THE COMMUNITY Over the past half century, San José has transformed from an agricultural community known as the Valley of Hearts Delight to become the Capital of Silicon Valley, a global center of technology innovation that has changed the way the world lives and works. With nearly one million people, San José is the tenth largest city in the nation and the third largest in California. It is home to the largest concentration of technology expertise in the world with more than 6,600 technology companies, powered by one of the most highly educated and productive populations in America. More than 40 percent of the workforce has a bachelor s degree or higher, compared with 25 percent nationally. San José s quality of life is unsurpassed. Situated between the beautiful Diablo and Santa Cruz mountain ranges at the south end of the Bay Area, San José s central location is a gateway to adventures throughout California. The city is readily accessible to the beaches along the California coast including Monterey and Carmel; Yosemite and Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada; and the rich cultural life of the entire region. In addition, San José has been confirmed as being the safest big city in the nation since 2001. Universities in and near San José include San José State University, Santa Clara University, Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at San Francisco, and University of California at Santa Cruz. ABOUT THE CITY GOVERNMENT The City of San José operates under a council-manager form of government and is a fullservice Charter City. The City Council consists of 10 council members elected by district and a mayor elected at large. The FY 2012-2013 Adopted Operating and Capital Budgets for the City of San José total $2.8 billion. The City employs approximately 5,400 full-time employees. For more information about the City of San José, please visit the City s website at www.sanjoseca.gov. THE DEPARTMENT The Department of Retirement Services became a separate City of San José department in 2000, and provides participants with retirement, death, disability, and cost-of-living benefits. There are approximately 10,600 active, retired and survivor participants that are served by the City of San José Department of Retirement Services (SJDRS). There are four pension trust fund plans serviced by the SJDRS, the Federated City Employees Retirement System and the Police and Fire Retirement Plan. Each plan has a board of administration. Each of those pension trust funds has a companion retiree healthcare trust fund governed by independent Boards of Trustees that currently have overlapping membership. Each of the four trust funds is administered by an independent Board of Trustees. SJDRS and its boards are responsible for the leadership, management, and administration of these plans and the investment of their assets. SJDRS primary duties are to collect, invest, and expend system assets prudently and to insure the prompt delivery of services to its active, retired and survivor participants. The SJDRS is responsible for interfacing with active, retired, and survivor participants of the plan; with the City Manager, Mayor, and City Council of San José; with the boards of the four plans; and with the retained professionals (e.g. legal, actuarial, financial, insurance, and information technology) that are part of the team.
The Federated City Employees Retirement System currently holds assets valued at $2.0 billion and the assets of the Police and Fire Retirement Plan are currently valued at $3.0 billion. The Federated board has 7 trustees and the Police and Fire board has 9. All boards are made up of independent trustees (typically with financial expertise) and trustees drawn from active and retired city employees. The Chief Executive Officer and the trustees are fiduciaries of these plans. THE POSITION The Retirement Investment Officer is responsible for the management of pension assets and the measurement of pension liabilities of the San Jose Federated City Employees Retirement System and Police and Fire Department Retirement Plan; monitors and analyzes investment performance, assists in planning and developing investment strategies, executes investment strategies, monitors investment managers, and performs related duties as required. This is the professional management level class of the investment classifications allocated to the City s Retirement Services Departments. Under general supervision, incumbents act as principal assistants to the Chief Investment Officer or to the Director. This class differs from the Retirement Actuarial Analyst I/II in that the Retirement Investment Officer performs duties that require more comprehensive knowledge of finance and higher level analysis of investments. Qualifications An equivalent combination of education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities sufficient to satisfactorily perform the duties of the job may be substituted. Minimum Qualifications A bachelor s degree from an accredited college or university in finance, financial engineering, mathematics, economics, actuarial science or a related field