Director, Quantitative Research

About New Frontier Advisors

New Frontier Advisors is a quantitative investment research, technology, and advisory firm that translates rigorous portfolio theory into practical investment solutions for financial advisors and institutions. For more than 25 years, New Frontier has advanced portfolio construction under estimation uncertainty. Our proprietary Michaud Optimization and Intelligent Rebalancing methodologies support live multi-asset portfolios, institutional technology relationships, and FrontierOne, our portfolio decisioning platform. We combine the intellectual standards of a research institution with the accountability of an investment manager: research must be analytically defensible, economically sensible, explainable, implementable, and useful to investors.

The Opportunity

Help lead the next stage of New Frontier's investment research and portfolio-construction capabilities. We are seeking a senior, hands-on quantitative investment researcher who combines academic depth with strong investment judgment. The right person can move comfortably from a difficult optimization or empirical research problem to an Investment Committee discussion, a production decision, or a client meeting. You will personally lead major research projects, help set the research agenda, write and review quantitative analysis, translate approved research into live portfolios and technology, and represent New Frontier's investment thinking externally. You will report to the CIO and serve on the Investment Committee. Initially, it is an individual-contributor leadership role that mentors current researchers and helps build the team over time.

Research Leadership & Investment Insight

Partner with the CIO and Investment Committee to prioritize the research agenda and own deep, multi-month projects from question through decision. Advance our work on estimation, optimization, asset allocation, risk modeling, and rebalancing under uncertainty. Apply strong economic intuition to evolving global relationships among growth, inflation, rates, credit, equity risk, currencies, and diversification; distinguish relevant investment structure from statistical noise.

Optimization, Empirical Research & Portfolio Design: Formulate hypotheses, evaluate data, design experiments, and develop and challenge quantitative methods. Work deeply on optimization and estimation problems, including robustness to estimation error, constraints, model uncertainty, regime changes, and implementation frictions. Refine dynamic estimates of global risk and return relationships across equity, fixed income, and alternative markets. Refine and enhance the investment process: assess model performance, stability, and unintended consequences.

Research-to-Production & Engineering

Develop and maintain research code and experiment pipelines in Python, MATLAB, R, or comparable tools, with high standards for reproducibility, testing, peer review, documentation, and data lineage. Translate approved research into portfolio guidelines, methodological specifications, monitoring rules, rebalancing logic, and production requirements in partnership with technology and data professionals. Contribute to FrontierOne and other productized capabilities, including household-level, tax-aware, constraints-aware, and objective-driven portfolio construction where relevant.

Investment Committee, Clients & Thought Leadership: Present conclusions, limitations, trade-offs, and portfolio implications clearly and objectively, and exercise independent judgment when evidence challenges existing assumptions. Translate complex quantitative ideas into credible investment conclusions for advisors, clients, institutions, and enterprise partners; participate in client and prospect discussions when research or portfolio design is central. Author research papers, white papers, investment notes, and presentations; present internally and externally; mentor researchers and review research design, code, analysis, and written work.

What You Bring

PhD strongly preferred in Finance, Economics, Financial Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Operations Research, or a closely related discipline; exceptional master's-level candidates with an equivalent record of rigorous applied investment research will be considered. Seven or more years of relevant experience, ideally combining quantitative investment research with meaningful asset-management, portfolio-construction, or buy-side responsibility. A strong investment background and demonstrated ability to connect quantitative evidence to real-world portfolio decisions and market behavior. Deep command of portfolio theory, optimization, statistical estimation, time-series analysis, simulation, risk modeling, and empirical research design. Strong economic intuition for global asset-class risk and return, with the ability to reason from first principles rather than relying only on fitted models or historical relationships. Hands-on proficiency in Python, MATLAB, R, or another quantitative programming environment; comfortable writing code and reviewing the technical work of others. Demonstrated ability to take ambiguous, difficult research questions from concept through validation, and implementation. Clear, credible communication with technical and nontechnical audiences, plus intellectual independence, sound judgment, low ego, and the ability to challenge assumptions constructively.

Especially Valuable

Multi-asset and ETF portfolio construction, including trading, transitions, monitoring, and rebalancing. Robust, Bayesian, resampled, simulation-based, or related estimation and optimization methods. Factor/risk models, scenarios, regimes, or macroeconomic information in portfolio research; household, tax-aware, retirement, or goal-based design. Peer-reviewed or influential practitioner research, and reproducible workflows that integrate with production investment systems.

What Success Looks Like in the First 12 Months

Establish a prioritized research roadmap with the CIO and Investment Committee and become fluent in New Frontier's methodology, portfolios, systems, and strategic priorities. Lead at least one material research initiative from problem definition through validated production pilot or implementation in estimation, optimization, portfolio construction, monitoring, or rebalancing. Raise standards for testing, reproducibility, code review, documentation, and methodological governance. Produce substantive client- or practitioner-facing research, advance a major original paper toward publication, and become a trusted independent voice on the Investment Committee and with clients.

Why Join New Frontier

Research with consequences

rigorous work can influence live portfolios, investment decisions, and production technology. Meaningful intellectual mandate: help shape the research agenda of a firm founded on advancing asset management through research. Direct access and visible impact: work closely with the CIO and senior leadership in a small organization where strong work can move quickly. Research platform: publish, present, mentor, and help build the capabilities required for the firm's next stage of growth.

Compensation details: 200000-230000 Yearly Salary

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