Executive Director, AI Research — Private Assets R&D

MSCI; New York (NY); On-site; USD 246,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Comprehensive benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Job summary

MSCI's Private Assets R&D group seeks an Executive Director, AI Research, to lead the build-out of AI-native research capabilities for private markets. You will report to the Managing Director and collaborate with researchers, product heads, and engineering teams to translate AI advances into scalable client solutions.

You will define the AI research agenda, develop AI-driven approaches, and extend nowcasting/forecasting with ML, emphasizing explainability for institutional clients.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in a quantitative field with AI/ML focus.
• 10+ years in applied AI/ML research or quantitative research.
• Deep expertise in Python and modern ML frameworks; LLMs a plus.
• Ability to own a research agenda end-to-end.
• Strong communication skills for senior stakeholders.
• Preferred: knowledge in private markets or institutional analytics.
• Preferred: experience with NLP and unstructured data in finance.
• Preferred: familiarity with agentic AI frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the AI research agenda for Private Assets R&D.
• Develop AI-driven pricing & comparable models using unstructured data.
• Extend nowcasting and cash flow forecasting with ML, explainability focus.
• Design and deploy agentic AI workflows from concept to client product.
• Automate recurring research tasks including market commentary generation.
• Represent Private Assets R&D in client engagements and publications.

Skills

Advanced degree

10+ years AI/ML

Python expertise

LLM/RA-G models

Stakeholder communication

Private markets knowledge

Education

Master's or PhD in CS/Math/Stats

Tools

Python

TensorFlow

PyTorch

JAX

Job description

Your Team Responsibilities

MSCI's Private Assets R&D group develops the methodologies, models, and indexes underpinning MSCI's offerings across private equity, private credit, and private real assets. Drawing on data assets from the Burgiss, IPD, and RCA acquisitions, the team serves the world's leading institutional investors — pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and asset managers.

You will join a senior research team at the forefront of bringing institutional-grade analytics to private markets. As Executive Director, AI Research, you will report directly to the Managing Director, Head of Private Assets R&D, and be responsible for the build-out of AI-native research capabilities across the group. You will collaborate closely with researchers, product heads across private equity, private credit, and real assets, and MSCI's technology and data engineering teams to translate AI research advances into scalable client solutions.

Your Key Responsibilities

• Define and drive the AI research agenda for Private Assets R&D, identifying where AI creates durable competitive advantage in private markets analytics
• Develop AI-driven approaches to evaluated pricing and comparable selection, leveraging unstructured text, financial filings, and embedding-based similarity models
• Extend MSCI's nowcasting and cash flow forecasting capabilities using modern ML methods — including LLM-based models — with a focus on explainability for institutional clients
• Design and deploy agentic AI workflows and prototypes, accelerating the path from research concept to client-facing product
• Automate high-value recurring research tasks including market commentary generation and model parameter re-estimation
• Represent Private Assets R&D in client engagements and through published research

Your skills and experience that will help you excel

• Advanced degree (Master's or PhD) in Computer Science, Computational Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field
• 10+ years of experience in applied AI/ML research or quantitative research, with a track record of building and deploying models in production
• Deep expertise in Python and modern ML frameworks; hands-on experience with large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, and/or deep learning
• Proven ability to own a research agenda end-to-end — from hypothesis through model development, validation, and client-ready delivery
• Strong communication skills — able to present complex methodological concepts credibly to senior stakeholders and institutional clients
• Preferred: domain knowledge in private markets, asset management, or institutional investment analytics
• Preferred: experience with unstructured data (NLP, document parsing, web extraction) applied to financial problems
• Preferred: familiarity with agentic AI frameworks and rapid prototyping tools

About MSCI

What we offer you

• Salary range: $246,000 - $320,000 / year - Plus eligible for annual bonus
• Transparent compensation schemes and comprehensive employee benefits, tailored to your location, ensuring your financial security, health, and overall wellbeing.
• Flexible working arrangements, advanced technology, and collaborative workspaces.

• A culture of high performance and innovation where we experiment with new ideas and take responsibility for achieving results.

• A global network of talented colleagues, who inspire, support, and share their expertise to innovate and deliver for our clients.

• Global Orientation program to kickstart your journey, followed by access to our Learning@MSCI platform, AI Learning Center , LinkedIn Learning Pro and tailored learning opportunities for ongoing skills development.

• Multi-directional career paths that offer professional growth and development through new challenges, internal mobility and expanded roles.

• We actively nurture an environment that builds a sense of inclusion belonging and connection, including eight Employee Resource Groups. All Abilities, Asian Support Network, Black Leadership Network, Climate Action Network, Hola! MSCI, Pride & Allies, Women in Tech, and Women’s Leadership Forum.

At MSCI we are passionate about what we do, and we are inspired by our vision – to power better decisions. You’ll be part of an industry-leading network of creative, curious, and entrepreneurial pioneers. This is a space where you can challenge yourself, set new standards and perform beyond expectations for yourself, our clients, and our industry.

MSCI strengthens global markets by connecting participants across the financial ecosystem with a common language. Our research-based data, analytics and indexes, supported by advance technology, set standards for global investors and help our clients understand risks and opportunities so they can make better decisions and unlock innovation. We serve asset managers and owners, private-market sponsors and investors, hedge funds, wealth managers, banks, insurers and corporates.

MSCI Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of the firm to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability, marital and civil partnership/union status, pregnancy (including unlawful discrimination on the basis of a legally protected parental leave), veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. MSCI is also committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, please email [e-mail] and indicate the specifics of the assistance needed. Please note, this e‑mail is intended only for individuals who are requesting a reasonable workplace accommodation; it is not intended for other inquiries.