Structured Products Trader

THE COMPANY

For 175 years, National Life Group (“NLG”) has aimed to keep their promises to provide families stability in good times and in bad. And throughout that history, they have provided peace of mind to those families as they plan their futures.

As a mission-driven business, the cause of what they do is as important as the products they sell. And their cause is a very simple one, directed at the people who live and work on America’s Main Streets: “To Do good in our communities and with the individual families we serve.”

NLG Capital, the investment management company of NLG, manages approximately $40+ billion in AUM. Our purpose is simple – to allow NLG to keep its promises. How we do this – an obsessive focus on delivering investment results. We drive results through a rigorous but collaborative investment process, and we hold ourselves to the highest of standards, both as investors and teammates. While our process is based on rigor, our culture is based on our guiding principles: Meritocracy, Uncompromising Transparency, Intellectual Honesty, Performance Driven Learning, Relentless Pursuit of Excellence. These principles serve as the foundation of our team. They govern the way we conduct ourselves, how we interact with teammates and how we approach every investment decision.  We act with the integrity and humility required to make the investment decision that is right for the firm, and ultimately our policyholders.  Our culture has been deliberately built to foster curiosity and provide opportunities to learn and grow, both as people and investors. The flat and collaborative nature of our team promotes an atmosphere where the best ideas are continually expressed and rewarded. Our pursuit of excellence is unwavering.

THE POSITION

Position Title     Structured Products Trader

Position Summary

The Structured Products Trader is a key member of the capital markets team responsible for trade idea generation, modeling, and execution across National Life’s structured products investment portfolio including CLOs, CMBS, RMBS, and ABS markets.  In collaboration with specialists across Residential RE, Commercial RE, and Asset Backed markets, the Trader will implement National Life’s investment strategy in liquid structured products while providing capital markets insight across teams and the NLG Capital Investment Committee.  This role will serve as a key contact with the broker / dealer community and will represent the interests of NLG while building deep working relationships.  The Structured Products Trader will aid in the ongoing development of team members and the continued evolution of systems and analytics to support the National Life investment process.

Responsibilities

• Conduct timely and reliable trade execution across structured products including CLOs, ABS, CMBS, and RMBS
• Assess market conditions, new issue and secondary supply, and relative value conditions to aid in portfolio construction and trade implementation
• Provide insight on structured products markets and broader macroeconomic trends, and contribute to the dissemination of market research, views, and analysis
• Contribute to active and ongoing dialogue across the NLG Capital organization, providing timely commentary and contributing to daily trading desk dialogue
• Collaborate with asset class specialists to build and refine asset class strategies, develop opinions on relative value, and assess / price risk across both liquid and illiquid strategies

THE PERSON

Pivotal Experience & Expertise

• Undergraduate or advanced degree in Finance, Economics, Engineering, Computer Science or a related field of study
• 5r+ years experience in structured products, with a minimum of 3 years actively trading in at least one relevant structured products asset class
• Knowledge of trading protocols and market conventions
• Established relationships on both the buyside and sellside
• Skilled in Excel and comfortable producing market insights and ad hoc analysis supporting decision making
• Prior use of Intex, Aladdin, and/or Bloomberg and related APIs
• Experience using SQL and Python helpful
• Intense intellectual curiosity with the desire to seek new challenges while continuously learning
• Solid interpersonal skills and ability to connect to form meaningful working partnerships
• Inclusive team player with a collaborative and cooperative approach
• Strong work ethic and proactive professional disposition
• Experience driving projects to completion
  
  

Cultural Fit

• Results-driven mindset
• Thrives in a collaborative environment where the best ideas that drive the best resu