Principal, Market & Reference Data

Partners Capital; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Partners Capital is seeking an experienced Principal to lead Market Data and Security Master within the Central Data function in Boston. The role combines data governance, strategy, and hands-on leadership across data quality, lifecycle management, and vendor relationships to support trading, reporting, and risk activities.

We seek a senior professional with 7–10 years in market data, 3+ years of leadership, and deep knowledge of security master data, pricing, and reference data.

Qualifications

• 7–10 years of experience in market data and/or reference data.
• 3+ years of management experience.
• Expertise across security master and market data domains.
• Experience managing vendor relationships and licensing.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration with senior stakeholders.
• Experience contributing to data transformation initiatives.
• Deep understanding of instrument data across asset classes.
• Excellent communication skills across business and tech teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, computer science, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end governance of the security master and fund master functions; ensure data accuracy and timeliness.
• Define data quality controls, reconciliation, and exception handling across front-to-back data flows.
• Oversee pricing, corporate actions, classifications, and reference data management.
• Shape and own the market data strategy; lead real-time, intraday, and end-of-day data sourcing and QA.
• Own commercial relationships with data providers; manage contracts, renewals and cost optimization.
• Partner with Technology and Data Management on platform modernization, lineage, and governance frameworks.

Skills

Market Data

Data Governance

Vendor Management

Cross-Functional

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Snowflake

Databricks

Collibra

Alation

Job description

Pay or shift range: $120,000 USD to $170,000 USD.

This base salary range is specific to individuals applying to this role and takes into account a number of factors. The base salary offered will be determined on factors such as experience, skills, training, certifications, and education. Decisions will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

The base salary is one element of our competitive compensation package. In addition to the base salary, this position may be eligible for performance-based incentives.

Description

Firm Description

Founded in 2001, Partners Capital is a Global Investment Office acting for distinguished endowments and foundations, senior investment professionals and prominent families across the globe. With $75B+ in assets under management, the firm constructs customized investment portfolios for its clients tapping into its deep network of partnerships with what we consider exceptional asset managers across all major asset classes. Clients include Syracuse University, Sesame Workshop, INSEAD Business School, New York's Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Eton College, Colorado College, several Oxford and Cambridge University Colleges, several family offices around the world, and senior executives from leading global investment firms. The firm employs more than 400 people across its eight offices located in Boston, New York, London, San Francisco, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dallas.

Partners Capital is diverse and inclusive, in people and in thought. Our meritocracy is enabled by fostering a truly inclusive and collaborative culture. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer where diverse perspectives, backgrounds and experiences are valued.

Position Description

We are seeking an experienced Principal to lead our Market Data and Security Master functions within the Central Data function. This is a hands-on leadership role at the center of the firm's investment, operations, risk, and technology workflows which involves owning the integrity of reference data that powers trading, portfolio management, performance, valuation, and reporting firmwide.

The firm is undergoing a strategic data transformation, and this role will be central to its success. The successful candidate will be ready to enhance the firm's market data strategy and contribute meaningfully to broader data quality, data governance, and AI enablement initiatives. They will sit within a small, high-impact team supporting firmwide shared data needs including product master, security master, reference data and vendors, data quality, and data governance. The role combines deep subject matter expertise in financial instrument and market reference data with strong commercial discipline and the relationship-building skills needed to operate as a trusted partner to functional leaders across the firm.

Key Responsibilities

Security & Product Master

• Own end-to-end governance of the firm's security master, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and timeliness across all instruments (equities, fixed income, derivatives, FX). Contribute to the fund master function as needed, including support on setup and review of hedge fund and private market products.
• Establish and maintain golden-source standards, data models, identifier hierarchies (CUSIP, ISIN, SEDOL, FIGI, LEI, internal IDs), and instrument lifecycle workflows from onboarding through retirement.
• Define and enforce data quality controls, exception management, and reconciliation processes across the front-to-back data flow; resolve breaks impacting trading, operations, accounting, and risk.
• Oversee corporate actions, pricing, ratings, classifications, and issuer/entity reference data, including legal entity hierarchies and counterparty data.
• Establish and own the firm's market data strategy, shaping how the firm sources, integrates, and consumes market data over the coming years.
• Lead sourcing, integration, and quality assurance of real-time, intraday, and end-of-day market data feeds across asset classes.
• Manage entitlements and permissioning, ensuring adherence to licensing terms and redistribution policies.
• Translate evolving investment, trading, and operational data requirements into scalable, well-controlled solutions, working hand-in-hand with the teams that consume the data.
• Monitor industry trends - new content sets, regulatory changes, and vendor product evolution - and ensure the firm's market data capabilities stay ahead of business needs.

Data Transformation, Governance & AI Enablement

• Contribute as a leader to the firm's broader data transformation agenda, including data quality, data governance, and AI enablement initiatives.
• Ensure the firm's reference and market data foundations are fit for purpose to support advanced analytics and AI use cases.
• Partner with Technology and other Data Management leaders on platform modernization, lineage, metadata, and control frameworks.

Stakeholder Partnership & Delivery Management

• Build productive relationships with functional leaders across Research, CIO, Operations, Reporting, Risk, Finance, Compliance, and Technology.
• Establish and maintain a prioritization framework and delivery roadmap that balances competing demands, trade-offs, and aligns the team’s work with business outcomes.
• Own commercial relationships with major market and reference data providers. Lead contract negotiation, renewals, and rationalization. Identify opportunities cost savings.
• Own the market and reference data budget end-to-end including forecasting, tracking actuals against budget, and ROI tracking for new spend.

Required Qualifications

• 7–10 years of experience in market data and/or reference data within an investment manager, hedge fund, asset owner, or comparable financial services environment.
• 3+ years management experience
• Expertise across security master and market data domains. Strong working knowledge of the major market and reference data providers and their content sets across asset classes.
• Experience managing vendor relationships. Familiarity with market data licensing and usage restrictions.
• Demonstrated ability to build cross-functional relationships with senior business stakeholders and translate their needs into delivery plans.
• Experience contributing to or leading data transformation initiatives, including data quality and data governance programs.
• Deep understanding of instrument data across asset classes, including identifiers, classifications, corporate actions, and pricing.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to operate fluently across business stakeholders, technologists, and vendors.
• Bachelor’s degree required; finance, economics, computer science, or related field preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to private markets and alternatives reference data.
• Experience contributing to AI / ML enablement from a data foundations perspective.
• Familiarity with cloud-based data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks) and data governance tooling (Collibra, Alation).
• CFA, CIPM, or DAMA-CDMP certifications viewed favorably.

Benefits and Compensation

Partners Capital is committed to being a great place to work. We are focused both on wellbeing and professional growth. You can expect professional development and career progression opportunities, competitive compensation, exceptional benefits, and a flexible "results-focused" working model. Our benefits package includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, flexible spending accounts, commuter benefits, paid time off and a 401(k) plan with employer matching. The Firm also supports global philanthropy via a charity program and volunteer day. In addition, we champion a variety of wellness and social events. We also support the pursuit of professional certifications such as the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), etc.

Massachusetts requires Partners Capital to include a reasonable estimate of the base salary range for this role. This base salary range is specific to individuals applying to work in our Massachusetts office and takes into account a number of factors. A reasonable estimate of the base salary range for this role in Massachusetts is $120,000 - $170,000. The base salary offered will be determined on factors such as experience, skills, training, certifications, and education. Decisions will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

The base salary is one element of our competitive compensation package. In addition to the base salary, this position may be eligible for performance-based incentives.

Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.