid fixed income and equity asset investments
o Drafting of valuation reports in line with regular valuation timetable
o Formulating robust and defensible valuation opinions
o Preliminary review and analysis of business plans and cash flow models
o Development and update of valuation models
o Collation of underlying financial data from investment managers, providing relevant challenge where necessary
• Building a thorough commercial understanding of the scheme’s illiquid equity and debt investments
• Assistance with the intra-quarter valuation roll-forward process
• Assistance in the performance of valuation due diligence reviews
• Communication of key judgements and conclusions to investment accounting function
• Documentation (and where appropriate enhancement) of procedures and controls
• Assistance with the preparation of committee reports
• Performance of key administrative duties for the Investment Valuations function
• Interacting and liaising with financial control and operations functions for certain key processes and ad hoc queries (cut-offs, SPV accounting etc.)
• Working with the asset management (Private Markets) teams to gain an understanding of assets and key developments, and collating relevant management information
• Assisting with the performance of various items of project work
• Assisting external valuation advisers with the performance of the external valuation process
• Assisting external auditors in the financial audit process
• Assisting with the delivery of occasional project work for the wider Finance function
Your experience
Essential
• Prior experience of performing business or equity investment valuations as the primary function of a previous or existing role
• Professionally Qualified Accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent), or other relevant financial qualification with significant exposure to investment appraisal techniques (e.g. CFA)
• Strong interpersonal and relationship building skills
• Excellent level of Excel skills
• Experience of dealing with external clients or influencing at senior level within an organisation
Desired
• Previous experience of working within investment management, infrastructure or pensions industries in a finance or analyst role
• Prior experience of performing fixed income / bond valuations in a previous or existing role
• Prior financial modelling experience, working with integrated forecast models for large businesses
• Prior experience of performing financial due diligence assignments
USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Finance | 07/01/2021 |
| London |
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OMS Market Systems Support Analyst
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
Working as part of the wider Investment and Market Systems Support area, with responsibility for supporting Bloomberg AIM and other trading/analytics/market data services provided by Bloomberg or other Third Parties. As a support function, the role will also provide L0/L1 assistance for the wide range of systems developed and or/implemented by the Investment and Market Systems team.
Key responsibilities
Delivering Results
• Monitor production processes and respond to issues/failures.
• Act as the first point of contact for any issues or queries raised against Bloomberg or other IMS-managed applications. Record and take ownership of issues using JIRA and follow this through to successful resolution.
• Manage and resolve all issues and queries within Service Level Agreements set in the Application Support Team, in so far as third party SLAs allow.
• Be flexible in working patterns to ensure support coverage during the business day.
Managing Relationships
• Provide regular, timely updates to stakeholders during issue investigation and resolution.
• Manage expectations of users and IMS management if SLA cannot be achieved, including proposed mitigation and/or workaround.
• Escalate issues as required to IMS and Business management.
Managing Processes & Future Focus
• Take a proactive view to the work that is performed within Bloomberg Support, identifying and implementing improvements that increase efficiency within the team.
• Work with IMS and third-party delivery teams to implement long term solutions for support issues.
• Produce and maintain support documentation and procedures in Atlassian Confluence or similar.
• Contribute to the design phases of new initiatives to ensure an effective support model will be in place from the outset.
Your experience
• Electronic trading workflow on EMSX and TSOX. The candidate must have prior experience in troubleshooting trade booking issues and assisting with the onboarding process for new traders.
• Compliance rule coding on CMGR. The candidate will liaise with key stakeholders to review mandate guidelines, coding the investment restrictions, testing to ensure the desired output is achieved and investigating active trade violations raised by the business teams.
• Position management tools such as MAV, BDS and PORT. The candidate should also be familiar with the benchmark and models functionality within the AIM OMS system.
• Onboarding of new portfolios and users on FIRM.
• Configuration of data feeds in TSIP as well as experience creating ad-hoc Data License requests.
• Administration of commissions rules in CUTS.
• Familiarity with general functionality within Bloomberg for market and pricing data is essential.
Desirable experience and qualifications beyond Bloomberg include:
• A financial qualification such as IMC or CFA or a finance-related bachelors’ degree.
