Security Valuation Specialist

About the role

To research and analyze the valuation of fixed income and equity securities as well as foreign exchange rates held by domestic and internationally domiciled Vanguard funds. The team maintains strong relationships and works collaboratively with various cross-site partners, internal stakeholders, and external advisors and third-party vendors to facilitate operational and project work in order to support a global operating model. The Security Pricing Team is critical to protecting Vanguard from financial and reputational risk due to the direct impact of valuations to the daily accounting for our Vanguard funds. Join Vanguard’s Security Pricing team in a critical role supporting the accurate valuation of fixed income, equity, and foreign exchange investments across Vanguard funds and institutional products. As a Security Valuation/Fund Accountant, Specialist, you’ll combine your analytical and financial expertise with opportunities to solve complex pricing issues, lead key initiatives, and partner across investment, accounting, audit, compliance, and external organizations. This is an opportunity to build deep subject-matter expertise while directly supporting the accuracy and integrity of Vanguard’s fund valuations.

Responsibilities

• Research, analyze, and determine security valuations to ensure timely and accurate valuations of all securities and foreign exchange rates held within domestically and internationally domiciled mutual funds, Separately Managed Accounts and institutional products.
• Ensure the process strictly adheres to the funds’ prospectus and/or Board of Directors’ (BOD) pricing policies, and review relevant reporting to be provided to the Pricing Review Committee and BOD.
• Independently identify and resolve complex operational issues and assist less tenured crew.
• Support the management team with review of daily, weekly and monthly pricing deliverables.
• Take the initiative to create or modify processes to support fund initiatives, financial statement reporting requirements, and regulatory changes.
• Serve as liaison between the Investment Management Group, fund advisors, third-party data vendors, custodian banks, pricing governing bodies, and audit and compliance teams when issues or opportunities arise.
• Represent Vanguard professionally within stakeholder interactions as a subject-matter-expert.
• Proactively resolve elevated issues relating to stakeholder relationships and elevate as necessary to management.
• Lead business critical projects by completing a comprehensive impact analysis, recommending appropriate solutions, and participating in the implementation process; effectively communicate with project team members, stakeholders, and sponsors.
• Partner with project managers/leads, business clients, department leadership, and IT to determine the scope and requirements for efforts related to FFS 2020, a multiyear organizational transformation program.
• Provide coaching and training to support on-boarding and continuous education activities to build subject matter expertise; coach others and provide feedback to crew and management on various operational items and project management activities.
• Identify process improvement opportunities and proactively propose solutions to senior management; identify and resolve mission critical process concerns independently.
• Act as a lead of an initiative team to foster an effective work environment, collect and report on VUE metrics, maintain effective controls to mitigate risk, ensure contingency preparedness, support and maintain end user computing tools, and/or support new product launches as they relate to Security Pricing.
• Participate in special projects and perform other duties as assigned.
• Facilitate department overviews and sit-with sessions to prospective new hire and rotational candidates and provide feedback to management team.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree (Accounting or Finance preferred) or equivalent experience is preferred.
• A minimum of three years’ general experience or two years’ industry experience.
• Accounting or finance related experience preferred.
• Excellent analytical ability, research and time management skills.
• Working knowledge of various technologies (MS Office, Bloomberg, Reuters Eikon, etc.).
• Proven teamwork capabilities; strong relationship management and interpersonal skills.
• Attentive to details and deadlines; ability to manage multiple initiatives.
• Strong project management, planning and organizational skills.
• Experience in the development and implementation of initiatives from strategy through to execution.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to organize and present information in a clear and concise way to a variety of audiences.
• Ability to work in a multi-site environment and support Global Fund Accounting operations and initiatives.
• Experience in Corporate Actions and OTC Derivatives pricing is preferred.

Special Factors

Sponsorship: Vanguard is not offering visa sponsorship for this position.

About Vanguard

At Vanguard, we don't just have a mission—we're on a mission. To work for the long-term financial wellbeing of our clients. To lead through product and services that transform our clients' lives. To learn and develop our skills as individuals and as a team. From Malvern to Melbourne, our mission drives us forward and inspires us to be our best.

How We Work

Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for the majority of our crew members, designed to capture the benefits of enhanced flexibility while enabling in-person learning, collaboration, and connection. We believe our mission-driven and highly collaborative culture is a critical enabler to support long-term client outcomes and enrich the employee experience.