Investment Grade Corporate Bond Trader

Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company, located in Milwaukee, WI, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. Our firm manages almost $300 billion of insurance, annuity, and pension fund assets. Our goal is to achieve superior and sustainable long-term performance through a disciplined investment process and an experienced staff.  At Northwestern Mutual, the Public Investments team manages approximately $135 billion in fixed income securities and derivatives for the company’s General Account and related entities.

About the Job:

Our Public Investment team seeks a Corporate Bond Trader for its Investment Grade (IG) Credit Trading desk.  Alongside the Portfolio Management and Credit Research teams, the IG Credit Trading team helps oversee $75 billion of cash and investment grade credit investments across a variety of client portfolios.  The successful candidate will bring experience, eagerness, and enthusiasm to the role, continually seeking new ways to measure and achieve best execution while helping improve our capabilities and speed to decision-making.  

He or she will report to the Head of IG Credit Trading.

What You'll Do:  Contribute to the investment dialogue and investment decision-making processes governing corporate bond portfolios; develop and maintain command of portfolio objectives and composition including benchmark-relative weights across industries, issuers, capital structure, and tenor

Distill and proactively convey market information to portfolio managers and research analysts, and to other internal constituencies as needed / relevant

Execute IG Corporate bond trades, as well as equity and ETF trades as needed; cultivate strong professional relationships with trading counter parties and the broker-dealer community at large

Synthesize data from multiple trading platforms, dealer runs and axes, and pricing and liquidity analytics to form a cohesive market view; translate that analysis into a clear, actionable execution plan that balances price, size, timing, and market impact

Develop and refine decision-support frameworks; help advance efficiencies in idea generation, and trade analysis and execution; continually seek opportunities to incorporate technology / AI, and financial markets products innovation into our processA focus on risk-adjusted return and relative value is essential as portfolios are managed for total return against industry benchmarks Bring a growth mindset and a willingness to help wherever needed;

take on new and evolving responsibilities across the desk as priorities shift, in support of positioning the team for success

What Experience You'll Bring:
Solid understanding of fixed income markets and corporate bond trading, as would be consistent with 5-10yrs of experience

Passion for financial markets, and a strong interest in trading

Bachelor’s degree; progress towards a Master’s degree and/or CFA a plus

Experience with financial modeling and, at a minimum, a basic understanding of how AI and other technical advances are reshaping institutional investing and trading ; proficiency in Python, SQL, Copilot a plus Familiarity with Bloomberg, and electronic trading platforms such as Market Axess and Tradeweb Works well independently while promoting and contributing to a strong team dynamic Attentive to detail, with excellent oral and written communication skills

Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to navigate complex situations involving multiple stakeholders

Unassailable ethics and integrity; trustworthy, reliable, creative, and motivated#LI-Hybrid Compensation Range:

We believe in fairness and transparency. It’s why we share the salary range for most of our roles. However, final salaries are based on a number…