Client Contracting - Vice President

About this role

Vice President, Client Contracting

About BlackRock

BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, our clients turn to us for the solutions they need when planning for their most important goals.

About Client Experience

The Client Experience Delivery (CXD) organization sits within Technology & Operations and is comprised of 4 key functions: Client Onboarding, Client Contracting, Client Experience Management and Service Innovation. CXD touches all aspects of the client journey and is committed to making service so simple it becomes a source of alpha for BlackRock.

Team Overview

Client Contracting is responsible for drafting and negotiating investment management agreements, investment guidelines, and other contractual arrangements between BlackRock and our new and existing clients. The team partners closely with the Investment & Client Businesses, Client Experience Management, Legal & Compliance and other critical support teams to bring clients onto the platform and deliver "One BlackRock". Client Contracting cover a broad range of clients including direct investors, sovereign wealth funds, central banks, pension funds, family offices and insurance companies each of whom may transact in different investment strategies, products, instruments and markets offered by BlackRock.

Role

As a Vice President within Client Contracting, you will support a growing area in a dynamic and challenging environment. You will be responsible for understanding the legal and regulatory framework in which BlackRock and its clients operate to draft contractual arrangements underpinning our client relationships. You will need a strong desire to learn the business of asset management to effectively draft and negotiate with clients to protect the interests of the firm while maintaining a commercial mindset. The individual will be expected to work autonomously once familiar with BlackRock business structures, operating models and documentation.  The right candidate will thrive in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• People management experience and ability to manage multiple individuals, provide oversight and be a point of escalation.
• Act as primary support for a defined business area, managing business workload and drive training and oversight of team members.
• Accurate drafting, negotiation and coordination of contractual documentation for BlackRock’s Clients including standard agreements of the business, non-disclosure agreements, distribution agreements and investment management agreements.
• Facilitation and coordination of all internal SME stakeholders across different regions involved in the contracting process ensuring their comments flow through to the contract and requisite approvals are obtained.
• Partnering with various teams across BlackRock to ensure contractual terms and minimize risk.
• Ensuring that the appropriate contracting process is followed and that all completed contractual documentation is properly filed, stored and retrievable to mitigate risk to BlackRock.
• Negotiating client documentation within the remit of the Client Contracting team, escalating appropriate risk where necessary.
• Supporting the sales team with contractual documentation queries.
• Communicating any contractual documentation changes to a client mandate to applicable internal stakeholders.
• Capturing and recording relevant non-standard contractual clauses on an ongoing basis and maintaining the contractual documentation database.
• Participating in research initiatives or projects that are requested by the sales, product or legal teams.
• Proactively identify and implement opportunities for process and client experience improvements.

Experience

The ideal candidate will have demonstrated asset management or financial services experience and in-depth experience of drafting contractual documentation within the asset management industry possessing either:

• A legal background or qualification with experience of drafting and negotiating investment management agreements for clients; or
• Excellent knowledge and proven track record in drafting and negotiating sophisticated legal contracts and the ability to perform and deliver high quality legal contracts in a fast-paced environment.

Skills/Qualifications