MSA Sr Research Analyst

Northwestern Mutual; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 108,000 - 187,000; Full time

Job summary

Mason Street Advisors, LLC, a Northwestern Mutual subsidiary, seeks an experienced investment professional to perform due diligence on external managers and monitor fund performance. You will analyze management teams, processes, and risk factors to recommend additions or replacements.

This role supports asset allocation and trading activities and prepares research for governance bodies. Strong research, communication, and analytical skills, plus familiarity with Bloomberg and performance

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree; broad knowledge of markets, investments, economics, and financial tools.
• Experience researching or recommending mutual funds, ETFs, SMAs.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• MBA and/or CFA designation preferred.
• 10+ years of relevant experience in investment research.
• Experience presenting to groups and boards.

Responsibilities

• Perform initial due diligence and provide recommendations of third-party asset managers.
• Ongoing monitoring of external managers, including performance attribution and risk assessment.
• Assist in managing Active/Passive fund suite and asset allocation decisions.
• Support trading, cash management, and relationships with dealers.
• Conduct credit analysis on commercial paper issuers.
• Assist in derivatives oversight, risk management, and regulatory disclosures.
• Prepare materials for Investment Committee and Board presentations.
• Build relations with leaders within MSA and Northwestern Mutual.

Skills

Investment Performance Reporting

Research Methods

Data Collection & Analysis

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree

MBA

CFA designation

Tools

Bloomberg

Morningstar Direct

eVestment

Excel

Job description

About the Job

Mason Street Advisors, LLC (“MSA”) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (“Northwestern Mutual”), and an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. MSA-advised mutual funds are underlying investment options in certain Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company programs and Northwestern Mutual variable products. As of June 30, 2026, MSA managed approximately $42.3 billion of client assets.

What You'll Do

Perform initial due diligence and provide recommendations of third-party asset managers following Mason Street Advisors’ (“MSA”) investment research process. This includes the qualitative review of the manager’s team, investment process, parent company and the quantitative analysis of performance characteristics, risk and factor attribution, as well as style consistency and adherence to the stated investment process.

The due diligence process may include on-site visits of managers and attendance at industry conferences.

Responsible for the ongoing monitoring of external investment managers, including performance attribution analysis and qualitative assessment of their investment team and process. This includes recommending the addition or removal of investment managers and identifying appropriate replacement managers when necessary.

Assist in the management of the Active/Passive fund suite ($2.6 billion in AUM). Key member of the team that manages asset allocation strategy, strategic and tactical positioning, and fund selection parameters and process.

Assist in trading functions, including the management of cash, for the Active/Passive fund suite and MSA’s operating account. Develop and maintain relationships with securities dealers, and acts as liaison with industry and regulatory organizations related to trading matters.

Perform credit analysis on commercial paper issuers.

Participate in the oversight of trading and brokerage practices of sub-advisers. Assist in MSA’s derivatives oversight and reporting functions. Assist in setting risk limits, conducting due diligence of the sub-advisers’ risk management processes, and monitoring the sub-advised portfolios’ derivatives risk exposures.

Assist in overseeing and monitoring market, counterparty, liquidity, leverage, valuation, operational, and regulatory risks related to the use of derivatives, as well as regulatory matters and prospectus/SAI disclosures.

Member of MSA’s Brokerage and Trading Committee, Proxy Voting and Corporate Actions Committee, the Derivatives Oversight Group, and the Pricing Committee (helping to ensure pricing policies and procedures are followed and fair value pricing is being applied in a prudent manner) on a rotating basis.

Provide mutual fund board-facing investment research commentaries and content including written research reports, investment manager write-ups, portfolio attribution summaries, market and economic commentaries.

Build and contribute to positive working relationships with leaders within MSA and Northwestern Mutual. Know internal and external customers and service providers.

Take ownership and use sound judgment to resolve issues that may be complex and require research and follow-up. Provide complete, professional, high-quality verbal or written responses, as appropriate.

Handle negative situations well, offer workable alternatives, and facilitate appropriate resolutions. Collaborate frequently with other departments.

Assist in the preparation and presentation of materials for MSA’s Investment Committee, as well as MSA’s Board of Directors.

What You'll Bring to the Role

Minimum Requirements

Bachelor’s degree. Broad knowledge of markets, investments, economics, accounting, and financial tools, such as Bloomberg, Morningstar Direct, eVestment, Excel, etc.

Strong working knowledge of current trends within the investment industry. Background in researching or recommending mutual funds, ETFs, SMAs for use within a portfolio.

The ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the organization. This includes writing reports, memos, communications, as well as giving presentations to audiences of varying sizes.

Desirable Requirements

10 years of relevant work experience in the investment industry to include experience performing investment research and/or evaluating investments or investment products as part of a portfolio.

MBA degree and/or CFA designation. Experience giving presentations in large and small group settings.

Skills You Have

Investment Performance Reporting - Analyzes and interprets investment data to produce reports that communicate the performance of investments to clients or stakeholders by collecting and organizing data, calculating performance metrics, creating visual aids such as graphs and charts, and presenting the information in a clear and concise manner that is easily understandable to the intended audience. Makes recommendations for future investment strategies based on the analysis of the performance data.

Research Methods – Conducts research utilizing various strategies, techniques and processes. Utilizes both qualitative and quantitative research methods in deriving meaning from datasets. Identifies and validates datasets for research and analysis.

Data Collection & Analysis – Gathers, stores, accesses, and uses information collected via quantitative (e.g., surveys or usage data) or qualitative methods (e.g., interviews, focus groups, document analysis). Analyzes data to uncover patters and insights to inform business decisions.

Investment Performance Reporting – Analyzes and interprets investment data to produce reports that communicate the performance of investments to clients or stakeholders by collecting and organizing data, calculating performance metrics, creating visual aids such as graphs and charts, and presenting the information in a clear and concise manner that is easily understandable to the intended audience. Makes recommendations for future investment strategies based on the analysis of the performance data.

Compensation Range

Pay Range - Start: $108,160.00. Pay Range - End: $162,240.00.

Geographic Specific Pay Structure: Structure 110: $118,960.00 USD - $178,440.00 USD. Structure 115: $124,400.00 USD - $186,600.00 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.

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.