AVP / Product Manager

Job Description

Company Overview

AllianceBernstein (AB) is a leading global investment-management firm that offers high-quality research and diversified investment services to institutional investors, financial intermediaries and private-wealth clients in major global markets. Our client base includes some of the world’s leading institutions as well as private-wealth clients and retail investors. We maintain research, portfolio-management, wealth-management and client-service offices around the world, reflecting our global capabilities and the needs of our clients. Partnering closely with clients, our research and portfolio management teams collaborate across asset classes, regions, sectors, and investment strategies to spark new thinking and deliver superior outcomes. We foster an inclusive environment that offers opportunities for team members to continually learn, develop their skills and take on new challenges to progress in their careers.

Client Group Overview

The Client Group has a presence in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia, and is composed of five main areas:

• Sales & Client Services works with financial intermediaries and institutions to offer diversified investment solutions that help clients build and preserve their wealth
• Business Development is a conduit to the firm’s investment teams and supports our clients and internal business partners through investment-platform and product content, messaging, competitive analysis and education
• Product Strategy & Development designs, develops and manages the firm’s global lineup of investment services and considers clients’ evolving needs to identify new opportunities
• Marketing promotes the firm and its services by creating, packaging and distributing content and messaging to engage diverse audiences through digital platforms and initiatives, strategic campaigns, and events

Business Transformation looks to evolve and scale our business, leveraging digital and data, to drive top-line growth and improve profitability

Responsibilities

Job Summary

The Product Manager partners with both investments and distribution to promote and drive the growth of the business for AB. The Product Manager serves as product champion for specific Fixed Income products, as well as focuses on various channels and/or regions to ensure advisor support, product advocacy and competitive insight.

Job Description

Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Serve as first point of contact for Global Sales (Regional Consultants / Managers, Institutional Associates / Advisors, etc.) for the specific products, as assigned, but with a broad base of fixed income strategy related knowledge
• Partner with Investment Management to create and update a strong, consistent suite of core product marketing and client-service materials, in collaboration with marketing colleagues. In addition, seeks broad feedback from investment management and distribution to identify areas for improvement
• Become a spokesperson for assigned investment team with the ability to present a deep understanding of the investment process, market outlook, and strong advocate for the services (e.g. Portfolio Specialist)
• Continually create new sales ideas/ways to advocate product (e.g. Blog posts, thought leadership ideas)
• Understand overall region/channel strategies to communicate priorities to broader team and members of investment management
• Collaborate with the Global Product Management Team to define focus areas, business development initiatives, areas for training, and develop target lists, Consultant Relations and/or home-office strategies for select strategies
• Support Learning & Development for regional training initiatives
• Collaborate with Portfolio Managers to create/improve RFP language, assist on/review RFPs, and answer advisor/relationship manager questions on specific sales opportunities
• Partner with Product Development on new products (or enhancement of existing products) for various regions/channels
• Identify areas for thought leadership that connect with their product responsibilities
• In addition, the Product Manager is responsible for the oversight and quality control of their respective platform:
• Review and update prospecting decks, fact sheets and product overviews for all products on platform
• Update internal sources (e.g. Salesforce, the Loop, etc.); works with data team to ensure accuracy of database information
• Partner with RFP team to ensure a consistent implementation of strategy positioning and language
• Review and update RFP language, accounts in performance composites, etc.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate should have:

• 5-10 years of experience in the investment-management industry (or related investment experience), with direct Product Management / Product Specialist experience
• Broad investment-management and financial-market knowledge with expertise in fixed income products
• Intellectually curious about the capital markets, and finding creative ways to connect with our clients & prospects globally
• Series 7 FINRA certification
• Current CFA or progressing towards preferred
• Ability to work effectively under pressure while multitasking, adhering to tight deadlines and maintaining strategic relationships with internal partners
• Highly detail-oriented with excellent organizational and communication skills
• An understanding of the institutional and retail marketplace: understanding client needs, market trends and the competitive landscape
• Strong marketing and messaging skills, with the vision to create and maintain a compelling story for the firm’s fixed income business and individual products
• A team player with highly developed interpersonal skills, including collaboration, negotiation and influence
• A desire to interact directly with both internal and external clients and to influence their product knowledge and support our sales efforts