Head, Macro Systems & Foresight

Cfa Institute; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 125,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual incentive bonus

Pension plan

Medical benefits

Job summary

CFA Institute is seeking a senior leader to drive foresight and structural analysis in finance from its Research & Policy Center. The role entails shaping frameworks, translating disruption into actionable insights, and guiding cross-functional teams across global forums.

You will partner with senior leaders to stress-test agendas, influence policy and standards, and lead a multidisciplinary team dedicated to high-impact thought leadership and strategic guidance for the profession.

Qualifications

• Experience in macro foresight or long-horizon strategy.
• Proven track record of producing decision-useful analyses.
• Experience stress-testing scenarios for structural change.
• Experience leading a multidisciplinary team.
• Ability to communicate complex analysis to senior decision-makers.

Responsibilities

• Lead systematic analysis of major structural disruptions in finance.
• Translate structural change into transmission mechanisms and scenarios.
• Stress-test research agendas with senior leaders across CFA Institute.
• Ensure structural insights inform downstream research, standards, and guidance.
• Produce executive-ready framing and high-quality external thought leadership.
• Engage stakeholders to challenge assumptions and sharpen understanding.
• Represent CFA Institute in senior industry forums and events.
• Lead and develop a small multidisciplinary team.

Skills

Foresight

Systems thinking

Executive communication

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic judgment

Finance knowledge

Job description

Location: London, UK, New York or Washington DC (preferred), with Charlottesville, VA or select US East Coast locations (GA, FL, NC) also considered.
Reports to: Managing Director, Research & Policy Center

What You'll Do

• Lead systematic analysis of the major structural disruptions reshaping finance, prioritizing material changes already affecting the industry while maintaining disciplined horizon scanning for emerging developments and distinguishing meaningful change from noise.
• Translate structural change into transmission mechanisms, questions, hypotheses, critical uncertainties, and plausible future states, and develop scenario frameworks exploring what alternative trajectories could mean for markets, investment practice, the profession, and CFA Institute.
• Partner with RPC functional leaders to stress-test research agendas, standards, guidance, advocacy positions, and other assets against structural change, identifying where assumptions may no longer hold, where relevance may weaken, what evidence is needed, and which changes in external conditions should trigger reassessment.
• Partner across RPC and relevant CFA Institute teams to ensure structural insights inform downstream research, standards, advocacy, practitioner guidance, regional application, and other relevant responses.
• Produce timely structural landscape assessments and executive-ready framing, alongside deeper analysis and high-quality external thought leadership, translating complex and uncertain developments into clear, decision-relevant conclusions, implications, and questions for further action.
• Engage and convene senior internal and external stakeholders to challenge assumptions, test emerging hypotheses, incorporate diverse perspectives, and sharpen the team's structural understanding.
• Represent CFA Institute credibly in senior industry forums and convenings where structural transformation and the future of finance are being debated.
• Lead, coach, and develop a small, specialized, multidisciplinary team, setting priorities, allocating work, integrating specialist perspectives around shared structural questions, and ensuring coherent, high-quality collective output.

What We're Looking For

• Deep expertise in foresight and systems thinking, demonstrated through macro foresight, structural macro analysis, long-horizon strategy, or related work.
• A strong track record of producing rigorous, decision-useful analytical outputs on a regular and disciplined basis, including published thought leadership and substantive work delivered to senior decision-makers.
• Proven experience constructing and stress-testing scenario frameworks for structural or regime change, identifying transmission mechanisms, critical uncertainties, assumptions, and the evidence needed to test them.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing a high-performing multidisciplinary team, including setting direction, developing talent, allocating work, and integrating specialist expertise.
• Exceptional executive communication skills, with the ability to lead with conclusions and distil complex structural analysis and uncertainty into clear implications and recommendations appropriate to the audience.
• Strong understanding of global finance, capital markets, and investment practice, or demonstrated ability to lead and integrate specialist domain expertise effectively.
• Strong strategic judgment and systems thinking, with the ability to distinguish material structural change from noise and translate broad questions into clear priorities, workplans, and outputs.
• Strong cross-functional leadership, facilitation, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to challenge constructively, build trust, and enable other teams to use foresight effectively.
• Demonstrated intellectual independence and disciplined judgment, including the willingness to challenge prevailing financial theories, institutional norms, and market conventions while remaining grounded in current market realities and observable evidence.

You’ll Thrive in This Role If...

• You think about disruption at the level of an entire industry system, not just a single company's strategy.
• You're genuinely motivated to turn analysis into decision-useful work on a disciplined cadence and to help other teams apply it, not simply explore ideas or advocate for the discipline.
• You have a real, grounded understanding of how the investment industry actually operates, not just foresight methodology in the abstract.

Nice to Have

• Formal training in strategic foresight, systems thinking, scenario planning, or a related discipline.
• Prior experience applying foresight to strategy, standards, policy, regulation, or organizational decision-making in financial services, professional bodies, think tanks, or consulting.

Why Join Us

• Build a genuinely new capability in a rare, emerging discipline, with real scope to define how it works
• Shape how CFA Institute and the wider profession understand structural change, including opportunities to represent the organization at major global forums.
• Work at the heart of how CFA Institute and the wider profession think about structural change.
• Partner directly with senior leadership across Research & Policy Center.

Travel: some travel expected for global forums, convenings, and stakeholder engagement; specifics to be confirmed.

At CFA Institute, we are committed to transparency and equity in our hiring process. In compliance with wage transparency laws in many of the jurisdictions in which we recruit, we provide the following information regarding compensation for this position.

Expected salary range:

• US - Metro Locations (DC, NY): $215,000 - $280,000 per year
• US - National Locations (VA, NC, GA, FL): $175,000 - $225,000 per year
• UK - London: £125,000 - £160,000 per year.

Actual salary within the stated ranges will depend on the individual's experience, qualifications, skills, location, and other job-related factors. Additional benefits include eligibility for an annual discretionary incentive bonus, a 12% employer contribution to a 401(k) or pension plan, and a comprehensive medical benefits package.

#LI-BQ1

We offer a comprehensive benefits package to support our employees, including health coverage, generous time off, competitive retirement plans, flexible work options, and wellbeing and development programs. You can learn more on our careers site:

About CFA Institute

CFA Institute is the global leader in investment excellence and ethics. With nearly 200,000 charterholders across 160 markets, we promote professional growth, uphold ethical standards, and help advance better financial markets. Join a global organization committed to putting investors first.

Follow CFA Institute on: | | | | |

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. CFA Institute prohibits both discrimination and harassment with regard to all identifying characteristics: any individual employee, group of employees, or prospective employee on the basis of race, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, religion, creed or belief, age, marital or partnership status, marital or family status, care giver status, pregnancy and maternity, sexual and other reproductive health decisions, physical abilities/qualities, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, predisposing genetic characteristic, military or veteran status, status as a victim or witness of domestic violence or sex offense or stalking, unemployment status, infectious disease carrier status, migrant worker status, educational background, socio-economic status, geographic location and culture or any other basis protected by applicable law. This policy impacts all aspects of employment, including but not limited to, recruitment, hiring, compensation, training, development, promotion, demotion, layoff, recall, transfer, leave of absence, and dismissal. This is a global policy that applies to all CFA Institute employees, regardless of location.

If, due to a disability or current medical condition, you need an accommodation or assistance to complete a job application, you can request one at any stage of the recruitment process. Please send an email to noting the accommodations or assistance you are requesting. Please do not include any medical or health information in this email. We will review your request and contact you to discuss the possible options and arrangements. We will try our best to provide you with an accommodation or assistance that meets your needs and respects your preferences.