Head, Macro Systems & Foresight

CFA Institute; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 215,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual discretionary incentive bonus

12% 401(k) employer contribution

Comprehensive medical benefits

Job summary

CFA Institute is hiring a Head, Macro Systems & Foresight to lead a new capability that analyzes structural forces reshaping global finance. You will explore disruption transmission through markets, capital allocation, institutions, and standards; build scenario-based frameworks; and translate findings into internal decision support and external thought leadership.

Lead a multidisciplinary team, partner with RPC leaders, and produce executive-ready insights.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in foresight and systems thinking, demonstrated through macro foresight, long-horizon strategy, or related work.
• Proven track record producing rigorous, decision-useful analytical outputs for senior decision-makers.
• Experience constructing and stress-testing scenario frameworks for structural or regime change.
• Experience leading and developing a multidisciplinary team and setting strategic direction.
• Exceptional executive communication skills, distilling complex analysis into clear implications.
• Strong understanding of global finance, capital markets, and investment practice.
• Demonstrated independence and disciplined judgment when challenging prevailing theories.

Responsibilities

• Lead systematic analysis of major structural disruptions reshaping finance, prioritizing material changes and horizon scanning.
• Translate structural change into transmission mechanisms and develop scenario frameworks for different futures.
• Stress-test research agendas, standards, guidance, advocacy, and assets against structural change.
• Ensure structural insights inform downstream research, standards, guidance, and practitioner support.
• Produce executive-ready framing and high-quality external thought leadership, with clear implications and actions.
• Engage senior stakeholders to challenge assumptions and sharpen structural understanding.
• Represent CFA Institute credibly in senior industry forums and convenings on structural transformation.
• Lead, coach, and develop a small multidisciplinary team and set priorities.

Skills

Foresight & systems thinking

Macro analysis

Scenario planning

Executive communication

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Research leadership

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

CFA Institute is hiring a Head, Macro Systems & Foresight to lead a newly forming capability that helps the organization and the profession understand the structural forces reshaping global finance. You will examine how disruption transmits through markets, capital allocation, institutions, investment practice, professional roles, and standards; build scenario-based frameworks; and translate that work into internal decision support and high-quality external thought leadership across the 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.

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: Working at CFA Institute | Comprehensive Benefits.

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.

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Important Message: Your application must clearly demonstrate how you meet the requirements as CFA Institute cannot make assumptions about your education, experience, or location. We thank all those who apply.

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