and five years of related work experience in a defined benefit retirement fund, investment consulting, investment management or pension consulting. Possession of at least one of the following certifications is highly desirable: Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Certification; or Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Certification; or Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA) Certification. Post-graduate degree from an accredited college or university in finance, economics or other field may substitute for one year of the required experience. Incumbents may be required to have different combinations of the listed qualifications, or more specific job-related qualifications depending on the position. Basic Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Candidates should have knowledge of institutional investment methodologies as they apply to pension plans; alternative investments including private equity, hedge funds, commodities, Real Estate and Infrastructure; the behavior of pension liabilities with changes in interest rates, inflation and Capital markets; Markowitz optimization and methods of developing asset allocations in the context of pension liabilities; and advanced financial modeling such as option pricing techniques and stochastic modeling. In addition, candidates should have the skills and abilities to analyze investment opportunities; implement and execute investment strategies; analyze the change in pension and health care liabilities; establish international and domestic capital market and economic macro and micro trends; utilize personal computers to generate reports for investment management (e.g. spreadsheet modeling); communicate effectively, both orally and in writing; evaluate third party research; provide prompt, efficient and responsive service; exercise appropriate judgment in answering questions and releasing information; analyze and project consequences and /or recommendations; make effective presentations to the Retirement Board, Mayor and City Council, City Manager, senior staff and other entities as appropriate; and manage, supervise, train, lead, mentor subordinate staff including management staff through completion of performance evaluations and providing career development.
Desirable Qualifications Candidates should have knowledge of: (for Risk Management Specialty) Qualitative and quantitative risk methods; Comprehensive knowledge of risk measurement techniques. The behavior of pension liabilities with changes in interest rates, inflation and Capital markets. (for Quantitative Analysis Specialty) Institutional investment methodologies as they apply to pension plans. Markowitz optimization and methods of developing asset allocations in the context of pension liabilities. Advanced financial modeling such as option pricing techniques and stochastic modeling. (for Public Securities Specialty) Institutional investment methodologies as they apply to pension plans. Public security markets such as fixed income and public equities. Markowitz optimization and methods of developing asset allocations in the context of pension liabilities. Advanced financial modeling such as option pricing techniques and stochastic modeling. (for Non-Public Securities Specialty) Institutional investment methodologies as they apply to pension plans. Markowitz optimization and methods of developing asset allocations in the context of pension liabilities. Advanced financial modeling such as option pricing techniques and stochastic modeling. Additionally, candidates should have the skills and abilities to: (for Risk Management Specialty) Identify key risks and propose measurement and monitoring processes and procedures; Evaluate and model total fund risk; Analyze the change in pension and health care liabilities; Work collaboratively with external risk vendors to compile risk data; Analyze and assess output from external risk models; Assess and propose additional tools for risk management; Evaluate market environments and present portfolio recommendations. (for Quantitative Analysis Specialty) Analyze investment opportunities; Establish Capital market and economic trends including micro and macro both international and domestic; Interact effectively and collaboratively with consultants to strategically evaluate investment and market opportunities; (for Public Securities Specialty) Analyze investment opportunities; Establish Capital market and economic trends including micro and macro of both international and domestic; Deal effectively with general partners, limited partners, members of investment organizations and members of the Retirement Board; Interact effectively and collaboratively with consultants; Strategically evaluate investment and market opportunities; Analyze financial and statistical data regarding partnerships and investments;
