Job Description

Systems Developer, Portfolio Management
Connor, Clark & Lunn India Private Limited
Gurugram, India
About the Portfolio Management Systems Team

The Portfolio Management systems team (PM) resides within the Information Systems group and is responsible for the high‐performance platform on which other teams build intelligent investment processes. The team is a friendly, collaborative, tight knit group that work together to effectively apply technology to complex investment data and analytics problems which has been a key factor to the firm’s success. Our high performance in‐memory KDB systems track a large universe of over 50,000 potential investments and performs meaningful analytics on our $96 billion dollars of assets under management.

We place high value on maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit and creating a culture where each of us has opportunities to succeed. We are a solution orientated and collaborative team seeking likeminded individuals who thrive in a challenging and dynamic environment.

What You’ll Be Doing

The PM team works closely with the business to develop platforms to support business growth and meet operation requirements. We are involved and collaborate with other teams on solution design and the full software development lifecycle. Our team members have the opportunity to make tangible and significant impact to the success of our team, those we collaborate with, and that of the firm.

A Senior Analyst on the PM team has a combination of proven functional, industry, and technical experience that enables them to drive operational‐excellence and project‐execution. They excel in critical‐thinking, analytical skills, and demonstrate sound judgement and as such, are responsible for complex problem solving in both high‐impact operational and high‐profile project work. They provide subject matter expertise, guidance, instruction, thought‐leadership, and directional influence to colleagues within their specific functional areas.

Key responsibilities include:

• Collaborate with the team to analyze technology issues
• Innovate underlying infrastructure, processes, and systems
• Identify, plan, design, and implement improvements
• Utilize and enhance large‐scale high‐performance time series KDB databases
• Maintain and oversee the software life cycle
• Keep systems running smoothly through enhancements and support

About You

To be successful in this role, you’ll have the following skills & competencies:

• Education – You have a 4+ years of undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Computer/Software Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, Finance, Business or a related field. Completion of a Masters, or enrollment in a relevant designation, such as the CFA or FRM, is an asset.
• Industry Knowledge – 4+ years’ experience in the investment management industry with exposure to investment management applications and processes.
• Database Knowledge – You have 2+ years of lived technical experience, with nuances in accessing data and different database architectures. You can understand, query, and analyze results from complex datasets using code (kdb+/q, SQL, python).
• Expert Problem Solver – You possess an analytical mindset and able to deduce the root cause of issues and are able to support peers to improve their problem solving and critical thinking during issue escalation. You are a collaboration and escalation point for other team members and conduit to Managers or Senior Managers for wider team / departmental issues.
• Collaborator and Team Builder – You have a collaborative spirit that helps you to work well with others, and you communicate effectively. You are a culture‐carrier and work well directing, supporting, coaching, or delegating to peers as a senior team member. The Manager can rely on you to ensuring progress and results on team initiatives, and promoting shared‐vision and ownership.
• Self‐Motivated Operator – You have a passion for advancing the robustness, quality, scale and efficiency of data processes and are able to take ownership of multiple processes with keen attention to detail. What excites you are fast‐paced operational environments, coordinating your own objectives, but also supporting peers in accomplishing team and corporate objectives. You enjoy being the go‐to team member with deep understanding of the business operations.
• Project Implementer with Continuous Process Improvement Mindset – You constantly take a critical eye to processes with the goal of finding improvement opportunities and bring an ability to manage multiple projects. You see yourself as highly productive team member that executes on projects and self‐sufficiently and tenaciously pushes through problems and roadblocks in project implementation. Experience managing large complex projects with many stakeholders and project team members is an asset.

About Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group

Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group (CCLFG) is a $96 billion multi‐boutique asset management firm that provides investment management services to pension plans, foundations, other institutional investors, advisors and individuals through its affiliate partners. The firm’s main offices are in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, London, and Chicago where over 700 people work across the investments, distribution, and operations functions. Our investment expertise spans private and public markets and traditional and alternative assets.

CCLFG currently has 11 investment affiliates, including seven that focus on the management of global publicly traded investments (including equities, fixed income and absolute return products) and four affiliates that focus on the management of private markets asset classes (including real estate, infrastructure, private equity and private loans). Additionally, CCLFG has two specialized Canadian retail distribution businesses (targeting high net worth and retail investors), a business unit offering strategic advice to institutional investors and consultants in Canada, a business unit offering multi‐asset portfolios to institutional investors, and institutional sales teams located in Canada, the United States and London, England.

CCLFG’s expertise and that of each of its affiliate partners are combined through an innovative structure that allows for distinctly focused businesses and functional specialization. The operations of CCLFG and each of its affiliates are completely integrated, with CCLFG delivering all of the non‐investment management functions to each business affiliate. Centralized functions provided by CCLFG include business management, institutional sales, marketing, legal and compliance, investment operations and corporate administration.