• Experience supporting other front-office and compliance tools such as equity & fixed income TCA products and/or shareholding disclosure applications.
• Basic knowledge of Microsoft SQL.
• Basic knowledge of a job scheduling tool such as JAMS, Autosys or similar.
• Basic knowledge of Confluence and JIRA.
• Basic knowledge of XML editors such as Notepad++, Visual Studio or similar.
USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Operations | 07/08/2020 |
| London |
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Responsible Investment Analyst
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
USSIM has always taken very seriously its role as a responsible investor, integrating ESG factors into investment decisions and stewardship activities. The USSIM RI team’s activities apply across asset classes (both public and private markets) and also both to internal and externally managed assets. Key activities include proxy voting, engagement to encouraging better management of ESG issues as a mechanism for improved long term performance and integration of ESG issues to support better informed investment decisions.
Key responsibilities
Delivering Results
• Voting of proxies in line with USS’s policy and, where relevant, in discussion with fund managers
• Support the collation of data on voting decisions required for reporting
• Undertake analysis of ESG factors, with a particular focus on corporate governance, in sectors and companies in support of voting, stewardship and integration activities
• Support and undertake the stewardship and engagement activities of the Scheme
• Support direct asset governance assessments
Additional responsibilities
• Support other RI team members in their delivery of the USSIM RI strategy and activities including when required:
o Undertaking external manager due diligence, assessment and monitoring programmes
o Direct asset due diligence and monitoring
• Assist the HoRI in establishing an integrated, effective and efficient RI resource for USSIM and USS
• Assist the RI Senior Analyst, Stewardship, in the development and implementation of engagement strategies (corporate and policy) to address RI concerns
• Have input into internal and external RI communications
• Input into USSIM submissions on RI focussed policy consultations
• Represent the fund at appropriate events and networks
Managing Relationships
• Head of RI and the RI Team
• Public markets portfolio managers and analysts – public equity, quant, and fixed income
• Private Markets Group
• USS Corporate Affairs team
• Service providers
Managing Processes & Future Focus
• Support voting process
Your experience
Essential
• Detailed corporate governance knowledge and experience in voting proxies across global markets
• Understanding of key good practice standards of RI particularly corporate governance
• Experience in engaging with companies at senior level
• Experience of managing and prioritising a diverse and demanding workload and meeting deadlines
Desirable
• A strong interest in and understanding of Responsible Investment issues
• Experience of working in and/or for a fund management house or financial institution
• Self-starter
• An ability to work cooperatively with colleagues at different levels and in different departments
• A relevant degree
USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Equities | 14/12/2020 |
| London |
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Responsible Investment Senior Analyst, Stewardship
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
Stewardship is a cornerstone of the USSIM RI strategy, with encouraging better management of ESG issues a mechanism for improved long-term performance. USSIM invests in public equities, fixed incomes and private markets, all of which face ESG challenges, and it is essential that the Scheme has a coordinated and effective approach to engagement across all assets.