(for Non-Public Securities Specialty) Same as for Public Securities specialty but as it applies to Non-Public markets. TYPICAL CLASS ESSENTIAL DUTIES: Duties may include, but are not limited to the following: 1. Apply institutional investment methodologies as they apply to pension plans. 2. Provide alternative investments including private equity, hedge funds, commodities, Real Estate and Infrastructure. 3. Review and monitor the behavior of pension liabilities with changes in interest rates, inflation and Capital markets. 4. Apply Markowitz optimization and methods of developing asset allocations in the context of pension liabilities. 5. Establish Capital market and economic trends including micro and macro both international and domestic; 6. Perform advanced financial modeling such as option pricing techniques and stochastic modeling. 7. Perform other duties of a similar nature or level. 8. Development of measurements of long-term operational liquidity. Quantitative Analysis Specialty In addition to the duties listed above, the Quantitative Analysis Specialty supports the quantitative modeling involved in the following projects: 1. Development of tactical asset allocations; hedging schemes; a Global Macro program; LDJ strategies; 2. Review and recommendation of changes to the Pension Plan Investment Structure; Calculate risk budgeting analytics for risk decomposition and performance attribution; 3. Preparation of monitoring reports; 4. Support of investment Operations on quantitative tasks such as assessing individual investments profitability; 5. Support of investment manager searches Risk Management Specialty In addition to the duties listed above, the Risk Management Specialty is responsible for modeling work focusing on risk modeling and risk management in relation to the following projects: 1. Development and implementation of interest, inflation and equity hedging strategies; 2. Review of the risk elements of the Pension Plan Investment Structure and calculation of risk budgeting analytics for risk decomposition and performance attribution; 3. Risk quantification of the alternative investment program; 4. Provision of guidance regarding the selection and monitoring of investment managers; 5. Review and monitoring of the Investment Policy guidelines. Public Securities Specialty In addition to the duties listed above, the Retirement Investment Officer Public Securities specialty is responsible for: 1. Providing guidance and performing due diligence on investment managers, especially Public securities; 2. Providing guidance regarding the monitoring of equity and fixed income investment managers; 3. Reviewing and monitoring of the Investment Policy guidelines as they relate to Public securities; 4. Asset allocation: guide the investment consultants in performing the asset liability studies; 5. The development of a tactical asset allocation; 6. The development of a hedging scheme; 7. The development of a Global Macro program;
8. The development of LDI strategies; 9. Reviewing and recommending changes to the Pension Plan Investment Structure; Calculating risk budgeting analytics for risk decomposition and performance attribution; Non-Public Securities Specialty In addition to the duties listed above, the Retirement Investment Officer Non-Public Securities specialty is responsible for: 1. Providing guidance regarding the selection of Non-Public investment managers; 2. Providing guidance regarding the monitoring of Private Equity and Absolute Return managers; 3. Reviewing and monitoring of the Investment Policy guide lines as they relate to Non- Public investments; 4. Asset allocation: guide the investment consultants in performing the asset liability studies; 5. The development of a tactical asset allocation; 6. The development of a hedging scheme; 7. The development of a Global Macro program; 8. The development of LDJ strategies; 9. Reviewing and recommending changes to the Pension Plan Investment Structure; Calculating risk budgeting analytics for risk decomposition and performance attribution 10. Developing an alternative investment program. THE IDEAL CANDIDATE The ideal candidate for the Retirement Investment Officer position will have a proven track record of being a solid financial investor. The selected candidate will be responsive and accessible to the board members, staff, and plan sponsors. He/She will be honest, ethical, transparent, and team-oriented. The selected candidate will have a polished and professional communication style and will genuinely be committed to making investment decisions based on the overall benefit of the organization. COMPENSATION The salary range for this position is $100,980 - $142,800. Placement within this range will be dependent upon the qualifications and experience of the selected candidate. For a complete list of the City s Benefits, please visit http://www.sanjoseca.gov/humanresources/ subsurvey.asp. HOW TO APPLY Please apply immediately. Resume review will begin on December 6, 2013. Resumes can be submitted on-line at www.alliancerc.com or via email at info@alliancerc.com. For questions and inquiries, please contact: Sherrill Uyeda or Cindy Krebs ALLIANCE RESOURCE CONSULTING LLC 400 Oceangate, Suite 510 Long Beach, CA 90802 Telephone: (562) 901-0769 E-mail: suyeda@alliancerc.com ckrebs@alliancerc.com http://twitter.com/alliancerc Alliance Resource Consulting, LLC An Equal Opportunity/ADA Employer