Director of Manager Research

EOE Statement Meeder Investment Management is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; sexual orientation; and gender identity), national origin, disability, genetic information, and age (40 or over).

Category Investments

The Director of Manager Research is a senior member of the Funds & Portfolios team supporting Meeder Edge and Investment Consulting Services. The role leads manager research and due diligence, portfolio construction and oversight, and investment communication for assigned strategies and relationships. The Director develops evidence-based recommendations, presents them through Meeder's formal Investment Committee process, and serves as a senior investment resource to financial advisors, clients, investment committees, and internal partners.

The role owns rigorous research standards and ongoing surveillance and supports client retention, business development, and consistent execution of Meeder's investment process.

• Lead qualitative and quantitative due diligence on mutual funds, ETFs, separately managed accounts, and other approved investment vehicles, evaluating organization, people, philosophy, process, portfolio construction, risk controls, capacity, fees, performance, and operational risk.
• Conduct manager meetings and evaluations; synthesize findings into investment theses and recommendations for approval, retention, watch-list placement, replacement, or termination.
• Manage ongoing surveillance and formal reviews for assigned managers and strategies, including performance attribution, style and holdings changes, personnel and ownership developments, capacity, operational events, and thesis changes.
• Maintain research standards, due diligence templates, scorecards, and auditable documentation; present manager and portfolio recommendations to the Investment Committee with rationale, alternatives considered, portfolio role, key risks, implementation considerations, and thesis-invalidating conditions.
• Lead portfolio design, construction, monitoring, and recommendations for assigned model and institutional portfolios, including strategic and tactical asset allocation, manager selection, portfolio structure, rebalancing, and risk controls; incorporate manager research into capital markets and asset class views.
• Evaluate portfolio performance and risk through attribution, scenario, factor, exposure, concentration, liquidity, downside-capture, and other relevant analysis; develop documented recommendations that reflect client objectives, risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity, investment policy, market conditions, and implementation constraints.
• Coordinate Investment Committee-approved portfolio recommendations across applicable platforms and partner with Investment Operations to validate holdings, trade guidance, data, benchmarks, performance reporting, and client communications. In non-discretionary consulting relationships, advisors retain implementation authority.
• Serve as the senior manager research and investment subject‑matter expert in advisor, client, plan sponsor, and investment committee meetings; lead portfolio reviews, due diligence discussions, market updates, onboarding meetings, and communications regarding portfolio changes.
• Partner with Regional Consultants, Internal Consultants, relationship managers, and business development teams to evaluate opportunities, develop investment proposals, communicate Meeder's investment philosophy, process, and positioning, and respond to complex client and advisor questions with well‑supported analysis.
• Provide day‑to‑day direction, coaching, delegation, prioritization, and technical review to investment team members; lead quality control of research and client‑facing materials and collaborate across Investments, Operations, Compliance, and Distribution to improve processes, documentation, and execution.

• Bachelor's degree in finance, economics, business, or related…