Chief Operating Officer

Total compensation is expected to be highly competitive and commensurate with a senior executive leadership role at a sophisticated alternative investment manager, inclusive of base salary and performance based bonus, with potential carry and equity participation. Final compensation will be determined based on the candidate’s credentials, experience, leadership profile, scope of responsibility, and potential value to the firm.

Chief Operating Officer

Position Overview:

Our client is a leading alternative investment manager with a long standing track record, a substantial asset base, and a sophisticated institutional investor base. The firm has built a scaled investment platform across multiple strategies and is seeking to appoint a Chief Operating Officer to strengthen the operating foundation required for continued growth.

The firm is open to experienced COOs as well as senior investment management executives who have demonstrated the judgment, credibility, and enterprise leadership capability to assume a broad operating mandate. The ideal candidate will bring significant experience inside a hedge fund, alternative investment manager, asset manager, investment adviser, or institutional investment platform.

The role requires an executive who can operate with institutional gravitas, sound commercial judgment, and the ability to translate firmwide priorities into disciplined execution across a complex investment management business.

This is a senior leadership role for an accomplished executive who can partner credibly with investment leadership, bring discipline to complex operating issues, develop strong teams, and create measurable value across the business.

Responsibilities will include (but not be limited to):

• Serve as a senior operating partner to the firm’s leadership team, helping define the infrastructure, governance, risk framework, and operating priorities required to support the firm’s long term objectives.
• Provide executive oversight across investment operations, portfolio accounting, trade support, risk infrastructure, technology, data management, reporting, information security, vendor management, and related middle office functions.
• Evaluate the firm’s people, processes, systems, controls, reporting, and external partnerships, then lead initiatives that improve scalability, accuracy, transparency, resiliency, and accountability.
• Partner with investment leadership, finance, compliance, investor relations, and technology to ensure the operating platform supports portfolio management, trading activity, client reporting, regulatory expectations, and future strategy expansion.
• Oversee enterprise operating risk, including operational, technology, data, vendor, counterparty, liquidity, reporting, cybersecurity, and business continuity related risks.
• Lead or contribute to key governance forums, including risk, valuation, compliance, cybersecurity, brokerage, technology, ESG, and management committees, with a focus on decision quality, accountability, and execution.
• Represent the firm’s operating platform in institutional investor, consultant, allocator, and operational due diligence discussions, clearly articulating the firm’s infrastructure, controls, systems, governance, and risk oversight.
• Partner with legal and compliance leadership on regulatory readiness, SEC examination preparation, internal audits, cybersecurity reviews, policy implementation, and continued maturation of firmwide procedures and controls.
• Evaluate and manage critical external relationships, including fund administrators, prime brokers, custodians, technology providers, data vendors, cybersecurity firms, consultants, and other strategic partners.
• Build, lead, and develop a high performing operating team, ensuring the firm has the talent, structure, accountability, and execution discipline required to support a sophisticated investment platform.
• Serve as a change agent across the organization, identifying opportunities to modernize infrastructure, reduce key person risk, improve decision making, strengthen controls, and enhance long term enterprise value.

Qualifications:

• Senior leadership experience within a hedge fund, alternative investment manager, asset manager, investment adviser, or sophisticated institutional investment platform.
• Experience operating across a broad enterprise mandate, with meaningful responsibility for operating, financial, risk, technology, data, governance, or infrastructure functions.
• Demonstrated record of improving operating effectiveness, strengthening controls, enhancing reporting, supporting investor readiness, scaling teams, managing vendors, or leading firmwide infrastructure initiatives.
• Deep understanding of how investment management businesses operate across investment teams, operations, finance, accounting, risk, compliance, technology, investor relations, fund administration, and external service providers.
• Experience working with senior investment professionals, executive leadership, institutional investors, consultants, regulators, auditors, administrators, prime brokers, custodians, and other critical stakeholders.
• Strong commercial judgment, executive presence, communication skills, and ability to lead through growth, complexity, institutional scrutiny, regulatory review, technology change, and organizational evolution.
• Strategic, practical, and execution oriented, with high emotional intelligence and the ability to influence across a sophisticated investment management platform.