HarbourVest Partners
This position is focused on ongoing investment strategy, portfolio construction, liquidity management and related communications for a semi-liquid open-ended fund that provides diversified private equity exposure through monthly subscriptions and redemptions from non-US high net worth and institutional investors. The Senior Portfolio Associate will sit in the Enterprise Investment Office (EIO), a newly created function and part of the Investment Department at HarbourVest. The EIO works alongside the investment teams to support and drive best practices for all fund management, portfolio monitoring and reporting, policy and content management, continuous improvement, and administration functions, including portfolio management for the semi-liquid open-ended fund.
Competencies:
- Strong private equity and traditional market knowledge
- Comfort understanding and using quantitative models (no Python or coding experience required)
- Strong Excel skills
- Proactive self-starter
- Analytical and organized
- Detail-oriented while remaining focused on key goals
- Strong written and oral communication skills – ability to translate technical concepts into clear messages
- Strong relationship management skills for internal and external stakeholders
- Good judgment around decision-making and escalation
- Comfort working in an area that may not always have established precedents
Required Experience:
- Private equity investment, investment-related quantitative analysis and/or open-ended fund investment experience
Preferred Experience:
- Understanding of open-ended fund features
HarbourVest is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Responsibilities
Investment Strategy, Portfolio Construction and Liquidity Management
Monitor and analyze the fund’s current and anticipated future portfolio construction and liquidity to make fund management recommendations/decisions.
- Take ownership of the fund’s model portfolio and investment objectives in order to support recommendations to the Portfolio Manager
- Analyze the fund’s investment-related needs and make recommendations/presentations related to diversification, pacing, sizing, and the use of a credit line to the Portfolio Manager and Portfolio Construction Committee
- Regularly monitor the portfolio against investment objectives and the current market environment to recommend future adjustments
- Day-to-day liquidity management and oversight, including cash balance and credit line, investment capacity, redemption sensitivities, and fund efficiency (e.g., minimizing cash drag)
- Work closely with Quantitative Investment Sciences team to understand of a forecasting model and regularly use it to analyze potential future scenarios based on various inputs and market dynamics
- Work closely with other HarbourVest teams to monitor projected cash inflows and outflows in order to recommend new investment capacity
- Maintain and continuously improve portfolio-management related aspects of internal policies and procedures
Investment-Related Commentary and Analysis
Support the fund’s communication needs related to portfolio management.
- Review and provide input into investment-related reporting in legal and regulatory documents
- Provide regular investment, portfolio construction and liquidity management related data, analysis and commentary for written and verbal prospective/existing investor reports and presentations and to support the fund’s Product Specialist and IR in client discussions, liaising with HarbourVest’s Investment Operations teams as necessary
- Create portfolio management updates and reports for key internal and external stakeholders, including the AIFM and Board
- Create new content as needed to accommodate the fund’s communication needs
Partnership with Key Internal and External Stakeholders
Focus on strong partnerships to coordinate the above activities and other ongoing fund needs.
- Strong partnership with the fund’s Director of Operations and Product Specialist as well as HarbourVest’s Portfolio Construction Committee, Quantitative Investment Sciences team, Investment Operations, Capital Markets, global IR teams, AIFM, Board, and external service providers
