Data Sourcing & Strategy Associate

Bridgewater · Westport · $170,000–$225,000 (stated in the posting)

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About Bridgewater    

Bridgewater Associates is a premier asset management firm, focused on delivering unique insight and partnership for the most sophisticated global institutional investors.     

Our investment process is driven by a tireless pursuit to understand how the world’s markets and economies work — using cutting-edge technology to validate and execute on timeless and universal investment principles.     

Founded in 1975, we are a community of independent thinkers who share a commitment to excellence. By fostering a culture of openness, transparency, and inclusion, we strive to unlock the most complex questions in investment strategy, management, and corporate culture.     

Explore more information about Bridgewater on our website here.  

Our Culture    

Our culture is anchored in excellence, meaning constant improvement, and it is deeply tied to our mission. Because markets are objective, competitive, and getting smarter everyday, we need to keep rapidly improving to have any chance of beating them. Truth is our most essential tool for engaging with the markets and constantly improving because once you know what's true about your problems and opportunities, you can determine how to get better. Valuing truth means being transparent about your decision-making and mistakes, giving and receiving feedback with humility, and fighting for the best answers over hierarchy, ego, or self-interest. Operating this way is hard – it's only possible because we build meaning in our work and relationships. This meaning comes from the audacity of the mission, and the joy of working alongside people who make you a better version of yourself. The culture, like Bridgewater itself, is always evolving. In 1997 our founder Ray Dalio wrote down his lessons, starting with a Philosophy Statement which remains our foundation. This later evolved into a set of 300+ Principles. In 2022, when Ray transitioned the company, we re-underwrote several of those principles and evolved others, with a specific focus on Meritocracy. Today the culture sits, alongside our people, as our most important edge. When we get it right, it’s the engine that powers everything else.  

About Your Role  

In this role, you will be an integral part of the Research, Data Strategy and Acquisition function at Bridgewater. Operating at the front edge of our Investment Data practice, you will be part of the execution and evolution of our Relationship Management, Supplier Knowledge Management, and Internal Stakeholder Management disciplines. You will engage with investors, associates, engineers, and external vendors and sources to improve our understanding of external offerings and vendors’ understanding of our needs, quality management, and business alignment.  

You will be immersed in our workflows, investment questions, supplier challenges, market making and matching, internal marketing/advocacy, and vendor engagement strategy. You will regularly communicate your understanding and assessments to a diverse group of stakeholders, including investment professionals, vendors and service providers, Management, Compliance, Legal, and Finance. You will partner across the firm and with vendors (existing and prospective), collaborating with hundreds of individuals over the course of a year.  

You will drive the following responsibilities:  

• Executing across the systems, sourcing, supply chains, and internal demand we use to acquire, provide and maintain the inbound fuel for the Investment requests that arrive unspecified or overly prescribed, helping the investor clarify what they need. 

• Dynamically understanding the world of offerings, known and unknown to Bridgewater, creating potential market matches, indications of interest, discerning and selecting structure from the external world.   

• Owning the Investment Asks that land unspecified or over-specified, where the investor or colleague cannot say what they need. 

• Understanding and effectively communicating the state of specific components of the sourcing portfolio, and our knowledge bases of passes, no bids, and deferred opportunities.   

• Building, maintaining, and rapidly sorting inbound possibilities, candidate sources and existing data sources and services in the sourcing portfolio.   

• Improving and executing on the ML/AI layer we are rapidly introducing into our external discovery and matching process, designed from first principles. 

• Creating and documenting initiatives to raise the quality, reliability, and efficiency of the practice’s systems.   

• Continuously evaluating and enhancing processes for sourcing, vetting, and delivering content processes at scale.   

• Advocating with existing and potential vendors to improve the quality of their pitches.   

You will be a fit for the role if you:  

• Are curious, practical, analytical, capable, and willing to fail and learn from failing, in broad engagement with a diverse international set of people and processes both inside and outside of Bridgewater.   

• Are able to manage a high volume of work across diverse functions and competing priorities, while effectively communicating, executing and marking to market.   

• Think in terms of systems and naturally look for ways to solve problems through the evolution of those systems.   

• Hold a high degree of personal responsibility and ownership in everything you do.   

• Are willing to operate across all levels of work, starting from basic task execution and evolving into complex, multi-month and multi-modal efforts.   

In this role, you will grow with us by:  

• Undergoing an on-the-job training program that includes structured engagement with the external world, live apprenticeship, and working with highly experienced colleagues.   

• Actively engaging and grappling with the growth and evolution of the practice. 

• Having your voice and perspective heard, and over time representing the firm in important vendor, counterparty, and provider management discussions.   

Minimum Qualifications  

• 4-year degree from an accredited undergraduate institution  

• 3-7 years of relevant work experience at an investment bank, vendor/service provider or asset management firm  

• Experience in at least two of the following: Relationship Management, Supplier Knowledge Management (understanding what suppliers and sources can offer, beyond their past performance), or Internal Stakeholder Management 

• Experience with Capital Markets market or research data is a strong plus  

Physical Requirements 

The anticipated onsite requirement for this role is three days per week at our Westport, CT campus and one day per week at our NYC campus.  

Compensation Band 

The wage range for this role is $170,000-$225,000 inclusive of base salary and discretionary target bonus. The expected base salary for this role is between 70%-80% of this wage range.  

Why Choose Bridgewater?  

It takes all types to make Bridgewater great. We seek a diverse group of innovative thinkers and push them to engage in rigorous and thoughtful inquiry. We develop people through an honest examination of their abilities and performance, enabling personal growth and professional development. We strive to provide you with opportunities that will challenge you and unlock your potential.  

One of our core priorities at Bridgewater is to enable our employees to build a great life and career, and we believe our benefits are an important extension of that philosophy. As such, currently Bridgewater offers a competitive suite of benefits. Explore more information about Bridgewater’s benefits on our website here.   

Bridgewater reserves the right to change its current benefits program at any time, in a manner that is consistent with applicable federal and state regulations.    

This job description is not a contract and confers no contractual rights, privileges, or benefits on any applicant or potential applicant. Bridgewater has the right to change any and all terms of this job description, including, but not limited to, job responsibilities, qualifications and benefits. Nothing in this job description constitutes an offer or guarantee of employment. Please note that we do not provide immigration sponsorship for this position.     

Bridgewater Associates, LP is an Equal Opportunity Employer  

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