Senior Associate, Portfolio Construction & Implementation Strategy

Los Angeles Capital Management; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Los Angeles Capital is seeking a Senior Associate to translate research views into client portfolios with maximum fidelity. This hands-on, data-driven role focuses on monetization across the firm’s product suite through portfolio construction, optimization, rebalancing, and trade execution.

You will collaborate across Portfolio Management, Portfolio Implementation, Research, and Trading on initiatives to improve risk-adjusted returns net of costs, gaining exposure to senior leadership and deep

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from a quantitative program with strong foundation in finance/econ/math/CS.
• 4+ years in a quantitative/technical environment, asset management or hedge fund preferred.
• Experience with portfolio optimization tools and quantitative research methods.
• Strong grasp of modern portfolio theory, risk models, and systematic processes.
• Proficiency in Python; comfortable with SQL and Git; able to maintain structured codebases.
• Familiarity with equity market microstructure; clear written and verbal communication.

Responsibilities

• Deliver high-impact research across portfolio construction, implementation, and optimization.
• Improve machinery for translating stock characteristics into portfolios.
• Refine portfolio optimization processes and evaluate new objective functions and frameworks.
• Collaborate with software engineers to extend tooling around the optimization engine.
• Analyze rebalancing frictions and model trading costs to improve execution efficiency.
• Explore market structure and liquidity to control costs and improve returns.
• Contribute to new product design.

Skills

Portfolio construction

Quantitative analysis

Python programming

SQL

Git

Software engineering basics

Communication

AI tools / LLMs

Education

Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, math, CS or engineering

Advanced degree a plus

CFA designation is a plus

Tools

Portfolio optimizers: Axioma, Barra/MSCI, Northfield, Gurobi

Job description

About the Firm

Firm Mission

“Achieving Client Success through Research and Technology”

Los Angeles Capital, the “Firm”, is a global equity manager of assets for leading institutions around the world. The Firm is recognized as a pioneer in dynamic equity management, utilizing proprietary technology to engineer equity portfolios that adapt to today’s equity market. The Firm’s senior investment professionals have worked together for three decades developing models for measuring and forecasting return and risk of global equity securities. The Firm manages approximately $40.1 billion as of December 31, 2025, across a wide variety of public equity strategies designed to meet institutional client return and risk objectives. The Firm has been ranked for seven years in a row by Pensions and Investments as one of the “Best Places to Work in Money Management.” The Firm’s working environment places a strong focus on teamwork and values work-life balance. The Firm offers a competitive compensation package that includes health care plans, 401(k), and top-tier benefits. The Firm is 100% employee-owned through a holding company structure and seeks to retain and motivate employees’ long term. Los Angeles Capital firmly believes the quality and commitment of the individuals are vital to the success of the Firm, ensuring that client expectations are exceeded.

Position Overview

Reporting to the Director of Portfolio Construction and Implementation Strategy, the Senior Associate is a member of the implementation strategy team and supports the firm’s efforts to translate research views into client portfolios with maximum fidelity. The role is hands‑on, data‑driven, and quantitative: the Senior Associate will focus on improving monetization across the firm’s product suite through portfolio construction, optimization, rebalancing, and trade execution. The successful candidate will meaningfully contribute to the team from day one.

The Senior Associate will collaborate cross‑functionally with Portfolio Management, Portfolio Implementation, Research, and Trading on firm-wide initiatives that improve risk‑adjusted returns net of all costs. The role is a high‑impact seat with direct exposure to senior investment leadership and offers the opportunity to develop deep expertise in portfolio construction, optimization, and implementation at a systematic investment manager.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Deliver high-impact research across portfolio construction, implementation, and optimization.
• Improve our machinery for translating stock characteristics into portfolios
• Improve our portfolio optimization process, including proposing and evaluating new objective functions and optimization frameworks
• Work with software engineers to build and extend tooling around the firm’s optimization engine and related infrastructure.
• Evaluate and reduce frictions between the rebalancing process and trading.
• Analyze market structure and liquidity to model and control trading costs, enhancing execution efficiency.
• Contribute to new product design.

Skills and Knowledge Required

• Bachelor’s degree from a strong program in Finance, Economics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, or another quantitative field. Advanced degree is a plus.
• 4+ years of relevant experience in a quantitative or technical environment. Experience in implementation or portfolio construction research at an Asset Management or Hedge Fund preferred.
• Demonstrated experience with commercial or open-source portfolio optimizers (Axioma, Barra/MSCI, Northfield, Gurobi, etc.).
• Strong understanding of economic and financial concepts and demonstrated intuition around applying these concepts in a quantitative environment.
• Working understanding of modern portfolio theory, factor and risk models, and the systematic investment process.
• Demonstrated programming ability and experience in Python. Comfort with SQL, version control (Git), and structured codebases.
• Familiarity with equity market microstructure.
• Clear written and verbal communication; curious, rigorous, and detail-oriented; self‑motivated and collaborative across functions.
• Hands‑on experience leveraging agentic AI tools and large language models in a research, analytical, or software development context.
• CFA designation is a plus.

This is a hybrid position based in Los Angeles, CA which requires weekly attendance.

No recruiters, please.

Los Angeles Capital is an SEC registered investment adviser and required to track certain political contributions under rule 206(4)-5. Therefore, you will be required to disclose your prior political contributions.

Los Angeles Capital is an affirmative action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual’s race, color, religion, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, marital status, medical condition, genetic information, veteran status or disability.

For more information about the company, please refer to our website at www.lacapm.com.

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