Director - ISD, Spread Lending

Director – Investment Strategy

NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT COMPANY, LLC , located in Milwaukee, WI, is a registered investment adviser and wholly owned subsidiary of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM) with over $300 billion in assets under management. Northwestern Mutual’s spread lending business is managed within NMIMC’s Investment Strategy Department (ISD). The business has grown to nearly $14 billion since establishment in 2020.

Spread lending finances the purchase of well-matched investment grade fixed income assets across multiple funding sources, generating profitability on investment income net of financing cost. The Director will be a key leader on ISD’s strategic asset allocation and spread lending team (SAA & SL Team).

About the Job: This role will be responsible for managing Northwestern Mutual’s spread lending business, overseen by and alongside the SAA & SL Team lead. This includes developing and executing spread lending strategy, operations, and investor relations/marketing. The Director will oversee 2 direct reports.

What You’ll Do:

• Develop, execute, and manage spread lending investing and financing strategy, delivering program and profitability objectives
• Manage funding agreement backed note (FABN), funding agreement backed commercial paper (FACP), and Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) funding programs
• Bank and investor relations – manage and enhance investment bank relationships, in-person investor marketing across US and international cities multiple times annually
• Execute primary bond market FABN issuance and enterprise coordination
• Achieve ALM and risk management objectives
• Develop and grow direct reports
• Oversee and manage team reports, trackers, weekly pricing, and business projections
• Oversee and manage team operations including daily cash management, FACP issuance, FABN maturity, and investment deployments
• Internal and external spread lending communications and reporting
• Maintain strong working relationships across the department/function/enterprise

What You’ll Bring to the Role:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in finance, economics, actuarial science, accounting, computer science/engineering or related field (or equivalent work experience).
• A professional designation (CFA/ASA/FSA/CPA) is required with a bachelor’s degree.
• Multiple years of related and relevant work experience.
• Strong work ethic and communication skills.
• Strong understanding of fixed income assets, derivatives, ALM, and risk metrics.
• Understanding of the life insurance and annuity market, FABN market.
• Familiarity with statutory financials, life insurer regulations and risk-based capital.
• Intellectual curiosity in insurance, investments, and financial markets.
• Thinks with an enterprise mindset.

Skills You Have:

Relevant Technical Skills:

• MS Office, Excel, Power BI
• Bloomberg, Aladdin
• Snowflake
• Actuarial or ALM Modeling Software (MG-ALFA, Prophet, GGY Axis, etc.)

Accountability: Holds self and their direct reports accountable for measurable, high-quality, timely, and cost-effective results, delivery, and execution. Determines objectives, sets priorities, delegates work to direct reports, and accepts responsibility for mistakes.

Asset Allocation: Constructs diversified public fixed income portfolios aligning with the goals, risk tolerances, financial objectives, and investment horizon of the client by allocating across multiple asset classes, sectors, sub-sectors, and, for structured products, deal types, subject to internally and externally imposed investment constraints.

Cross Functional Partnering & Planning: Facilitates collaboration, communication, coordination, and planning with individuals and teams from different functions within the organization, and who have different areas of expertise, to achieve common goals.

Decision Making: Makes timely, data-driven decisions by understanding the probability of success, identifying risks, gathering business requirements, and developing value statements.

Financial Market Monitoring: Consistently tracks and analyzes financial market data and news, evaluates trends and events that may impact investment portfolios or financial decisions, and makes informed decisions…