Head of Portfolio Design

Careers with Impact

More than one million Australians trust HESTA with their money. HESTA is a top-performing industry super fund working for real-world impact. We use our expertise and influence to deliver strong long-term returns while accelerating our contribution to a more sustainable world.

HESTA is also an inspiring and rewarding place to work. That’s because what we do makes a difference to the lives of our members. The people who work at HESTA are not only exceptional at what they do, they’re focused on living and creating a strong organisational culture. We’re an industry super fund dedicated to the people who keep our communities going. People who provide some of the best health, education and community services in the world are HESTA members – and we are proud to serve them.

Bring your authentic and passionate self to this exceptional role #careerswithimpact

Reporting directly to the Chief Investment Officer, you will be integral to the fund’s success and continued growth. You will lead a large team with General Managers as direct reports, helping shape and deliver the overall investment strategy. You will lead teams responsible for the ‘top down’ aspects of the portfolio, governing investment processes and driving the capability and culture of teams who are active in portfolio construction and risk, economic and capital market research, strategic asset allocation, dynamic asset allocation, overlays and Implementation.

A key focus of this role is working collaboratively with the portfolio management team to instill a ‘total portfolio approach’ and work seamless as one team with one investment process and one measure of success.

You will provide thought leadership to design portfolios to achieve investment objectives and generate long-term sustainable net returns by contributing to the development of products and investment options to ensure that the suite of investment offerings meets member needs.

As the leader of Portfolio Design, you will lead and empower your team to:

•    Utilise leading portfolio design techniques to develop strategic asset allocation for HESTA’s investment options to achieve the targeted investment objectives and markets
•    Deliver the strategic research agenda using both internal expertise and collaborations with investment partners and networks, to inform positioning and continue to evolve the investment process 
•    Maintain a quantitative research capability and ‘school of excellence’ for the Investment Management team
•    Undertake portfolio risk management and analysis, including scenario analysis and stress testing.
•    Utilise Dynamic Asset Allocation (DAA) to take advantage of market opportunities and respond to emerging risks.
•    Undertake rebalancing across the portfolio, including currency overlays and other derivative programs, and actively monitor and manage counterparties
•    Maintain strong connections and partnerships across global financial markets to provide insights and opportunities for HESTA
•    Comply with relevant legislation, regulation and policies and ensure the controls framework remains appropriate. 

About you

You will have senior leadership experience leading a technical team and have experience in building and managing investment processes and portfolios, ideally in a multi-asset class context with experience using derivatives.  You will be able to empower, develop and motivate your team, while working collaboratively across the Investment Management team and HESTA to achieve outcomes. 

As a financial markets technician, you will have experience conducting capital markets research, determining investment objectives and setting Strategic Asset Allocation for multi-asset and single sector options, and have engaged with senior stakeholders (such as Boards or clients). You will have well-developed knowledge of macroeconomics and global financial markets, and be passionate about market developments. 

You enjoy a collaborative approach to working with people across the organisation and uphold a ‘Total Portfolio Approach’ way of working by building, sustaining and actively role-modelling an open and collaborative culture and strong risk culture across the team. You have the ability to build and leverage diverse teams, facilitating inclusive debate to reach an outcome.

Benefits that matter and make a difference for our employees

•    Leave for those moments that matter, an additional 6 days of leave at the end of year, up to 6 days paid volunteer leave, gender neutral paid parental leave of 20 weeks, Gender Affirmation leave, reproductive health and wellbeing leave, Cultural and Ceremonial leave. Access your LSL after 3 years, take AL at half pay, and purchase up to 2 weeks additional leave (just to name a few!).
•    Your Professional development matters, up to $5k per year professional development and up to 8 days professional development leave, HESTA scholarships and free access to a range of premium learning tools.
•    Your health and wellbeing matters, free annual flu shots and skin checks, incredible social events throughout the year and a comprehensive employee assistance program available 24/7.
•    Your financial wellbeing matters, up to 15% super, financial planning support, end of year payment for all Enterprise Agreement-covered employees, incentivised Employee Referral Program and novated lease options.

We celebrate, value and include people of all backgrounds, genders, identities, cultures and abilities. We welcome and support applications from First Nations people, physically, neuro or culturally diverse, LGBTQI+, and people of any age. We are proud to be WGEA accredited as an Employer of Choice for Gender Equity. 

We want all candidates to feel safe, included and provided with the best opportunity to thrive, if you require reasonable adjustments during your application or throughout the recruitment process, please reach out to a member of the Talent team careers@hesta.com.au and we’ll call you to discuss. 

Please note: Applications via recruitment agencies will not be accepted for this position