Business Development Specialist – Avantis

About us

American Century Investments® is a leading global asset manager focused on delivering investment results and building long-term client relationships while supporting research that can improve human health and save lives. Founded in 1958, the firm’s 1,400 employees serve financial professionals, institutions, corporations, and individual investors, offering a wide range of investment strategies across a variety of investment disciplines.

We are committed to providing institutional-quality, actively managed solutions with a performance-centered mindset. Our expertise spans global growth equity, global value equity, disciplined equity, multi-asset strategies, global fixed income, alternatives, and ETFs.

Privately controlled and independent, we focus solely on investment management. This empowers us to align our decisions with client expectations and concentrate on their long-term money management needs.

Our culture of winning behaviors exemplifies our dedication to clients every single day. Delivering investment results enables us to distribute over 40% of our dividends—more than $1.8 billion — to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a 500-person, non-profit basic biomedical research organization with a controlling interest in American Century Investments. Our dividend payments provide ongoing financial support for the Institute’s work of uncovering the causes, treatments, and prevention of life-threatening diseases, like cancer.

For more information, please visit americancentury.com.

Role Summary

A Business Development Specialist - Avantis is responsible for promoting Avantis products within our Intermediary Sales Channel. This role is responsible for building relationships with clients in a specific geographic region, targeting specific firms and key initiatives. This is accomplished by providing wholesaler support within a consultative sales process to deliver our investment capabilities and thought leadership. We expect a successful candidate to possess in-depth investment and market knowledge, product presentation skills, analytical abilities and selling skills.

This hybrid position will be based out of our Kansas City office.

This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship. Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without visa sponsorship, now or in the future.

How you will make an impact

• Build relationships and increase assets with assigned clients and prospects. This involves a proactive call rotation, in-person meetings, outbound telephone/virtual calls using a consultative sales approach.
• Collaborate with our Regional Retirement Consultants and WM Sales teams to retain existing assets, uncover opportunities, drive sales in key strategies with our clients and prospects.
• Cultivate and manage client relationships by responding to client inquiries, providing ongoing communication with clients and prospects.
• Proactively promote our suite of products to qualifying prospects via outbound telephone efforts, email campaigns, responding to inquiries, advertising and lead follow-up.
• Partner with our Client Portfolio Management and Portfolio Construction teams to utilize investment analysis/portfolio construction resources to retain assets and generate new sales.
• Profile advisors to understand their practice, clients and investment process to identify needs and position our investment solutions. Execute consistent follow up with advisors to advance the sales process and deepen advisor relationships.
• Maintain and grow knowledge of Avantis investment strategies, the capital markets, industry events and recent developments involving our clients.
• Demonstrate organized, efficient and effective territory management and phone/in-person presentation skills on a consistent basis.
• Maintain a history of sales activity and call data via CRM.

What you bring to the team (required):

• Bachelor’s degree in related field or an equivalent combination of education and work experience
• FINRA Series 7 & 63 licenses
• 2+ years internal and/or hybrid sales experience within the Asset Management industry with a history of success preferred
• Deep understanding of the financial services/advisor industry, capital markets and investment strategies
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office, Outlook, SalesForce CRM
• Ability to travel up to 30%
• Exhibits the American Century Investments Winning Behaviors: Client Focused, Courageous and Accountable, Collaborative, Curious and Adaptable, Competitively Driven, adheres to the highest ethical standards and business practices, and supports a culture of