Associate – Portfolio Construction - Public markets / buy-side

Public Markets Investment Team | Leading Sovereign Wealth Fund (GCC)

Location: Dubai, UAE

The Opportunity

The firm is a leading sovereign wealth fund in the GCC region with a long-term global investment mandate across public and private markets. As part of the continued build-out of its investment platform, the firm is establishing a dedicated Public Markets Portfolio Construction team and is seeking a high-potential Associate to join at an early stage.

This is a rare opportunity to join a newly established, high-impact team with strong senior sponsorship, meaningful responsibility from day one, and a fast-tracked career trajectory driven by team growth and institutional scale.

Role Overview

The Associate will play a core role in the construction, optimisation, and oversight of global public markets portfolios, working across equities, fixed income, and liquid alternatives. The role sits at the centre of investment decision-making, partnering closely with senior portfolio managers, asset class specialists, and the risk function.

The successful candidate will contribute directly to strategic and tactical asset allocation, portfolio risk management, and capital deployment decisions, with exposure to investment committees and senior leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the design and implementation of portfolio construction frameworks for global public markets
• Analyse portfolio risk, return, factor exposures, correlations, and diversification benefits
• Conduct scenario analysis, stress testing, drawdown analysis, and sensitivity analysis
• Assist in strategic and tactical asset allocation decisions across equities, fixed income, and liquid alternatives
• Monitor portfolio performance versus benchmarks, objectives, and risk limits
• Support capital allocation decisions across internal teams and external managers
• Prepare high-quality materials for investment and risk committees
• Work closely with public markets investment teams, risk, research, and data functions
• Contribute to the ongoing build-out of tools, processes, and best practices within the portfolio construction function

Candidate Profile

• 2–5 years of experience in public markets investing, portfolio construction, asset allocation, or investment strategy
• Background from a top-tier asset manager, sovereign fund, pension fund, hedge fund, or investment bank (markets / strategy / risk)
• Strong understanding of portfolio theory, risk models, factor investing, and performance attribution
• Hands-on experience analysing equity and/or fixed income portfolios
• Strong quantitative and analytical skillset with high attention to detail
• Advanced Excel skills required; Python, R, SQL, or similar tools strongly preferred
• Clear, structured communicator able to engage with senior stakeholders
• Highly motivated, intellectually curious, and comfortable operating in a fast-growing, evolving environment

Why Join

• Leading GCC sovereign wealth fund with global scale and long-term capital
• Newly established Public Markets Portfolio Construction team with significant scope to shape the platform
• Fast career progression driven by team build-out and increasing responsibility
• Direct exposure to senior decision-makers and core portfolio decisions
• Broad, global remit across asset classes and strategies
• Institutional culture with a strong emphasis on analytical rigour and long-term value creation