Portfolio Construction Specialist

About Calamos

Calamos is a diversified, global asset and wealth management firm offering a wide range of innovative investment strategies. As one of the top liquid alternative asset managers in the world, Calamos maintains dedicated investment teams across all asset classes, with global research capabilities and access to specialized private and public markets. Calamos offers investment strategies and personal wealth management solutions through separately managed portfolios, mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, private funds, and UCITS funds. Clients include major corporations, pension funds, endowments, foundations, and individuals, as well as the financial advisors and consultants who serve them. Headquartered in the Chicago metropolitan area (with offices in both Naperville and Fulton Market in Chicago), the firm also maintains offices in New York, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Portland, and the Miami area.

Summary of the Role

The Portfolio Construction Specialist will support portfolio construction, implementation, and trade execution for Calamos Wealth Management (CWM) while helping the team build and adopt the data, automation, and AI tools that make those processes faster, more consistent, and more scalable. Working closely with senior members of the Investment Team, this individual will assist with proposal generation, rebalancing, and portfolio analysis, and will use automation and generative AI tools to reduce manual work and improve the quality of CWM Investment deliverables. This is an early-career role with significant room to grow: the analyst will learn the portfolio management process from experienced professionals, help ensure client portfolios stay aligned with the views and outlook of the investment team, and serve as a go-to resource for CWM on portfolio analytics and technology. The analyst will collaborate frequently with the various departments of CWM.

Primary Responsibilities

- Supports the Investment Team with investment analysis and proposal generation for prospects, and assists with portfolio trading, rebalancing, and client reporting under the guidance of senior team members.

- Builds and maintains Excel-based and automated workflows to automate recurring portfolio tasks such as rebalancing analysis, drift monitoring, tax-lot and gain/loss reporting, and proposal production.

- Prepares presentations and materials for client meetings, including asset allocation information, charts, statistics, and other relevant data, and builds dashboards (e.g., Power BI) that make portfolio data easier for advisors to use.

- Develops working knowledge of the departments current investment positioning, including asset allocation, portfolio construction, and manager research and selection.

- Assists with the day-to-day implementation of modeled and customized portfolios, and supports the team on options strategies by preparing analytics, monitoring positions, and flagging items for review.

- Supports implementation and coordination of the technologies and systems used for portfolio management and trading, including Black Diamond, Bloomberg, and Morningstar Direct. Helps test new tools, document workflows, and troubleshoot data issues across platforms.

- Conducts analyses related to gain/loss, cash management and liquidity, and risk profiles, and applies data quality checks and reconciliation routines to keep portfolio and account data accurate.

- Helps build and monitor automated checks for compliance and consistency relative to investment objectives across guided and custom portfolios, escalating exceptions to senior team members and Compliance.

- Follows the firms policies for responsible AI use, data security, and model governance, and helps document how AI-assisted and automated processes are used, reviewed, and controlled.

- Participates in client meetings as appropriate to observe and learn, and over time to provide insight on portfolio construction and trading.

- Contributes to special projects and broader investment research, including evaluating new data sources, analytics, and AI-enabled tools that could improve the teams process.

- Builds strong working relationships with the firms investment team and the advisors within CWM, gathering feedback on tools and reports and turning it into practical improvements.

- Performs related duties as assigned.

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Qualifications

- Bachelors degree in finance, economics, business, computer science, data science, or a related discipline is required. Advanced degree or coursework in finance, data analytics, or a related field is a plus.

- 2 to 5 years of work experience in wealth management, or in an analytical, data, or technology-oriented role. Experience with trading and rebalancing platforms such as Charles River, Orion, Tamarac, Addepar, or Black Diamond is preferred.

- FINRA SIE exam preferred. Progress toward the CFA Program is a plus; FINRA Series 7, 63 and 65 are also welcome.

- Foundational understanding of account-level trading processes as they relate to liquidity, settlement, and fee structures, with a desire to deepen that knowledge.

- Familiarity with options concepts and strategies, or a strong interest in learning them.

- Solid grounding in asset allocation, the portfolio construction process, and capital markets.

- Organized and quantitatively oriented, with high attention to detail and the ability to multi-task and work under time constraints.

- Strong written and verbal communication skills, and a commitment to excellent client service.

- Curious self-starter who learns quickly, asks good questions, takes feedback well, and stays flexible as priorities shift.

- Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. Exposure to Bloomberg and Morningstar Direct is preferred, as is experience with wealth platforms like Black Diamond.

Technology & AI Skills

- Hands-on experience using generative AI tools (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot) for research, analysis, and drafting, including prompt design and the judgment to verify outputs for accuracy.

- Understanding of the risks of AI in a regulated environment, including hallucinations, data privacy, confidentiality, and the need for human oversight and documentation.

- Experience with data visualization and BI tools such as Power BI or Tableau, and with advanced Excel (Power Query, VBA, or Office Scripts), is preferred.

- Familiarity with APIs, data pipelines, or workflow automation tools (e.g., Power Automate) is a plus.

- Comfort working with portfolio, market, and reference data, and an instinct for spotting data quality issues and building checks to catch them.

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation for this role takes into account various factors, including work location, individual skill set, relevant experience, and other business needs. The estimated base salary range for this position is $100,000 - $130,000. Additionally, this position is eligible for an annual discretionary bonus.

Benefits

Calamos offers a comprehensive benefits package, including health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, and employer-paid short and long-term disability), as well as retirement benefits (401(k) and profit sharing), paid time off, paid parental leave, and other wellness benefits.