Executive Director, AI Research - Private Assets R&D

Your Team Responsibilities

MSCIs Private Assets R&D group develops the methodologies, models, and indexes underpinning MSCIs offerings across private equity, private credit, and private real assets. Drawing on data assets from the Burgiss, IPD, and RCA acquisitions, the team serves the worlds leading institutional investors pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and asset managers.

You will join a senior research team at the forefront of bringing institutional-grade analytics to private markets. As Executive Director, AI Research, you will report directly to the Managing Director, Head of Private Assets R&D, and be responsible for the build-out of AI-native research capabilities across the group. You will collaborate closely with researchers, product heads across private equity, private credit, and real assets, and MSCIs technology and data engineering teams to translate AI research advances into scalable client solutions.

Your Key Responsibilities

Define and drive the AI research agenda for Private Assets R&D, identifying where AI creates durable competitive advantage in private markets analytics

Develop AI-driven approaches to evaluated pricing and comparable selection, leveraging unstructured text, financial filings, and embedding-based similarity models

Extend MSCIs nowcasting and cash flow forecasting capabilities using modern ML methods including LLM-based models with a focus on explainability for institutional clients

Design and deploy agentic AI workflows and prototypes, accelerating the path from research concept to client-facing product

Automate high-value recurring research tasks including market commentary generation and model parameter re-estimation

Represent Private Assets R&D in client engagements and through published research

Your skills and experience that will help you excel

Advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in Computer Science, Computational Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field

10+ years of experience in applied AI/ML research or quantitative research, with a track record of building and deploying models in production

Deep expertise in Python and modern ML frameworks; hands-on experience with large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, and/or deep learning

Proven ability to own a research agenda end-to-end from hypothesis through model development, validation, and client-ready delivery

Strong communication skills able to present complex methodological concepts credibly to senior stakeholders and institutional clients

Preferred: domain knowledge in private markets, asset management, or institutional investment analytics

Preferred: experience with unstructured data (NLP, document parsing, web extraction) applied to financial problems

Preferred: familiarity with agentic AI frameworks and rapid prototyping tools

About MSCI

What we offer you

Salary range: $246,000 - $320,000 / year - Plus eligible for annual bonus

Transparent compensation schemes and comprehensive employee benefits, tailored to your location, ensuring your financial security, health, and overall wellbeing.

Flexible working arrangements, advanced technology, and collaborative workspaces.

A culture of high performance and innovation where we experiment with new ideas and take responsibility for achieving results.

A global network of talented colleagues, who inspire, support, and share their expertise to innovate and deliver for our clients.

Global Orientation program to kickstart your journey, followed by access to our Learning@MSCI platform, AI Learning Center , LinkedIn Learning Pro and tailored learning opportunities for ongoing skills development.

Multi-directional career paths that offer professional growth and development through new challenges, internal mobility and expanded roles.

We actively nurture an environment that builds a sense of inclusion belonging and connection, including eight Employee Resource Groups. All Abilities, Asian Support Network, Black Leadership Network, Climate Action Network, Hola! MSCI, Pride & Allies, Women in Tech, and Womens Leadership Forum.

At MSCI we are passionate about what we do, and we are inspired by our vision to power better decisions. Youll be part of an industry-leading network of creative, curious, and entrepreneurial pioneers. This is a space where you can challenge yourself, set new standards and perform beyond expectations for yourself, our clients, and our industry.

MSCI strengthens global markets by connecting participants across the financial ecosystem with a common language. Our research-based data, analytics and indexes, supported by advanced technology, set standards for global investors and help our clients understand risks and opportunities so they can make better decisions and unlock innovation. We serve asset managers and owners, private-market sponsors and investors, hedge funds, wealth managers, banks, insurers and corporates.

MSCI Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of the firm to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizeWhat we offer youSalary range: $246,000 - $320,000 / year - Plus eligible for annual bonusTransparent compensation schemes and comprehensive employee benefits, tailored to your location, ensuring your financial security, health, and overall wellbeing.Flexible working arrangements, advanced technology, and collaborative workspaces.A culture of high performance and innovation where we experiment with new ideas and take responsibility for achieving results.A global network of talented colleagues, who inspire, support, and share their expertise to innovate and deliver for our clients.Global Orientation program to kickstart your journey, followed by access to our Learning@MSCI platform, AI Learning Center , LinkedIn Learning Pro and tailored learning opportunities for ongoing skills development.Multi-directional career paths that offer professional growth and development through new challenges, internal mobility and expanded roles.We actively nurture an environment that builds a sense of inclusion belonging and connection, including eight Employee Resource Groups. All Abilities, Asian Support Network, Black Leadership Network, Climate Action Network, Hola! MSCI, Pride & Allies, Women in Tech, and Womens Leadership Forum.At MSCI we are passionate about what we do, and we are inspired by our vision to power better decisions. Youll be part of an industry-leading network of creative, curious, and entrepreneurial pioneers. This is a space where you can challenge yourself, set new standards and perform beyond expectations for yourself, our clients, and our industry.MSCI strengthens global markets by connecting participants across the financial ecosystem with a common language. Our research-based data, analytics and indexes, supported by advanced technology, set standards for global investors and help our clients understand risks and opportunities so they can make better decisions and unlock innovation. We serve asset managers and owners, private-market sponsors and investors, hedge funds, wealth managers, banks, insurers and corporates.MSCI Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of the firm to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizeAdvanced degree (Masters or PhD) in Computer Science, Computational Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field

10+ years of experience in applied AI/ML research or quantitative research, with a track record of building and deploying models in production

Deep expertise in Python and modern ML frameworks; hands-on experience with large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, and/or deep learning

Proven ability to own a research agenda end-to-end from hypothesis through model development, validation, and client-ready delivery

Strong communication skills able to present complex methodological concepts credibly to senior stakeholders and institutional clients

Preferred: domain knowledge in private markets, asset management, or institutional investment analytics

Preferred: experience with unstructured data (NLP, document parsing, web extraction) applied to financial problems

Preferred: familiarity with agentic AI frameworks and rapid prototyping tools