Deputy Chief Investment Officer

At American Equity we offer leading annuity products that help empower our clients to fulfill their needs and wants in retirement. Our success comes from hiring high-energy individuals who embody the beliefs that drive our unique culture. We currently fund over half a million retirements nationwide, and have been headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, for over twenty-five years with satellite offices in Charlotte, NC and New York, NY.

General Purpose Of The Job

The Deputy Chief Investment Officer (DCIO) is responsible for overseeing the execution of investment strategy in accordance with strategic asset allocation targets, reviewing and opining on investment recommendations and the performance of those decisions for American Equity and its direct subsidiaries. The DCIO ensures the alignment of investment guidelines, processes, objectives and capabilities that enable American Equity to successfully achieve corporate goals and enhance overall profitability. In addition, the DCIO is a member of the Enterprise Risk Management committee, the Balance Sheet Management committee, and serves on the Executive Leadership team of the company.

*This position is based in Des Moines, IA and will need to work a hybrid onsite schedule*

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Oversees the general account portfolios and participates with other executive leaders in aligning the goals and objectives for all of American Equity entities.
• Maintains regular communication with the Investment Manager providing strategic input and understanding into the asset allocation and portfolio composition relative to desired outcomes.
• Serves as the key liaison to the Investment Manager presenting new private deals and investment updates to the Investment Oversight Committee (IOC) and facilitating strategic discussions.
• Leads the American Equity Investment Oversight Committee by setting agenda, organizing investment reports, reviewing the risk/return opportunities, and chairing the meeting to drive informed business decisions.
• Oversee the implementation of investment policies and practices, ensuring they align with corporate and insurance regulatory risk parameters and meet the organization’s objectives. Portfolio oversight responsibilities include, but are not limited to, monitoring exposures, capital consumption, ALM, and yields relative to targets.
• Forge close relationships with senior leaders across different business units and the investment manager to understand evolving liability structures ensuring optimal investment strategies and liquidity
• Serve as a key liaison with AEL finance and accounting teams and ensures timely and accurate responses to information requests and ensures accurate reporting of investment holdings.
• Coordinate with the strategic asset allocation team and analytics team at the investment manager to support strategic investment decision making and performance reporting.
• Assist with asset tagging based on liability profiles and contributing to in-force rotation and new money portfolio pricing.
• Contribute to the company’s overall leadership, influencing organizational strategic decisions and investment risk management efforts as a key member of the Executive Leadership team.
• Coordinate with the investment manager in overseeing the internal investment risk management and portfolio analytics process that ensure the proper evaluation of risks and sources of potential retu
• Ensure high degree of transparency into investment performance and risk.
• Sets up suitable controls, financial processes and methodologies, and ensures that they are effectively utilized.
• Assist with creating ad hoc materials and participating in regulatory and rating agency update meetings.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.
  
  

Supervisory Responsibilities

Direct Reports: 0-3 team members

Education And/Or Experience

• Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) or equivalent required; Master’s degree (M.A.) or equivalent or CFA preferred; and at least 10 years of related experience and/or training, including prior experience managing insurance portfolios.
• Comprehensive knowledge of NAIC / RBC and BMA / BSCR capital regimes
  
  

Certificates, Licenses, Professional Designations

CFA Designation required.

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Comprehensive knowledge of investment practices, procedures and principles, sufficient to interpret and analyze complex concepts and apply these in innovative ways
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to develop creative approaches and solutions necessary to pragmatically solve complex problems
• Strong negotiating skills and ability to resolve conflicts to achieve objectives.
• Self-motivated and proactive with a focus on continuous professional development
• Strong leadership skills, including the desire and aptitude to build direct reports’ skills and team culture
• Ability to make effective and persuasive speeches and presentations on controversial or complex topics to top management, public groups, and/or boards of directors.
• Ability to apply principles of logical thinking to a wide range of intellectual and practical problems.
• Ability to deal with nonverbal symbolism in its most difficult phases.
• Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
• Ability to work cooperatively and successfully with co-employees, customers, and other outside third parties.
• Position manages large quantities of information and assesses those that are relevant to investment thesis. Makes significant decisions without complete information.
• Manages continuous daily inquiries from sales and investment community.
• Substantial intellectual reasoning, problem solving capacity and disciplined strategy execution are keys to this position.
  
  

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