Our client is a Private Investment Firm with a Global Investment focus. They are now looking for an Investment Analyst with a global focus incorporating the US markets (US market hours) and general skills that cover:

Idea Generation  |  Options  |  Trade Implementation  |  Position Management  |  Macro & Cross-Asset

THE ROLE

The role will have a particular focus on US equities and equity indices. The successful candidate will also bring practical familiarity with fixed income, FX, commodities and macroeconomic data, and with how developments in those markets affect equity and options positions.

This is not a traditional modelling-only research position. We are looking for someone who thinks like an investor and thinks independently — someone capable of identifying emerging trends, recognising when established trends may be changing, and spotting opportunities that are not necessarily part of the prevailing market consensus.

The successful candidate should combine fundamental research with macroeconomic developments, events and catalysts, positioning, technical factors, sentiment and options-market information to generate actionable investment ideas across short-term and multi-month horizons.

Equally, the role carries hands-on implementation responsibility. Once the CIO has approved a view, the analyst is expected to determine how it is expressed, execute it professionally and manage the resulting position through to exit. They should be comfortable moving from:

Research → Investment View → Trade Expression → Execution → Position Management → Alert/Recommendation → Review

The role will work closely with the CIO and investment team and will provide important US-hours market coverage.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Investment Research & Idea Generation

  • Generate and develop investment ideas, particularly across US equities and indices.
  • Conduct fundamental company and sector research, including earnings analysis, valuation, catalysts, competitive positioning and key risks.
  • Assess opportunities through multiple lenses, including:
    • Fundamentals and valuation
    • Macro and policy developments
    • Events and catalysts — including earnings, corporate actions, regulatory developments, geopolitical events and scheduled macro releases
    • Market positioning and flows
    • Technical factors and price action
    • Sentiment and consensus expectations
    • Options-market information and volatility
  • For significant events and catalysts, assess what the market is already pricing, where expectations may be wrong, potential upside and downside scenarios, and how different outcomes could affect relevant positions and markets.
  • Develop investment views across different time horizons, ranging from short-term tactical opportunities to multi-month investment themes.
  • Actively identify:
    • Emerging market and sector trends
    • Counter-trend opportunities
    • Inflection points and regime changes
    • Divergences between price action and fundamentals
    • Underappreciated catalysts
    • Crowded consensus positions that may be vulnerable
    • Opportunities where the market’s interpretation of events may be wrong
  • Present clear investment recommendations identifying the thesis, catalyst, risk/reward, time horizon and factors that would invalidate the thesis.
  • Apply practical familiarity with fixed income, FX and commodities to assess how rates, currency moves, commodity prices and macro data affect equity and index positions and trade ideas.

Trend & Market Opportunity Identification

A central responsibility of the role is to identify important trends and counter-trends early. The analyst should continuously assess price action, fundamentals, macroeconomic developments, events, positioning, flows and sentiment to determine whether a move is:

  • The beginning or continuation of a durable trend
  • A temporary counter-trend move
  • An emerging reversal
  • An overreaction creating an attractive opportunity

We value independent and out-of-the-box thinking. The analyst should be willing to challenge consensus views, question existing portfolio assumptions and bring forward ideas that the investment team may not otherwise be considering.

Market Intelligence, Alerts & Recommendations

  • Provide high-quality market coverage during US trading hours. The expectation goes materially beyond simply monitoring markets.
  • Proactively alert the CIO and investment team when developments materially affect existing positions or create new opportunities — and provide a recommendation on what, if anything, should be done. Alerts should answer three questions:
    • What happened?
    • Why does it matter?
    • What should we consider doing about it?
  • Identify changes in fundamentals, events, macro conditions, positioning, technicals, sentiment or market structure that alter the risk/reward of existing or potential positions.
  • Distinguish between market noise and developments requiring attention or action.

