Return Associate

Position Overview

Part of Apollo, ISGI is the dedicated investment office for large, strategic and sophisticated insurance and pension clients. Such clients are investing in excess of €15bn into “Return Seeking” (RS) assets managed by ISGI, comprised of evolving types of private debt and equity like investments, originated and underwritten by Apollo. The strategy invests through a relative value-oriented approach with a focus on consistent out performance and capital preservation for insurance and pension funds under their local regulatory constraints.

Investments span a broad range of credit, real assets and equity‑like investments originated in various jurisdictions and markets around the globe. The ISGI RS team in Zurich leads this effort and covers and supports insurance clients in portfolio management, selecting investments, providing analytics, reporting, educational material and support on Solvency II optimisation. The team is ultimately constructing such portfolios of private investments and assists clients at the same time to defend them to the local regulators and boards.

This Associate role is focussed on integrating into the team for the origination and management of private investments, whilst focussing on working with Israeli insurance companies on the client side, enabling their asset allocation to privates within a constrained framework of Israeli regulation. The hire must become fully integrated onsite with the Zurich‑based RS team that is originating these private investments globally.

The mindset required is one of ever improving the economics, insight and service we deliver as a team through dedication, expertise, client relationships and a cross‑functional, collaborative approach.

• Focus on private investments that are originated across markets and jurisdictions by Apollo and are to be placed on regulated Israeli insurance and pension funds balance sheets.
• Build constructive client relationships in Israel through trust and understanding of their constraints, to support their interactions with management, investment committees, auditors and regulators.
• Prepare and present summaries for Israeli investors on new deals originated specifically by Apollo to help their decision‑making process.
• Defend investment decisions, coordinate necessary governance for efficient approvals and prepare investment and reporting material required to implement the investments within the regulatory framework, including Solvency
  
  II prudent person principle framework.
• Liaise internally with Apollo deal teams and support their origination and structuring of new deals that will suit Israeli client needs and constraints.
• Prepare, adjust and provide investor reports and ad‑hoc responses for internal management information and external client regulatory reporting.
• Apply and develop analytics to track and project capital activity, returns, forecasting, capital consumption, drawdown risk, diversification and other metrics to construct portfolios comprised of private investments.

• 3+ years relevant experience in investment functions within a large insurance company, an insurance asset‑management company, an investment bank within an insurance solutions or structuring group, a consulting firm specializing in insurance regulation or law, or an alternative asset‑management group.
• Previous experience with alternative (private) investments is essential.
• Understanding of fixed income principles, capital markets and private origination across asset‑backed and corporate finance.
• Understanding of Solvency
  
  II regulation, including Standard Formula calculation and assessment for private assets, and the differences between the Israeli adoption and continental European framework.
• Experience documenting investment decisions against those frameworks and awareness of the Prudent Person Principle (PPP) requirements.
• Ability to defend investment proposals to clients, with good presentation and interpersonal skills.
• Self‑starter with strong work ethic, willing to consistently go the extra mile.
• Ability to perform under high pressure, multi‑task and respond quickly and decisively to requests to deliver.
• Solid proficiency in SQL, VBA, Excel and Microsoft Powerpoint for efficient data manipulation, portfolio reporting and modelling, specifically of private investment portfolios, is mandatory.
• Excellent academic background in finance, economics, mathematics or equivalent.
• Fluency in English, Hebrew and at least one other language.