Investment Valuation Associate at Aflac


Investment Valuation Associate

Location: Remote, US

Job Summary

As part of Aflac’s Global Investment Accounting team, executes valuation tasks to support investment accounting and reporting including proactively driving the realization of excellence in the investment and derivative valuation practice for financial reporting purposes through valuation modernization initiatives. As part of these initiatives, carries out research, design, and implementation of a quantitative valuation modeling system based on advanced financial valuation theory and modern computational technologies. Develops comprehensive supporting documentation and performs associated governance related tasks as required. Directly contributes to the determination of balance sheet fair value of the Company’s global invested assets and derivative portfolios, as well as attribution analysis for changes in valuations. Focuses on valuations for private investments in real estate, corporate debt and securities, structured finance products, and equities.

Principal Duties & Responsibilities

  • Researches, designs, and implements quantitative valuation modeling system(s) based on advanced financial valuation theory and modern computational technologies; the system(s) will facilitate the development, implementation, and governance of quantitative valuation models
  • Contributes to building out, improving, or otherwise streamlining existing derivative and asset pricing models and automated processes for executing complete and accurate valuations of Aflac’s global investment and derivative portfolios
  • Coaches, teaches, mentors and otherwise disseminates industry knowledge, practices, experience and guidance regarding fixed income, structured finance, private equity, derivative and/or hard-to-value assets in order to build global institutional capabilities in alignment with best practices
  • Oversees and performs independent price verification and valuation analysis on a wide range of liquid and illiquid investments and derivatives broadly distributed across asset classes and external investment management firms; validates pricing models and analyses internally maintained and/or provided by third parties (arrangers, vendors, or consultants)
  • Reviews, interprets and/or processes investment documentation, data, and reports for a variety of fixed income and equity securities, structured private credit, structured finance, derivatives, and/or alternative assets to determine appropriate fair value methodologies and alignment of practices with current market standards and best practices
  • Develops and leverages internal partnerships with Global Investments, Accounting Policy, etc. and external partnerships with investment banks, accounting firms, consulting firms, information providers, pricing vendors, and networks to maximize the achievement of team and corporate goals
  • Documents model methodologies and procedures and ensures auditability for model priced positions; directs, prepares, and maintains on-going documentation efforts with regard to valuation policies, internal controls, processes and results
  • Supports management with review and analysis of results, practices, policies, procedures, and technology solutions for portfolio valuation; prepares documentation for and presents to an executive-level Valuation and Pricing Committee focusing on results, key pricing and valuation initiatives and decisions
  • Ability to represent the Valuation function in various internal and external multi-team discussions, including investor communications with topics related to fair value process, methodologies, topical valuation themes, and current valuation marks
  • Assists with, determines and/or prepares the reporting of fair value accounting (i.e. Topic 820, formerly FAS 157, etc.) for conventional and hard-to-value assets
  • Performs other duties as required

Education & Experience Required

  • Bachelor’s Degree Computational finance, financial engineering, applied mathematics, statistics, accounting, finance, economics, mathematics, computer science, engineering or a related field
  • Eight years of professional job-related work experience in quantitatively oriented field
  • Four or more years of professional job-related work experience in valuation and modeling of fixed income securities, equities, derivatives and/or alternative assets
  • Experience with databases and/or programming languages (C/C++, Perl, Java, R, Python, VBA, etc.)

Education & Experience Preferred

  • Master’s Degree or PhD Computational finance, mathematical finance, financial engineering, applied mathematics, mathematics, economics, finance, physics, or other quantitatively intensive field
  • Achievement of or progress toward Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM), or Associate or Fellow, Society of Actuaries (ASA or FSA) designation
  • Deep understanding of advanced asset valuation methodologies, including continuous and discrete time stochastic models, and experience presenting such methodologies to expert and general audiences
  • Experience with Bloomberg, Reuters Eikon, BlackRock Aladdin/AnSer, Intex Calc, Trepp, Markit or other financial and investment market data and analytics providers and their associated application programming interface (API) functions
  • Experience with Numerix, FinCAD, or other investment analytical software packages
  • Independent valuation consulting and/or alternative asset management experience

Or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Job Knowledge & Skills

  • Clear, logical thinker with excellent analytical and quantitative abilities
  • Strong leadership and team-building skills
  • Team player with positive attitude and work ethic with ability to work independently
  • Successfully works with others and builds solid relationships
  • High proficiency in Microsoft Excel and high aptitude for learning new technologies
  • Detail oriented, with a highly disciplined approach to process and quality control
  • Ability to communicate results, complex topics and issues to management in an effective manner
  • Detailed knowledge of capital markets, financial instrument valuation, derivative valuation and risks measurement in a complex product area
  • Detailed knowledge of structured private credit and structured investments preferred
  • Demonstrated ability to utilize quantitative, statistical and mathematical financial techniques for independent fair valuations of securities including prior experience in model development, risk, valuation, and model validation development and implementation
  • Ability to collect and analyze large amounts of market information, extract and effectively communicate findings, and incorporate results into valuation models and processes

Competencies

  • Acting with Integrity
  • Communicating Effectively
  • Pursuing Self-Development
  • Serving Customers
  • Supporting Change
  • Supporting Organizational Goals
  • Working with Diverse Populations

Working Conditions

The statements below describe the general nature and level of the work and are not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required.

Normal office environment (virtual and/or in-person)

Travel ≤ 10%

Career Progression Acknowledgement

Normal Career Progression – This is a normal career progression (NCP) position and incumbent may progress to the next level in the job family without further competition when there is an existing business need, qualifications identified in the job profile are met, advancement recommended by management, with human resources approval, and in accordance with company guidelines.

APPLY FOR JOB