Vice President, Alternative Data Strategy & Execution - Portfolio Management Group

Our investment professionals thrive in a culture that pushes them to question the status quo, overdeliver for clients, and work together to shape the future of the industry. At BlackRock, you’ll forge meaningful relationships within your team and across the firm – expanding your network as you tackle complex challenges with a collaborative approach, integrated research and risk management. In an environment that feels welcoming and inclusive, you’ll discover opportunities to hone your skills, develop new expertise, gain mentorship, and build the investment career you envision.

Business Overview

PMGTech is the horizontal technology platform within BlackRock’s Portfolio Management Group (PMG), integrating investment research with advanced engineering, AI, and alternative data to make technology a direct driver of alpha. It operates as one global team across three verticals – Platform Strategy, Research Solutions (DS&S), and Platform Change (IPT) – partnering closely with the BlackRock Aladdin ecosystem and PMG investment leadership. This integrated model delivers a coherent tech strategy, strengthens the research community, and scales capabilities across regions, asset classes (Equities, Fixed Income, Multi-asset), and investment styles (discretionary and systematic).

PMGTech leads PMG’s AI strategy by building an AI-ready research environment, unified data layer, agentic orchestration networks, and an investment-focused application layer to deploy AI-powered research solutions into production. As part of PMGTech, you will work directly with investment researchers, portfolio managers, and platform teams to source, scale, and optimise alternative data that enhances research workflows and drives differentiated alpha insights.

Job Purpose / Background

The Alternative Data Strategy & Execution role is responsible for driving the sourcing, prioritisation, and implementation of alternative datasets across PMG. The role sits at the intersection of investment research, data strategy, and commercial execution, ensuring that data opportunities are aligned to Alpha Priorities, investor strategies, and BlackRock thematic views.

This role acts as a central point of contact for third-party data, improving transparency, access, and reuse of datasets across the organisation. It requires strong organisational, commercial, and stakeholder management skills to coordinate across investors, data teams, engineering, and external vendors, ensuring datasets are usable, compliant, and scalable.

The role is not primarily technical, but requires sufficient data fluency to evaluate datasets and partner effectively with technical teams to deliver outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with investors to identify, prioritise, and source alternative datasets aligned to Alpha Priorities and investment strategies

• Maintain a strong view of the alternative data landscape, delivering thematic insights and identifying datasets that enhance existing signals or unlock new opportunities

• Prioritise competing demands and drive datasets from idea through evaluation to onboarding, balancing speed, impact, and scalability

• Facilitate dataset evaluation with investors and research teams, ensuring practical usability and investment impact

• Act as the central point of contact for third-party data inventory, driving visibility, reuse, and discoverability of datasets across teams

• Engage with a broad range of vendors, supporting strategic data partnerships, negotiations, and commercial assessment of value and fit

• Coordinate dataset reviews with IDS and control functions, ensuring compliant use of data, including licensing and AI/ML usage rights

• Partner with Business Managers and platform teams to streamline the data acquisition lifecycle (onboarding → trial → production) and ensure consistent workflows across PMG

• Connect investors, data teams, engineering, and vendors to coordinate workflows and bring in the right expertise to drive outcomes

• Support governance initiatives (including Aladdin Alpha) and contribute to improving transparency of data usage and spend across PMG

Skills & Experience

• Experience in financial services, data strategy, consulting, or investment research

• Exposure to alternative data and/or investment research workflows

• Familiarity with data licensing, governance, and AI/ML usage considerations

• Experience working across cross-functional teams spanning investment, data, and technology

• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and prioritise effectively

• Demonstrated commercial acumen, including experience engaging with external vendors and assessing value

• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and drive outcomes across diverse teams

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate between investor needs, data capabilities, and commercial considerations

• Interest in financial markets and the drivers of performance, from macro events to company-level fundamentals

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

• 5+ Years relevant experience in financial services, data, or consulting environments

Nice to Have

• Basic familiarity with data tools (SQL, Python) or data platforms.

For New York, NY Only the salary range for this position is USD$155,000.00 - USD$210,000.00 . Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, and benefits including healthcare, leave benefits, and retirement benefits. BlackRock operates a pay-for-performance compensation philosophy and your total compensation may vary based on role, location, and frm, department and individual performance.

For Boston, MA and Atlanta, GA Only the salary range for this position is USD$140,000.00 - USD$200,000.00 . Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, and benefits including healthcare, leave benefits, and retirement benefits. BlackRock operates a pay-for-performance compensation philosophy and your total compensation may vary based on role, location, and firm, department and individual performance. It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of benefits including a strong retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive healthcare, support for working parents and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.

BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.