Head of Optimization

Why this role is important to us

The Head of Optimization is a senior product leadership role responsible for defining and driving the strategic direction of SimCorp’s optimization product portfolio, including the Axioma Portfolio Optimizer, bringing advanced decision intelligence to the world’s largest asset owners and asset managers on the SimCorp ONE platform.

Optimization is a core competency at SimCorp and a defining source of competitive differentiation with our largest and most sophisticated clients. The Axioma Portfolio Optimizer is a best-of-breed decision engine, long valued in the quantitative finance community for automating and scaling complex portfolio decisions. Its integration into the SimCorp ONE ecosystem creates a unique opportunity to take optimization beyond the quant desk and embed it across the investment lifecycle — for portfolio managers, CIOs and risk teams across investment styles and asset classes.

As a member of the Portfolio Management & Trading product leadership team, this role shapes the vision, market positioning and execution of our optimization capabilities, and ensures they connect seamlessly with portfolio management, trading, risk, compliance and total portfolio workflows. You will partner closely with Engineering, Research, Client Success, Sales and Marketing to translate institutional requirements into innovative, scalable solutions.

This role succeeds a long-standing leader of the optimization business. It offers the opportunity to build on a highly respected franchise, steward deep client and industry relationships, and lead its next chapter as an integrated, AI-enabled capability of SimCorp ONE.

What You Will Be Responsible For

Product Strategy & Market Leadership

- You define and own the strategic vision and multi-year roadmap for SimCorp’s optimization products, aligned with the Portfolio Management & Trading strategy, enterprise business objectives and evolving institutional client requirements.
- You shape how optimization is embedded across SimCorp ONE — from portfolio construction and rebalancing to pre-trade analysis, risk-aware decision making and total portfolio management for asset owners.
- You identify and capitalize on market opportunities, including expanding into new asset classes (such as fixed income and multi-asset), new client segments and AI-powered optimization experiences that make sophisticated techniques accessible to a broader set of users.
- You maintain a clear view of the competitive landscape and establish SimCorp and Axioma as the thought leader in portfolio optimization and construction.

Product Execution & Operational Excellence

- You lead product management across multiple product teams, from development through launch and optimization
- You ensure on-time, in-scope, high-quality delivery that balances commercial goals, client commitments and user needs, and shortens time-to-value for clients.
- You drive the integration of the optimizer into SimCorp ONE, managing dependencies with platform, data, risk, AI and front-office product teams and resolving trade-offs early.

Customer Insight & External Engagement

- You build strong, trusted relationships with quantitative and fundamental investment teams, CIOs and risk leaders at our most sophisticated clients, translating their feedback into strategic priorities.
- You represent SimCorp’s optimization vision to clients, prospects, partners and industry forums, supporting strategic deals and reinforcing our reputation in the quantitative finance community.
- You use product performance data, adoption metrics, competitive intelligence and market research to inform investment decisions and measure business impact.

Leading & Influencing People

- You lead, mentor and develop a team of product managers.
- You cultivate a culture of collaboration, curiosity, innovation and accountability that attracts and retains world-class product and quantitative talent.
- You act as a trusted advisor to the Head of Portfolio Management & Trading and the wider product leadership team, communicating vision, progress and results with clarity, and contributing to planning, prioritization and resource allocation.

What We Value

Domain Expertise & Market Knowledge

- Minimum 10 years of experience in product management and leadership for enterprise investment management or financial services platforms.
- Deep subject matter expertise in portfolio optimization, portfolio construction and risk analytics, including factor risk models, constraint-based optimization and rebalancing workflows.
- Strong understanding of institutional asset management and asset owner workflows across asset classes (equities, fixed income, multi-asset), and of the competitive dynamics in quantitative and portfolio construction technology.

Product Leadership & Execution Excellence

- Demonstrated ability to define strategic vision and lead high-performing product teams across multiple products, with a track record of successful launches and measurable business impact.
- Experience managing complex products with many stakeholders and constraints, including integrating specialist capabilities into a broader platform.
- Demonstrated ability to learn multiple functional areas of the business — engineering, research, design, finance, sales and marketing.
- Sound judgement in solving hard problems with many constraints, assessing risk, and making clear, data-informed decisions.

Strategic Communication & Influence

- Excellent communication skills, with experience presenting to senior executives, sophisticated institutional clients and industry audiences with clarity and conviction.
- Ability to lay out your argument in a well-structured, data-informed written narrative.
- Proven ability to build constructive, collaborative relationships with engineers, quantitative researchers, designers and company leaders, and to influence without direct authority.

Benefits

- Attractive salary and bonus scheme are essential for any work agreement. However, in SimCorp we believe we can offer more.
- Therefore, in addition to the traditional benefit scheme, we provide a good work and life balance: flexible working hours and a hybrid model - working from SimCorp’s office two days a week.
- And opportunities for professional development: there is never only one route - we offer a personal approach to professional development to support the direction you want to take.
- Visit our career pages to learn more about working at SimCorp (https://www.simcorp.com/about-us/career/discover-our-culture).
- For New York City only: The salary range for this position is $221,120 – $331,680 USD.
- Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, and benefits including health care, leave, and retirement plans. Your total compensation may vary based on role, location, department and individual performance.

Next Steps

- Please send us your application in English via our career site as soon as possible, we process incoming applications continually.
- Please note that only applications sent through our system will be processed.
- At SimCorp, we recognize that bias can unintentionally occur in the recruitment process. To uphold fairness and equal opportunities for all applicants, we kindly ask you to exclude personal data such as photo, age, or any non-professional information from your application. Thank you for aiding us in our endeavour to mitigate biases in our recruitment process.
- This role is for an active, existing vacancy.
- If you are interested in being a part of SimCorp but are not sure this role is suitable, submit your CV anyway. SimCorp is on an exciting growth journey, and our Talent Acquisition Team is ready to assist you discover the right role for you.
- The approximate time to consider your CV is three weeks.
- We are eager to continually improve our talent acquisition process and make everyone’s experience positive and valuable. Therefore, during the process we will ask you to provide your feedback, which is highly appreciated.

Who We Are

- For over 50 years, we have worked closely with investment and asset managers to become the world’s leading provider of integrated investment management solutions.
- We are 3,000+ colleagues with a broad range of nationalities, educations, professional experiences, ages, and backgrounds.
- SimCorp is an independent subsidiary of the Deutsche Börse Group. Following the recent merger with Axioma, we leverage the combined strength of our brands to provide an industry-leading, full, front-to-back offering for our clients.
- SimCorp is an equal-opportunity employer. We are committed to building a culture where diverse perspectives and expertise are integrated into our everyday work.
- We believe in the continual growth and development of our employees, so that we can provide best-in-class solutions to our clients.

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