Investment Valuation Associate

Salary Range: $72,000 - $167,000

Job Posting End Date: November 25, 2024

We’ve Got You Under Our Wing

We are the duck. We develop and empower our people, cultivate relationships, give back to our community, and celebrate every success along the way. We do it all…The Aflac Way.

Aflac, a Fortune 500 company, is an industry leader in voluntary insurance products that pay cash directly to policyholders and one of America's best-known brands. Aflac has been recognized as Fortune’s 50 Best Workplaces for Diversity and as one of World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere.com.

Our business is about being there for people in need. So, ask yourself, are you the duck? If so, there’s a home, and a flourishing career for you at Aflac.

Work Designation. Depending on your location within the continental US, this role may be hybrid or remote.

• If you live within 50 miles of the Aflac offices located in Columbus, GA or Columbia, SC, this role will be hybrid. This means you will be expected to work in the office for at least 60% of the work week. You will work from your home (within the continental US) for the remaining portion of the work week. Details of this schedule will be discussed with your leadership. 
• If you live more than 50 miles from the Aflac offices located in Columbus, GA or Columbia, SC, this role will be remote. This means you will be expected to work from your home, within the continental US. If the role is remote, there may be occasions that you are requested to come to the office based on business need. Any requests to come to the office would be communicated with you in advance.

What does it take to be successful at Aflac?

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

What does it take to be successful in this role?

• 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

Education & Experience Required

• Bachelor's Degree In Computational Finance, Financial Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Accounting, Finance, Economics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering or a related field
• Six 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.)

Or an equivalent combination of education and experience

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

Travel

Less than or equal to 10%

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

Total Rewards

This compensation range is specific to the job level and takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to: education, experience, licensure, certifications, geographic location, and internal equity. The range has been created in good faith based on information known to Aflac at the time of the posting.  Compensation decisions are dependent on the circumstances of each case. This salary range does not include any potential incentive pay or benefits, however, such information will be provided separately when appropriate. The salary range for this position is $72,000 to $167,000.

In addition to the base salary, we offer an array of benefits to meet your needs including medical, dental, and vision coverage, prescription drug coverage, health care flexible spending, dependent care flexible spending, Aflac supplemental policies (Accident, Cancer, Critical Illness and Hospital Indemnity offered at no costs to employee), 401(k) plans, annual bonuses, and an opportunity to purchase company stock.  On an annual basis, you’ll also be offered 11 paid holidays, up to 20 days PTO to be used for any reason, and, if eligible, state mandated sick leave (Washington employees accrue 1 hour sick leave for every 40 hours worked) and other leaves of absence, if eligible, when needed to support your physical, financial, and emotional well-being. Aflac complies with all applicable leave laws, including, but not limited to sick and safe leave, and adoption and parental leave, in all states and localities.