Trade Expression & Options

  • Translate investment views into practical trade expressions. Where the CIO has approved a view, determine the instrument, strike, expiry and structure through which it should be implemented — not merely suggest alternatives.
  • Evaluate whether a view is best expressed through the underlying security or through options.
  • Working knowledge of options is required, including calls, puts, call and put spreads, defined-risk directional structures and hedging strategies.
  • Working knowledge of strike and expiry selection, the Greeks, implied versus realised volatility, skew, event volatility, time decay, liquidity and bid/ask considerations, and maximum-loss characteristics — sufficient to structure trades independently for CIO approval.
  • Compare alternative expressions of the same thesis and clearly explain their respective risk/reward — for example, stock versus call versus call spread; put versus put spread; index versus ETF versus single name.

Execution

  • The role combines research and advisory responsibility with hands-on trade implementation. Actual trade implementation experience is required.
  • Execute approved trades in equities, ETFs, index products and listed options — including multi-leg defined-risk structures — within clearly defined parameters.
  • Execute professionally, with attention to liquidity, bid/ask spreads, order types, timing and slippage, and ensure trades are accurately booked and reconciled.
  • Independent risk-taking is not initially required. Greater execution and risk responsibility may be delegated over time depending on experience and demonstrated capability.

Position Management & Risk Support

  • Monitor open positions on an ongoing basis, including Greeks, P&L, catalysts, time decay and approaching expiries.
  • Continuously assess existing positions against their original investment thesis, catalysts and expected time horizon, and track changes in risk/reward.
  • Rather than simply reporting changes, identify when new information warrants action and make a recommendation — whether to maintain, add, reduce, hedge, roll, restructure or exit a position.
  • Manage expiries and rolls proactively, and implement approved adjustments and exits.
  • Assist with portfolio hedging analysis across equities and indices.
  • Participate in investment reviews and post-mortems to determine what worked, what did not and what should change.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

  • Approximately 4–8 years of relevant institutional markets experience, ideally within a hedge fund, asset manager, proprietary trading firm, investment bank or similarly rigorous investment environment.
  • Candidates whose experience has primarily been within family offices are not the target profile.
  • Strong knowledge of US equities and equity indices.
  • Hands-on experience with the Bloomberg Terminal and trading platforms such as Saxo or Interactive Brokers is a significant advantage.
  • Demonstrated ability to generate actionable investment ideas rather than simply produce research.
  • Actual trade implementation experience in equities, ETFs and listed options, and experience monitoring and managing live positions.
  • Particularly strong ability to recognise trends, counter-trends and changing market regimes across both short-term and multi-month horizons.
  • Practical familiarity with fixed income, FX, commodities and macroeconomic data, and how they affect equity and options positions.
  • Working knowledge of options and the ability to evaluate and select between different ways of expressing an investment view.
  • Comfortable following markets in real time and working primarily during US market hours.
  • Intellectually curious, independent and willing to challenge conventional thinking.
  • Strong analytical judgement and ability to communicate conclusions clearly and concisely.

You should be the type of person who is continuously asking:

What is the market missing?

What has changed that others haven’t recognised yet?

Where might consensus be wrong?

What could cause the current trend to reverse?

What is already priced into the next major event — and what would constitute a genuine surprise?

TECHNOLOGY & AI

We expect investment professionals to use modern technology intelligently. The candidate should be comfortable using AI and other analytical tools to improve research productivity, screen opportunities, identify emerging trends and anomalies, analyse information and monitor markets.

AI should enhance — not replace — independent judgement, source verification and investment thinking.

WORKING ARRANGEMENT

The role is remote and based in South Africa, with the working day aligned primarily to US market hours. Occasional travel to London. will be required for meetings with the CIO and investment team.

We are looking for someone who can think independently, identify what is changing before it becomes obvious, understand how markets actually trade and translate analysis into actionable investment decisions.

The strongest candidate will combine the analytical depth of an investment analyst with the market instincts, intellectual flexibility, working knowledge of options and execution discipline to contribute directly to portfolio decisions — and to implement and manage them.

To apply for this role please send your CV to ian@asearch.co.za or call 083 6599659 for a confidential conversation

To apply for this job email your details to ian@asearch.co.za

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