How to navigate from a BO role to a more visible role?

Hello everyone,

I have been working as a data analyst at the hedge fund division of a PE firm for almost a year, and I am looking for advice on how to navigate from a BO role to a more visible role. My job is more on the engineering side, and it involves a lot of ad hoc requests from the investment team. My team is not involved in the investment decision-making process, but instead, we focus more on reporting and maintenance for fund performance. To give you an example, if the portfolio managers want to change a return calculation logic, I'll be the one spending days to implement it in the python code. Or if the investment team wants to automate their Excel report in python, we'll be the one working on it.

The firm is very prestigious, but more for its PE business than its HF business. The people and culture here are great. However, I don't get a huge sense of achievement from what I'm doing, and I can't see myself doing this for years. I want to work in a role that still requires my coding/data analytics knowledge but also enables me to be involved in the investment decision-making process.

I studied finance in undergrad and I am taking the CFA and FRM exams right now, this is my first job after college. I would really appreciate some advice on how to navigate to a more visible role in finance. Specifically, I would like to know:

• What roles in the investment industry might be a good fit for someone with my background and skills?
• What skills should I focus on developing to increase my chances of landing a front-office role? Networking, modeling, CFA?
• Should I stay here longer for the brand name and potential network resources, or should I start looking for a role in another firm that I'm more intersted in?

Thank you for your time and consideration. I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts and insights.