Investment Operations Specialist

Northwestern Mutual; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 57,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Northwestern Mutual’s Investment Operations team supports the management of the company’s institutional investments. Team members assist in operational tasks related to those assets, with a focus on accuracy, efficiency, and risk management.

This role involves reconciling portfolios, responding to inquiries, and helping prepare internal reports and regulatory filings using PowerBI, Snowflake, and Excel, while contributing to automation and data governance.

Qualifications

• Adaptability and a growth mindset.
• Data literacy skills.
• Basic experience in data visualization or automation software.
• Attention to detail.
• Ability to handle data intensive tasks in a fast-paced setting.
• Bachelor's degree in business with emphasis in finance, accounting, management, real estate or information systems or equivalent related experience.
• 1-3 years of related investment operations experience preferred.
• General knowledge of a variety of investment asset types.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong problem-solving skills and analytical ability.

Responsibilities

• Monitor portfolios by reconciling cash, holdings, and data attributes.
• Respond to inquiries about holdings and portfolio details.
• Prepare internal reports and regulatory filings using PowerBI, Snowflake, and Excel.
• Support process modernization with automation and AI analytics.
• Collaborate with Finance, Risk, and Investments for operations alignment.
• Assist in risk management and ensure regulatory compliance.
• Contribute to data governance and data quality initiatives.
• Work with front office to settle transactions.
• Maintain investment data across systems and resolve issues.
• Stay informed on industry and regulatory changes.

Skills

Growth mindset

Data literacy

Data viz / automation

Attention to detail

Data-intensive tasks

Investment operations experience

Investment assets knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in business with emphasis in finance, accounting, management, real estate or information systems or equivalent related experience

Job description

About the Job:

Northwestern Mutual’s Investment Operations team supports the management of the company’s institutional investments. Team members assist in operational tasks related to those assets, with a focus on accuracy, efficiency, and risk management.

What You’ll Do:

• Assist in monitoring investment portfolios by reconciling cash positions, investment holdings, and critical data attributes to ensure accuracy and timeliness.
• Respond to internal and external inquiries regarding investment holdings, activities, and portfolio details.
• Help prepare internal reports and external regulatory filings using tools like PowerBI, Snowflake, and Microsoft Excel.
• Participate in process modernization efforts, incorporating digital tools, automation, and AI-driven analytics to streamline workflows and enhance data governance.
• Collaborate with teams across Finance and Risk and Institutional Investments to ensure seamless operations and alignment with company objectives.
• Assist in risk management activities, including conducting basic risk assessments and ensuring adherence to risk policies and regulatory standards.
• Support enterprise risk management efforts by identifying potential operational risks in investment activities and contributing to resiliency planning.
• Assist in data governance activities, including ensuring data quality, implementing governance policies and standards, and supporting data stewardship.
• Ensure accurate, efficient, and timely execution of operational activities across asset classes and managed accounts of reoccurring transactions in public, private, and/or real estate asset classes most asset classes in PI, MSA, NMC and NMRE's public and private managed portfolios including domestic fixed income, common stock, foreign, private placements, real estate equity and mortgage loans.
• Work with front office to settle transactions.
• Collaborate with senior staff members to solve more complex issues and work with custodial bank representatives, brokers, traders, and field offices.
• Maintain investment data on various systems, conduct reconciliations, and work closely with Investment Accounting, Financial Management, Law and other related investment areas to resolve issues.
• Respond to and investigate cash receivable and payable exceptions.
• Resolve a wide variety of standard problems.
• Stay informed of industry and regulatory changes and developments that affect processing procedures.
• Assist with testing, system enhancements, upgrades, new initiatives and other projects involving procedural and workflow changes and may make recommendations for process improvements.
• Ensure adherence to contractual terms and amendments through interpretation and analysis of basic legal documents.

What You’ll Bring to the Role:

• Adaptability and a growth mindset
• Skills in data literacy
• Basic experience in data visualization or automation software
• Attention to detail
• Ability to handle data intensive tasks in a fast-paced setting
• Bachelor's degree in business with emphasis in finance, accounting, management, real estate or information systems or equivalent related experience.
• 1-3 years of related, investment operations experience preferred.
• General knowledge of a variety of investment asset types.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong problem-solving skills and analytical ability.

Compensation Range: Pay Range - Start: $56,640.00 Pay Range - End: $84,960.00 Geographic Specific Pay Structure: Structure 110: $62,320.00 USD - $93,480.00 USD Structure 115: $65,120.00 USD - $97,680.00 USD

We believe in fairness and transparency. It’s why we share the salary range for most of our roles. However, final salaries are based on a number of factors, including the skills and experience of the candidate; the current market; location of the candidate; and other factors uncovered in the hiring process. The standard pay structure is listed but if you’re living in California, New York City or other eligible location, geographic specific pay structures, compensation and benefits could be applicable.

Grow your career with a best-in-class company that puts our clients' interests at the center of all we do.

Northwestern Mutual is an equal opportunity employer that welcomes talented individuals of all backgrounds.

We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which each employee can contribute creative ideas, seek challenges, assume leadership and continue to focus on meeting and exceeding business and personal objectives.

At Northwestern Mutual, we believe relationships are built on trust. That our lives and our work matter. These beliefs launched our company over 160 years ago. Today, they're just a few of the reasons why people choose to build careers at Northwestern Mutual.

What started in Milwaukee, WI has grown into 7,000+ home office professionals split across 3 campuses: New York City, Franklin and downtown Milwaukee (HQ) - each one bringing with it its own unique talent and culture. In a company with such a long and storied history, this may be the most exciting and important time to be a part of Northwestern Mutual as we are growing our digital and tech capabilities and are always on the lookout for bright, tech-savvy candidates.

Northwestern Mutual is an equal opportunity employer that welcomes talented individuals of all backgrounds.

We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which each employee can contribute creative ideas, seek challenges, assume leadership and continue to focus on meeting and exceeding business and personal objectives.