Investment Operations Salary Guide 2024
Demand for investment operations candidates continues to outstrip supply. Investment operations professionals with 3-5 years of experience are most in demand, particularly those with a broad skillset across investment operations. This is because of the widening remit of investment operations, with several firms now requiring broader skillsets across fund accounting, investment operations, performance, data, and implementation.
Candidates possessing strong data analytics and coding skillsets are most in demand, with firms prioritising automation across their operations teams. Power BI, SQL, and Python are the most sought-after skills we have been requested to find for our client base. Similarly, owing to an increased allocation to alternative assets, candidates possessing a skillset across alternative asset classes, particularly private debt and private equity are in high demand.
Trends
Cost-out business model
Increasingly, we are observing fund management firms adopting a cost-out approach, resulting in several role restructures and redundancies. This trend is particularly evident in firms operating traditional investment strategies, such as equities and bonds, in stark contrast to firms with investment strategies in areas such as private credit and private debt, where we have observed significant growth. This has resulted in many senior investment operations professionals being unattached on the market.
Specialist vs Generalist
At all of the conferences we have attended and the clients we have been speaking with over the past twelve months, there has been a debate between specialist vs generalist skill sets in Investment Operations teams. The evolution of requirements within operations has increased, with some firms expecting candidates to have an end-to-end skillset across investment operations, investment accounting, client services, data management and analytics.
Owing to outsourced and offshore models, coupled with increasingly functionalised models within service providers, this is a niche skill set in the Australian market, particularly with entry to graduate level talent. Graduate programmes tend to be tailored towards front-office positions, and there is an increasing need for these programmes to focus on investment operations to develop the talent pool.
Depending on the fund size and organisation structure, some firms continue to seek the generalist skillset, blending investment operations, investment accounting and investment analytics under the same umbrella. However, we are experiencing some firms establishing specialised teams based on functionality, especially for unlisted valuations, as regulators demand more transparent reporting.
International Talent
One potential solution for firms would be to look at international candidates to solve their resourcing needs. We have observed an influx of international investment operations professionals on working holiday visas coming from Ireland, UK, USA, China, and India – many of whom bring a broad skillset across investment operations and would potentially fit well into generalist business models. We have noted that most fund managers are reluctant to offer contract opportunities or sponsorship. Firms that decided to go down the sponsorship route have successfully recruited high-calibre international candidates and have elevated some of their resourcing challenges, allowing their current staff to focus on projects and client delivery.
Data Analytics and Automation
Funds management firms continue to place a growing emphasis on technology and systems, which has resulted in increased demand for data analytics skillsets. However, while the demand for these skills continues to rise, the supply side continues to be challenging, with some firms seeking this skillset in sectors outside of funds management. Notably, this is a positive solution, however, these candidates will often lack an understanding of the broader investment operations landscape, often resulting in considerable training and upskilling requirements. We have successfully placed candidates with data analytics skillsets from insurance firms and banks into fund managers. Firms could potentially build subject matter experts in-house, with practical data analytics courses that may equip staff with coding and programming skills, rather than hiring externally.
Private Markets Experience
Private markets experience is in high demand across the investment operations space; however, equities and fixed income remain the most common asset class exposure.
There has been a notable increase in candidates possessing experience in real estate, private equity, infrastructure, and private debt, however, there remains a gap between demand and supply.
There needs to be some flexibility from firms on having this skillset as a requirement for roles, with some firms willing to allocate resources to upskilling and training candidates on this skillset.
Global Recruitment Teams
Some recruitment processes supported by global recruitment teams are fraught with unique challenges. There is often a lack of understanding of Australian market conditions, salaries, and perception of a firm’s employment brand. This can result in convoluted recruitment processes, with multiple additional interview stages added often resulting in many challenges with time zones. In some cases, recruitment processes have gone on for more than six months. In a quick-moving candidate market, this can often result in firms losing talent and having to start their interview process all over again.
Conclusion and Outlook
There has been positive sentiment and cautious optimism from clients on their hiring plans for 2024 and we foresee an active recruitment market in investment operations. Data analytics skills such as Python, R, Power BI and VBA/SQL are on almost every new job description in investment operations in the last 12 months.
Similar to 2023, we expect firms to continue to focus on hiring candidates possessing a technical skillset, with alternative asset class experience in high demand.
Get in Touch
Kaizen Recruitment specialises in financial services recruitment across funds management, wealth management, superannuation, investment consulting and insurance. We are based in Melbourne and Sydney.
If you’d like to discuss candidate career drivers and the current stats of investment operations within the financial services recruitment landscape, please reach out to Darragh at +61 478 350 003 or get in touch with our team below.
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