ETF and Index Investing (Portfolio Management) - BlackRock

Hi,

Can anyone provide more information on what being a portfolio manager in ETF and Index Investing at BlackRock is like? Any info on day-to-day tasks, work-life balance, etc.

Thanks!

Most Helpful

There seems to be a complete lack of info on this site about what an index PM job is like, so I will provide some insight.

A normal individual portfolio will have equity securities, which are tracking the benchmark, some futures, for cash management, and some level of cash holdings. Every day, you are ensuring that the equities, futures, and cash positions of the fund are tracking well.

For the equities, this means researching upcoming index changes that you may need to trade and upcoming corporate action elections that you may need to decide. For futures, you need to be aware of what your exposure is and how that relates to the exposures of your underlying equities. For cash, events such as dividends, fund withdrawals or deposits all need to be managed. You need to have the cash on hand to meet withdrawal requests. Maybe that means selling some portion of the fund. Dividends need to be reinvested into the portfolio. The currency exposures should also replicate your equity exposures.

As you can see there is a lot of moving parts.

One final distinction I would add is between ETFs and mutual funds. ETFs are more vanilla, and tend to be fully replicating portfolios, so you could argue they are a simpler product to manage. However there is the whole capital markets and AP side to ETFs that adds a whole layer of complexity. Mutual funds on the other hand don't have cap markets/AP stuff, but they can be very customised and niche. As an example: You may be tracking a standard benchmark, however the portfolio has an ESG screen so there are a bunch of energy names you can't buy. So now your fund is skewed, and you need to adjust your exposures on other index names to try and minimise that tracking error.

The job tends to focus on market trading hours, with quite an intense but predictable day-to-day workflow. Comparatively similar to a typical S&T job.

I hope this was insightful.

Ut velit sed et et culpa nostrum expedita. Quas qui et vero qui fugit quasi. Aut animi officia nam vel consequuntur earum est autem. Aut vitae cupiditate dolorum nam quo quisquam. Dolor ducimus qui alias qui.

Porro sint sit voluptatibus nihil aperiam. Facere exercitationem hic amet non nihil et suscipit. Dolor quia numquam est deserunt. Ipsa suscipit aut aut. Cumque deleniti quo et ut voluptas facere. Quia eos aut quia est.

Quibusdam possimus ut sed dolorum animi non. Provident magni numquam quia eum repellendus aut quia et.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2023 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres (++) 99.6%
  • Lincoln International (==) 99.1%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.7%
  • William Blair 12 98.2%
  • Financial Technology Partners 02 97.8%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2023 Investment Banking

  • William Blair 04 99.6%
  • Lincoln International 11 99.1%
  • Canaccord Genuity 18 98.7%
  • Jefferies & Company 07 98.2%
  • Stephens Inc 11 97.8%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2023 Investment Banking

  • Lincoln International 01 99.6%
  • Lazard Freres 17 99.1%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.7%
  • Financial Technology Partners 06 98.2%
  • UBS AG 15 97.8%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2023 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (6) $592
  • Vice President (33) $392
  • Associates (160) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $187
  • 2nd Year Analyst (101) $169
  • 1st Year Analyst (309) $167
  • Intern/Summer Associate (48) $167
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (225) $94
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”