I am trying to get a better understanding of Product Specialists roles at asset management firms. Does one get involved in designing sales strategies and getting a feel for potential new product offerings? What would be the natural course of progression for a Product Specialist? Is it possible to transition to the funds management team from such a role. My naive guess is that it is largely a sales focused role with one being a bridge between the fund manager and the investor relations team. You might be a bit more closer to the investment process when compared to the business development guys but nowhere as close to being involved in it in any shape or form i.e. opportunity to add alpha. Also, in terms of salary, are Product Specialist paid like business development guys or somewhere in between the BD team and the fund manager? I know that the bonuses for BD guys can be pretty darn good if one can bring in some good fund flows. Not sure if the same would apply to Product Specialist as one might not be directly sourcing funds from new investors. Anybody who is familiar with such roles, could you please shed some more light. Thanks…
My understanding of the product specialist role at an asset management firm is exactly what you described above - they sit between the portfolio management team and the sales team, and act as a product expert for a certain investment strategy. For example, at a large investment management firm with a multitude of investment strategies (long only FI, long/short equity, real assets, etc.), the sales guys aren’t going to know the intricate details of how each strategy works or the outlook for the market - so then the product specialist for the strategy they’re trying to sell to a client would get called in to give a full explanation and overview of the investment process and outlook for that area. You sort of act as a salesperson for the portfolio management team that you’re working with, so you can let them focus on managing money rather than making sales. So really you’d get some sales experience, but you’d also be working closely with a specific portfolio manager and/or investment team. Not sure about the upward progression of this role, but personally I think it sounds like a pretty interesting role itself. PIMCO’s career website has a good explanation of the product specialist role: http://www2.pimco.com/MBA/JobsDescription/ProductManagement.aspx