Team Lead, International Public Fixed Income, Leading GCC Pension Fund (Role Based in Middle East)

Background:

Our client, a prominent GCC-based Pension Fund, is enhancing its international public fixed income platform and is hiring a Team Lead to help drive the strategic allocation, oversight, and optimisation of its global fixed income portfolio. The role sits within a growing investment function and plays a key part in strengthening both external manager coverage and internal investment capabilities.

Role & Responsibilities:

• Lead the sourcing, due diligence, selection, and onboarding of external public fixed income managers, working across global credit and rates to identify high-quality strategies aligned with internal objectives

• Oversee ongoing monitoring of external managers, including performance evaluation, risk analysis, mandate compliance, peer benchmarking, and the preparation of recommendations for adjustments or reallocations

• Manage and optimise selected in-house active and passive fixed income mandates, ensuring portfolios are appropriately diversified across sectors, geographies, and maturities while maintaining alignment with strategic asset allocation targets

• Contribute to global fixed income portfolio construction, evaluating market conditions, factor exposures, and macro developments to support allocation decisions across active, passive, and externally managed strategies

• Conduct rigorous research and due diligence on fixed income instruments, including ETFs, index funds, and other pooled vehicles, to ensure suitability for internal investment framework

• Collaborate closely with internal teams including Risk, Legal, Compliance, and Asset Allocation to ensure strong governance, oversight, and adherence to regulatory standards across all fixed income activities

• Engage with external stakeholders such as investment consultants, index providers, fund managers, and analytics firms to capture market insights and refine portfolio positioning

• Develop and maintain performance and risk measurement frameworks covering both external mandates and internal portfolios, ensuring clarity of reporting and alignment with institutional objectives

• Support strategic planning by integrating global market insights into portfolio strategy discussions and contributing to fixed income recommendations at investment committee level

• Provide leadership and mentorship to junior team members, ensuring high-quality analytical output, robust process discipline, and effective execution of both external manager oversight and internal portfolio management activities

Experience & Requirements:

• Minimum 12 years of experience in fixed income portfolio management across global markets, spanning active and passive strategies

• Strong background in external manager selection and oversight, including due diligence, performance monitoring, and mandate evaluation

• Expertise with fixed income instruments such as ETFs, index funds, and pooled vehicles, with solid understanding of benchmarks and risk factors

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field

• Master's degree in Finance, MBA or CFA designation is preferred