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2024-01-18

Research Associate - Content Team

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Bridgewater Associates
Research Associate - Content Team
Connecticut, US
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Job Description

About Bridgewater

Bridgewater Associates is a premier asset management firm, focused on delivering unique insight and partnership for the most sophisticated global institutional investors. Our investment process is driven by a tireless pursuit to understand how the world’s markets and economies work — using cutting edge technology to validate and execute on timeless and universal investment principles.

Founded in 1975, we are a community of independent thinkers who share a commitment for excellence. By fostering a culture of openness, transparency, and inclusion, we strive to unlock the most complex questions in investment strategy, management, and corporate culture.

Explore more information about Bridgewater on our website here.

Our Culture

Bridgewater’s unique success is the direct result of our unique way of being. We want an idea meritocracy in which meaningful work and meaningful relationships are pursued through radical truth and radical transparency. We require people to be extremely open, air disagreements, test each other’s logic, and view discovering mistakes and weaknesses as a good thing that leads to improvement and innovation. It is by continually striving together for the highest levels of truth and excellence that we create meaningful work and meaningful relationships.

Explore more information about Bridgewater’s culture on our website here.

Our Investment Engine Philosophy:

Our core mission as an organization is to understand the fundamental drivers of markets and turn that understanding into high-quality portfolios and investment advice for our clients. We do this in three critical ways: by being fundamental, systematic, and diversified. We seek to understand the economy in a fundamental way, uncovering the timeless and universal cause-and-effect linkages that drive global markets. That understanding is implemented systematically and converted into explicit rules that can be rigorously stress-tested. Finally, we create highly diversified portfolios that are not dependent on any one source of return and can survive a wide range of economic environments.

About the Content Team

The Content Team develops and oversees Bridgewater’s investment content strategy that enables the firm’s strategic vision and commercial goals, furthering Bridgewater’s brand as an investment thought leader. The team is responsible for producing Bridgewater’s core leverageable investment content, such the Bridgewater Daily Observation, the annual Strategic Report, and our Quarterly Letters to clients and investors. More broadly, the team is responsible for maintaining a deep understanding of markets, Portfolio Construction, and Alpha generation, and communicating that understanding through insightful investment content.

About Your Role

Research Associates (RAs) on the Content Team sit at the intersection of Client Service and the Investment Engine and play a vital role in creating Bridgewater’s investment content. From their unique position at the heart of Bridgewater’s client-focused research activity, these individuals have an aerial view into our ever-evolving perspectives on world economies and markets, high-impact company-wide projects and our investment philosophy and processes. RAs work closely with Portfolio Strategists, Client Advisors, Researchers, and CIOs, collaborating on how to handle client-focused research, or performance review projects and execute on the approach by performing analyses and generating written insights to help shape clients’ investment thinking or provide transparency into our performance and positions to meet client needs.

Bridgewater’s market-driven approach to client service requires our RAs to continually expand their understanding and knowledge of the markets. Through formal training and informal on-the-job instruction, RAs become well-versed in our macroeconomic investment research, investment process and different strategies, our book of business, the investment approach of our largest, most sophisticated clients, and our production systems. Successful RAs will:

  • Understand the depth and breadth of Bridgewater’s economic and market knowledge as well as our investment philosophy.
  • Develop a holistic understanding of portfolios and portfolio management principles.
  • Contribute to Bridgewater’s world-class client service research strategy through creative thinking about how to generate insights, use of analytical tools to create relevant data analyses and visualizations, and convey key messages to our clients about our investment philosophy, strategies, performance, and outlook in the markets.
  • Be able to crisply communicate investment concepts and strategies in writing and data visualizations to clients.

Interested in learning more about working at Bridgewater? Hear about the experiences of our employees [here](https://www.bridgewater.com/working-at- bridgewater/the-bridgewater-experience).