The role of the RI Senior Analyst, Stewardship will be to:
• Coordinate and lead on the RI team’s stewardship activities across asset classes
• Highlight ESG areas of risk and opportunity to complement the work of analysts and fund managers
• Support USS’s programmes to address climate change
Key responsibilities
Delivering Results
• Manage an integrated, effective and efficient RI stewardship resource for USSIM
• Ensure that relevant ESG information and feedback from engagement is provided to analysts and fund managers in a timely and appropriate manner
• Oversight of RI analysts in their delivery of the RI strategy
• Develop, implement and lead engagement strategies to address RI concerns in public market issuers
• Oversight of voting of proxies in line with agreed bespoke policy
• Coordinate engagement activities and establish engagement plans for stewardship targets
• Ensure engagements are successfully delivered with outcomes tracked
• Work with RI Senior Financial Analyst to ensure coordinated approach to ESG integration and stewardship, working cohesively to deliver the Scheme’s RI strategy
• Undertake ESG related assessments of and engagement with directly held / private assets
• Supporting climate change related activities across USSIM
• High quality interactions, both internally and with external parties, to uphold and enhance USSIM and RI’s reputation
Additional responsibilities
• Assist the HoRI in establishing an integrated, effective and efficient RI resource for USSIM and USS
• Support other RI team members in their delivery of the USSIM RI strategy and activities including when required:
o Undertaking external manager due diligence, assessment and monitoring programmes
o Direct asset due diligence and monitoring
• Input into USSIM submissions on RI focussed consultations
• Represent the fund at appropriate events and networks
• Liaise with relevant service providers to ensure efficient delivery systems, contracts etc. are in place
• Support timely communication of USSIM stewardship related activities to stakeholders
Managing Relationships
• Work with the HoRI to coordinate stewardship activities across USS
• Work with RI Senior Financial Analyst to ensure coordinated approach to integration and stewardship and work cohesively to deliver the Scheme’s RI objectives
• Work with Head of Strategic Equities to ensure stewardship activities align with equity strategies
• Work with RI analysts to coordinate and support delivery
• Work with Credit, Global Emerging Markets, and Private Markets teams to ensure coordinated stewardship activities across asset classes
Managing Processes & Future Focus
• Record keeping and reporting
• Measuring impact of stewardship activities
Your experience
Essential
• Understanding of key good practice standards of RI or CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), with a focus on environmental and social issues including climate change
• Demonstrable experience in engaging with senior executives on a range of ESG related issues
• Self-starter
• Strong analytical skills
Desirable
• A relevant degree
• Experience of working in and/or for a fund management house or financial institution, or working as a corporate CSR/sustainability manager
• Experience of managing and prioritising a diverse and demanding workload and meeting deadlines
USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Equities | 12/01/2021 |
| London |
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SPV Assistant Company Secretary
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
The Operations Department is organised into three teams; Public Markets, Alternatives and Onboarding/ reporting, with this role sitting with the Alternatives team.
The role sits within the Alternative Operations team and is focused on the coordination and completion of all company secretarial duties for our investment special-purpose-vehicles
Key responsibilities
SPV Governance
Working under the supervision and guidance of the Assistant Company Secretary, the role will include the following in respect of SPVs:
• Assisting in the incorporation/registration of new entities; for overseas entities, liaise with the Legal Department and/or lawyers and/or company secretarial providers in the relevant jurisdiction
• Maintenance of statutory documentation/files and Blueprint database records.
• With respect to Blueprint, there will be an initial data cleanse project, where this role will play a central role in ensuring the data in Blueprint is complete and accurate, working with other internal stakeholders as required.
• Organizing and arranging board meetings as required, ensuring appropriate timetabling per the yearly planner
• Preparing and drafting board minutes and shareholder resolutions for both ad hoc and routine matters
• Attending board/committee meetings as required and fulfilling all company secretarial responsibilities
• Preparing the statutory returns or overseeing compliance by company secretarial providers in the relevant jurisdiction
• Assisting in the preparation of statutory accounts as required ensuring proper process for approvals
• Implementing and maintaining delegation schedules for all SPV entities;
• Ensuring compliance with the Companies Act and regulatory requirements for relevant companies and directors;
• Implementing and coordinating the director training programme for SPV directors;
• Overseeing the appointment of new SPV or Investment related directors, in accordance with the director selection and appointment framework.
• Overseeing relationships with third party company secretarial providers and perform due diligence of those providers, as appropriate
• Responding to KYC requests, in connection with new deals or existing assets.
• Liaising with stakeholders post deal, to ensure all relevant company data is captured in Blueprint.
Stakeholder management
• Build a strong relationship across the internal supply chain from initiation to delivery with all areas. Drive solutions that are scalable and controlled.
• Develop close working relationships with third party service partners
Your experience
Skills & Experience – Essential:
• Qualified company secretary, with financial services experience
• Experience of SPVs / managing a mixed portfolio of companies across multiple jurisdictions
• Proficient with Blueprint
• Strong organisational skills with an ability to produce work to tight deadlines with attention to detail.
Skills & Experience – Desired
• Deal implementation experience, providing governance support for new investments
• A depth of product knowledge across multiple products (Private Equity, debt, both direct and through funds)
USSL is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Operations | 08/12/2020 |
| London |