Lead Specialist

Mercer is seeking candidate for following position based out our office in Mumbai :

Lead Specialist - Investments (OCIO Fund Expenses Investment Solutions)

What can you expect?

This is an exciting opportunity for a senior candidate to join one of Mercers largest and most rapidly-growing business areas investment solutions. Mercer's Investment Solutions (IS) business provides sophisticated implementation and investment services to clients. The business has grown rapidly over recent years with $400bn of client assets now under management globally, c.$160bn of which is invested on behalf of international investors. Our Investor base is institutional and typically clients are DB/DC Pension Schemes, but the business is expanding into new segments including Insurance & Wealth Management.

Services are provided across a range of areas through traditional and alternative asset classes reflecting Mercers best investment ideas. Mercers Portfolio Management Team in turn selects third party managers, from Mercers list of A rated managers in each asset class thus combining Mercer's in-house portfolio management expertise with the depth and breadth of Mercer Investments global investment manager research.

Mercers fund range was launched in Europe in September 2006 and currently consists of c.140 Irish domiciled funds across 5 legal structures. In addition to the ability to provide bespoke solutions to large, sophisticated clients these funds provide building blocks to support Mercers wider range of investment and risk management solutions targeting the institutional marketplace. Mercer IS business has seen significant growth over the last few years and believes that demand for its investment solutions will continue to grow over the coming years.

The Operations Unit is responsible for the on-boarding of new clients into the funds, launching of new funds, client and fund rebalancing, management of underlying investment manager changes, NAV and Valuation oversight, regulatory & tax oversight, management of third-party service providers, Fund Expenses oversight & invoice processing, operational infrastructure changes, development, and maintenance of relationships with both internal and external clients and adherence to strict risk controls.

We are seeking a highly motivated Fund Expenses & Invoicing senior specialist to join our growing team within the Fund Reporting unit at Mercer. You will play a crucial senior role in overseeing the approved Fund Expenses of the Funds, associated accruals, reviewing Total Expense Ratio (TER) calculations and monitoring quarterly movements, monitoring voluntary caps and max fee thresholds. In addition, you will support the review and processing of invoices associated with Fund Expenses and direct Mercer expenses. This is a visible role that requires close collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, including investment teams, Client Teams, Legal, Compliance, and other operational teams.

This role will primarily be focused on the Fund Expenses Oversight. The role will be multi-faceted and fluid, requiring an individual that has a diverse background across Funds/Asset Management. The successful candidate will be able to manage the successful delivery to a high standard of routine, defined BAU tasks as well as use their own initiative to navigate complex queries, assist with process improvements and enhancements and adapt quickly to change in the business operating model.

We will count on you to:

• Lead, own, drive and deliver BAU fund expense/invoicing tasks, ensuring SLAs are always met and work is delivered with 100% accuracy.
• Adopt a right first time approach to your work.
• Be responsible for the maintaining of all Fund Expense data and associated matrices with 100% accuracy ensuring new additions/changes go through necessary four eye check.
• Act as senior peer reviewer of work items and approver of payments processing.
• Ensure sufficient scrutiny and reconciliation of service provider calculations as part of oversight processes to identify issues and errors. Work with service providers to resolve issues in a timely manner and hold them accountable to their SLAs.
• Manage day to day relationships with key service providers and escalate and report on issues as required.
• Review and approve Fund Total Expense Ratio (TER) reporting within SLAs and make available to internal parties as required.
• Create Fund Budgets for new funds.
• Calculation of Fund Termination buffers
• Quarterly TER movement report to Fund Expense Committee (FEC)
• Estimate Ongoing Charge calculations for new share classes.
• Perform quarterly max fee checks.
• Communicate accrual updates to Fund Administrator.
• Challenge and encourage team to challenge existing processes to always ensure value add and to remove any inefficiencies in processes.
• Ensure appropriate escalation of issues that may impact reporting SLAs or accuracy levels.
• Support team manager as required with projects, initiatives, training etc.
• Collaborate with the wider business to understand and learn the business model, Mercers products and develop Fund Expense & Invoicing expertise to become a team SME.
• Continuously support new client solutions, lead assessments of the operational impact of such new offerings and solution enhancements required for Fund Expenses & Invoicing.
• Be responsible for procedure accuracy and ensure they are kept up to date with a minimum annual update.
• Lead process improvement initiatives to improve quality and efficiency including the use of AI technology where possible.
• Be responsible for training junior team members where required.
• Foster positive relationships with all stakeholders in India and Ireland.

What you need to have:

• Funds or Asset Management experience within a leading Administrator and/or Fund Manager/Investment Manager (minimum 3 years experience) with an understanding of core Fund Operations, including Fund Accounting, Middle Office and Transfer Agency.
• Practical experience and knowledge of various asset classes, including securities, loans, derivatives and pooled funds is desirable.
• While not essential, experience in investment fund expense oversight and invoice payments of fund expenses would be an advantage.
• Strong academic background in Accounting/Finance/Economics or related field essential.
• Strong communication and presentation skills essential.
• Ability to work independently on delivery of work items.
• Energy, tenacity and resilience. Highly motivated, driven and focused.
• Attention to detail with the ability to prioritize and navigate multiple deliverables.
• Openness to working with various systems and a strong aptitude for learning and adapting to new technologies.
• Ability to work under own initiative & under pressure to meet deadlines.
• Strong data solution focus with prior complex data project experience desirable but not essential.
• Champions collaboration within an organization to achieve shared vision. Seeks out cross business collaboration opportunities.

What makes you stand out:

• Ability to work as part of a team
• Excellent verbal and written English and communication skills
• Ability to absorb new information quickly.
• Managing Relationships: Demonstrates the ability to build relationships with colleagues from a variety of different divisions / Demonstrates effective communication and influence skills.
• Planning and Organising: Is able to prioritise workload effectively in order to support the team.
• Ability to own drive and deliver own work.
• 3+ year of technical work experience in Funds/Asset Management Sector
• Understanding of the fund management industry
• Education/ Qualification: Candidates having MBA/CFA/FRM is an added advantage.