You will have the following responsibilities:

  • Develop a strong understanding of Bridgewater’s investment strategies and philosophy, portfolio construction concepts, the fundamental macroeconomic drivers of global economic and financial markets, as well as Bridgewater’s book of business and commercial strategy.
  • Strategize with Portfolio Strategists, Client Advisors, Researchers and other investment professionals including CIOs to develop the best approaches to handle client requests on investment content, enable high-quality client engagements, and deliver leverageable investment content that serves our broad client base.
  • Apply analytical skills, market knowledge, and an understanding of Bridgewater's investment methodology to create insights to help advance clients’ investment thinking, solve clients’ investment problems, and allow our Client Advisors, Investment Strategists and Chief Investment Officers tell the Bridgewater investment story in a rich and accurate way.
  • Develop fluency in an investment content area (e.g. portfolio construction, Bridgewater investment processes, global market outlook), growing into a subject matter expert within that space.
  • Independently run projects and provide solid leverage to senior stakeholders in writing memos, creating presentations, generating client research insights, and creating data visualizations.
  • Learn and use Bridgewater’s custom technology tools and internal coding platform to perform financial analyses, generate data visualizations, and creative interactive investment content for the web.

The RA role is a great opportunity to transition into Bridgewater. Qualified candidates ideally will have prior experience in a related professional services environment which includes but is not limited to asset managers, investment banks, and consulting firms. We are looking for intellectually curious individuals who enjoy solving complex problems.

Minimum Qualifications

  • Ideally have some prior experience in a related field (involving quantitative analysis, research and writing, consulting, markets/investing, etc.)
  • Bachelors or Master’s degree from a competitive school with a strong academic and extracurricular track record.
  • Strong quantitative reasoning skills and ability to communicate/synthesize complex topics to a lay audience.
  • Ability to clearly articulate our investment and economic views to external parties through written and visual communication.
  • Ability to solve complex problems through logical analysis.
  • Ability to multi-task, prioritize and organize time effectively in a fast-paced and constantly changing environment.
  • Strong work ethic and demonstrated ability to achieve results and drive projects to completion; strong attention to detail.
  • Aptitude for remaining composed and confident under pressure.

In addition, to succeed within our unique culture and work environment, individuals must demonstrate humility, innate curiosity, and openness to new ideas and approaches. Candidates must be driven, confident, and goal-oriented. All Bridgewater employees are expected to be honest, exceptionally direct, and eager to provide and receive objective feedback. Our employees constantly strive for self-improvement through feedback and self-reflection and are committed to the pursuit of excellence.

Physical Requirements

For most of our roles, Bridgewater offers remote work flexibility, with most employees required to work on campus as their principal work location, a minimum of two days (and in some cases three days) per week with the option to work offsite on other days.

Why Choose Bridgewater?

It takes all types to make Bridgewater great. We seek a diverse group of innovative thinkers and push them to engage in rigorous and thoughtful inquiry. We develop people through an honest examination of their abilities and performance, enabling personal growth and professional development. We strive to provide you opportunities that will challenge you and unlock your potential.

You will grow with us by:

  • Participating in formal and informal on the job training
  • Developing a holistic understanding of portfolios and portfolio management principles
  • RA’s become well-versed in our investment approach, process, strategies and book of business

Compensation Band:

The wage range for this role is $120,000 - $260,000 inclusive of base salary and discretionary target bonus. The expected base salary for this role is between 80% - 90% of this wage range.

One of our core priorities at Bridgewater is to enable our employees to build a great life and career, and we believe our benefits are an important extension of that philosophy. As such, currently Bridgewater offers a competitive suite of benefits including:

  • Health insurance with 100% premium covered and access to additional concierge medical services
  • 401(k) plan with generous employer match
  • Paid time off, including fully paid parental leave and a competitive PTO package
  • Workplace flexibility and access to back up childcare
  • Financial assistance for family building support, including adoption and egg freezing
  • Workplace wellness, including on-site gyms, free meals and healthy snacks, and meditation rooms
  • An engaged and active community that includes many company events, affinity networks, and extracurricular interest groups

For a full list of Bridgewater benefits, click here.

Bridgewater reserves the right to change its current benefits program at any time, in a manner that is consistent with applicable federal and state regulations. This job description is not a contract and confers no contractual rights, privileges, or benefits on any applicant or potential applicant. Bridgewater has the right to change any and all terms of this job description, including, but not limited to, job responsibilities, qualifications and benefits. Nothing in this job description constitutes an offer or guarantee of employment. Please note that we do provide immigration sponsorship for this position.

Bridgewater Associates, LP is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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