Associate, Business & Platform Development, Direct Channel

About this role

Team And Role Overview

The US Direct Channel is one of the fastest growing distribution channels within BlackRock’s US distribution network, catalysed by growing market participation from self-directed and online investors. To ensure that BlackRock is well positioned to capture this demand, we are growing our business development team for the Direct channel in the Americas, intending to grow BlackRock’s partnerships with online brokers, robo-advisors, bank led digital platforms, fintechs, and other emerging consumer digital wealth firms across the US and Canada. The Direct business is driving industry transformation while making investing more accessible for millions of people across North America.

Reporting to the Director of Business Development, this positions’ primary function is to work alongside and in support of the business development lead. The Assoc/VP will support, establish, build, and cultivate our key relationships with digital investing platforms, positioning BlackRock as a valued commercial and strategic partner. The role provides an exciting opportunity to support and drive the growth of an emerging, disruptive segment. The right individual will be someone who takes the initiative, has a strong interest in online investing, understands financial products and positioning, and is focused on delivering creative outcomes. It is a cross-functional role and requires extensive collaboration across Marketing, Product Solutions, Aladdin Wealth, US Wealth Advisory, Markets & Trading, and many other internal teams across BlackRock. They learn to understand and leverage the entirety of BlackRock’s capabilities and resources to drive results with our clients.  The ideal candidate will have a high level of aptitude for the wealth and asset management industry, and a keen interest in investments and the capital markets.  

Key Responsibilities

• Directly support the business development lead in establishing, maintaining, and deepening relationships with digital investment platforms and drive the execution of partnerships across the firms clients
• Lead partnership opportunity execution by orchestrating BlackRock functions across internal stakeholders and business partners
• Drive net new business according to business goals
• Rethink and refine BlackRock’s approach to partnering with digital investing platforms to ensure leadership in this segment and to collaboratively drive results
• Produce and maintain high quality client-facing materials to support sales activities
• Drive strategic projects relating to channel expansion as they arise
• Support US and Canada leadership with ad-hoc initiatives as required

Experience And Skills

• 5-10 years’ experience including in a B2B financial services sales’ role or in a digital investing business
• Deep understanding of the digital wealth and self-directed investment market, including various digital platform business models (e.g. online brokers, bank-led programs, fintechs, robo-advisors) as well as the broader ecosystem
• Understanding of trends and developments in the digital wealth market globally, including regulatory developments and their impact to firms and/or investors
• Strong knowledge of the sales process, negotiation, and long-term relationship management
• Ability to drive commercial outcomes, with strong presentation & communication skills
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative environment across functions, ask targeted questions, and manage a variety of stakeholders
• Familiar with product set, especially ETFs, mutual funds, private markets
• Demonstrates creativity, intellectual curiosity, and strong ownership mindset; candidate should be a self-starter and motivated to go above and beyond to deliver impact
• Has a deep intellectual curiosity around business model evolution and a passion for digital disruption

Qualifications & Competencies

• At least a Bachelor’s degree (Master’s degree preferred) in Business Administration, Economics, Finance or an equal professional experience
• Client focused and sales oriented, proven ability to deliver high-quality solutions
• Language skills: Fluent in spoken and written English; Other language skills are helpful but not mandatory
• Advanced PowerPoint and Excels skills to create customized presentations, present information effectively and to extract valuable information out of raw-data
• High-energy, entrepreneurial, positive “can-do” attitude, and ability to work as a team player, accept substantial individual responsibilities
• Displays a strong executive presence, is comfortable in interacting with clients and col