The organizational strength allowed by this centralization of resources enables all affiliates to benefit from deep, high quality operational and distribution support. By bringing scale and expertise to the delivery of non‐investment management functions, the firm’s investment affiliate partners can focus on the activities they do best — providing advice and making investment decisions to create value for their clients.

CCLFG’s original business was founded in 1982 and it has operated in its current multi‐boutique structure since 2002. Canadian equities represented the largest part of our assets under management for many years. Over the past five years, we have experienced significant growth in global large capitalization and small capitalization, developed and emerging markets mandates. Before the end of 2021, our global equities under management will surpass Canadian equities and become our single largest asset class.

Growth in global equities has been enabled by a more significant sales effort to non‐Canadian clients. At present, six of the 13 institutional sales people in the organization are focused on sales to US, UK, European, and Middle Eastern clients. About half of our new clients in 2020 are from outside of Canada. These non‐Canadian sales come in addition to what remains a very effective sales effort by Canadian based salespeople.

The number of our people based outside of Canada continues to grow as well. In 1994, all of the people who worked in our firm were based in Vancouver, with the exception of three who were Toronto based. Now over 40% work somewhere other than Vancouver, mostly in Toronto and Montreal within Canada (plus Regina, Calgary and Edmonton), but a growing number outside of Canada. There are two people in each of New York and Chicago and 26 (and likely growing) in London. We are in the process of moving to a larger premises in London to accommodate the growth in staff there.

The next step in the globalization of our business is the office in India. Expanding our capabilities into an Asian time zone will support the growth of our firm and enhance our capacity to service our increasingly global clients. Trading assets and onboarding and servicing clients in time zones that may be 10 hours ahead of Vancouver is especially challenging and are the driving force behind the decision to open an office in India. Having an office in India will allow us to close operational gaps across time zones when trading global securities from North America and Europe, and provide appropriate coverage in relation to operational process requirements. In selecting India as our next growth point we are able to access a vast talent pool in a region which has proven itself very successful in enabling business growth and excellence. As our business grows we expect our presence in other parts in the world will grow as well and our office in India will be no exception.

The Indian office will be an extension of existing operational teams and a key focus will be to ensure our culture extends to our new office. The culture of the firm is centered on the notion that the attraction, motivation and retention of intellectual capital are the most important ingredients for long‐term business success. This translates into an emphasis on a high‐quality working environment, the opportunity for professional success through a competitive business model and the fair sharing of the rewards of success.

Our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) supports our culture. The firm is committed to building strong and vibrant communities by supporting causes that are important to our clients, employees, partners, and stakeholders. Our CSR initiatives focus on three areas: philanthropy, volunteering, and social responsible business practices. Through the Connor, Clark & Lunn Foundation (CC&L Foundation), we support not‐for‐profit organizations that promote stronger communities, the environment, health, education, humanitarian causes, and the arts. Created in 1999, the CC&L Foundation is supported by and represents the interests of all CC&L Financial Group affiliated firms. In the spring of 2021, the CC&L Foundation donated $25,000 to the Red Cross to support India’s COVID‐19 relief efforts. As our plans to open an office in India progress, we felt it was an opportunity to make an impact in a country before establishing an office there.

Our commitment to CSR also includes decisions we make regarding the way that we run our business. We are committed to the health and wellness of the people who work here, environmental sustainability and a high quality working environment that values diversity and inclusion. We strongly believe that the collective sum of the individual life experiences, knowledge, perspectives and unique capabilities of people who work here represents a significant part of our culture.

We believe that success in asset management is an outcome of attracting, retaining and motivating the most talented individuals in our industry.

We are delivering the following to achieve this goal:

• A High‐Quality Environment: To work with people who we hold in high regard; to enjoy the time that we spend at work; to focus on productive activities without the distraction of politics and bureaucracy; to treat each other with respect.
• An Opportunity to Succeed: To do work that has value and which presents the opportunity for professional growth and development.
• Recognition and Reward: To recognize each person's contribution and to align compensation with contribution.

As we look forward, we can see both challenges and opportunities for further growth that only reinforce our commitment to attracting, retaining and motivating the most talented people in our industry.
CC&L is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or expression, disability, or age.
To apply for this position, please submit your resume and cover letter as one PDF. Applicants that advance in the hiring process will need to write an aptitude test to demonstrate their capabilities.
We thank all applicants in advance for their interest, but only those candidates shortlisted for interviews will be contacted. No telephone calls or recruitment agencies will be accepted.