Investment Systems Engineer

Sophisticated Work. In a Great City. Making a Difference.

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) manages more than $178 billion in assets, including those of the fully-funded Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS). SWIB operates at a level more often seen in top-tier global asset managers than in typical public pension funds. SWIB is a home for top talent. Approximately 61 percent of SWIB’s investment professionals are Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholders.
The City of Madison, the state capitol and home of Wisconsin’s flagship university, makes regular appearances on lists of best places to live, eat, and play. SWIB offers a modern workspace, hybrid work options, and competitive compensation and benefits.

Serving over 703,000 WRS beneficiaries, SWIB is driven by a clear mission: securing the financial future of those who serve Wisconsin. When you work at SWIB, you know your work matters.

Job Description:

SWIB does not sponsor employment-based visas for this position. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States and be able to maintain that authorization throughout employment without requiring SWIB sponsorship.

About the Technology Team

The Technology Team at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) implements, develops, and supports industry-leading systems and platforms for a diverse and complex portfolio of investment strategies.

We serve as trusted advisors and strategic partners to the business, using technology to advance SWIB’s goals and contribute to its continued growth and success. Our team keeps technology aligned with SWIB’s future direction while operating a secure, reliable, and standards-driven technology environment.

Position Overview

The Senior Business Systems Engineer provides technical leadership for the business systems architecture supporting SWIB’s front- and middle-office investment functions across public and private markets.

In this role, you will design and implement solutions, improve the processes used by business systems engineers and consultants, and help ensure that SWIB’s investment systems remain effective, scalable, and supportable. You will apply deep investment-industry expertise to analyze business needs, develop solution designs and prototypes, create testing strategies, and guide implementation.

You will partner closely with Investment Management, Operations, Technology, vendors, and other stakeholders to translate complex business needs into practical technology solutions.

Essential activities:  

• Work with Technology Owners, Business Owners, and Operations to research and implement new solutions and identify the support needs of those solutions.

• Analyze Investment Management, Operations, and Technology teams’ needs, both internal and external of SWIB, to ensure business needs are continuously being met through the design, development, or deployment of software (whether through upgrades or new programs).

• Serve as the architect/designer for the investment management applications and systems SWIB utilizes, and how those applications, systems, and component pieces interact, including creating test plans, scenarios, and procedures for new software implemented.

• Identify gaps and risks in SWIB’s systems architecture, design, and projects. Make recommendations to business and Technology management about the best way to address or minimize these gaps and risks.

• Lead, facilitate, and coordinate the software or solution architecture and design (including, where applicable, the code needed) of solutions (e.g., applications and systems).

• Implement software testing, using either manual or automated programs and exploratory testing, and evaluate results, including documenting and reporting defects or problems with software and oversee future maintenance and upgrades

• Continue to mature and evolve knowledge of investment and asset management business practices, both from a textbook and a practical perspective

• Understand general and investment industry-specific technology trends and forecast future technology shifts.

• Research new investment management technologies to help drive SWIB’s business capabilities forward and maintain a high degree of awareness of common industry-specific trends, products, vendors, and services

The ideal candidate: 

• Bachelor’s Degree required with a preference focus within Information Systems, Computer Science or Finance.

• 5 plus years of investment management experience.

• Have in-depth knowledge of one or more ABOR/IBOR applications such as SimCorp Dimension(preferred), Eagle STAR/PACE, Charles River, Portia, Golden Source, Advent Geneva, BlackRock Aladdin, or equivalents with a focus on the use of such systems from a public and/or private markets perspective.

• Substantial knowledge of investment industry operational and functional capabilities.

• Substantial knowledge of investment industry strategies, processes, and technologies.

• Ability to objectively influence successful outcomes and work cross-functionally.

• Experience working with Agile methodology.

• Ability to document and communicate technical knowledge effectively.

• Ability to envision solutions, communicate those solutions and help form tangible outputs from those conceptual solutions.

• Communicating complex technology subjects in layman’s terms.

• Detailed familiarity with common investment practices and securities.

• Ability to design technology solutions to solve business problems.

• Ability to translate business requirements into technology specifications and design systems to meet the needs of the business.

• Proven ability to develop solutions utilizing Python, R, SQL, or others.

• Competitive total cash compensation, based on AON (formerly McLagan) industry benchmarks
• Comprehensive benefits package
• Educational and training opportunities
• Tuition reimbursement
• Challenging work in a professional environment
• Hybrid work environment

The position requires U.S. work authorization.

Pursuant to our Hybrid Remote Work Policy, all staff have the flexibility to work remotely but are required to have a weekly presence in our offices, the frequency of which is dependent on their distance from office or the job position. Staff are not required to reside locally; however, we offer relocation reimbursement to the Dane County area per our policy.

All SWIB employees are subject to SWIB’s Ethics Policy and Personal Trade Approvals Policy. These policies include restrictions on outside business activities and employment and have limits on personal trading. You may request copies of these policies from SWIB’s talent acquisition team and any questions can be answered by SWIB’s compliance team.