Director of Business Development (Pension Funds)

The Company:

Are you - Passionate about real estate?  Fascinated by investment management? Interested in FinTech? If your answer is yes to any of the above, then Unison is the place for you! 

Unison is uniquely positioned to revolutionize home financing and real estate investing. For homeowners, Unison offers a smart new way to own homes through equity partnerships. For investors, Unison Investment Management is creating a brand-new asset class through cutting-edge property valuation and credit decisioning technologies.

The Opportunity:

The equity in owner-occupied residential real estate represents a $24T asset that is nearly absent from institutional investor’s portfolios.  Unison is the leader and pioneer in creating an investable asset from the equity of owner-occupied residential real estate and we are looking for a team member to develop the sector and be responsible for the pension fund investor channel. 

There is a strong demand from institutional investors for diversified investments that deliver inflation-hedged, high risk-adjusted returns. Our investment strategy offers that and many other compelling attributes. The combination of investor demand, Unison’s platform, and your drive to develop a market for a new asset class, provides an immense opportunity for success.

As this market continues to grow and evolve, our institutional clients look to Unison for leadership and education on how to incorporate our asset into their portfolio construction.  We are looking for a highly motivated individual to join our Institutional Team as the Director of Business Development for Pension Fund Investments in the US and Canada. The successful candidate will work in a dynamic environment and have real passion for real estate, the financial markets and cutting edge financial technology. The ideal applicant will have established client relationships with pension funds and other institutional investors as well as the enthusiasm to continuously expand their network of clients and prospects.

The Position:

This position is within Unison’s Investment Management business and will be part of the Institutional Sales and Capital Markets Team, reporting directly to the Global Head of Markets. Your primary focus will be sales and marketing of our open-ended private REIT and structured products.

As a Director of Business Development, the candidate will act as a subject matter authority to a prospective client base of primarily private and public pensions.  Additional relationships with endowments, sovereign wealth funds, asset managers and foundations as well as the OCIOs and Investment Consultants that serve these clients is a plus. 

Responsibilities will include direct client coverage, prospecting, developing a sales plan and executing a pension fund sales strategy within the US and Canada. The successful candidate will develop a deep understanding of our asset, prospective client needs and our firm.The role involves a consultative selling approach by providing a portfolio solution for key decision makers with portfolio management responsibilities. 

We are quantitative investment managers, and we are looking for someone comfortable discussing and marketing a complex asset, but having the ability to adjust your marketing strategy to the sophistication of the investor.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Raising new investment capital for our funds and separately managed accounts
• Establishing a dialogue with your current client base, educating them about Unison’s innovative platform and our asset, with the goal of converting them to an active investor
• Developing deep relationships with primarily prospective pension fund clients
• Attending industry-specific conferences, both virtually and in-person
• Collaborate with Unison’s internal Portfolio Management, Research, Operations, Compliance/Legal and Consumer Teams
• Grow revenue and expand Unison’s market share
• Think entrepreneurially about your clients and explore new business opportunities within your mandate
• Build use cases for Unison’s assets with an understanding of how clients can use our asset and implement strategies
• Effectively prioritize and communicate client needs
• Continuously manage your territory using our Salesforce CRM system, including pipeline and recording sales activities

Qualifications / Desired Skills:

• Successful long-term track record of successfully selling alternative investments to pension funds in the US and Canada.
• An established client list that is focused primarily on private and public pension funds.  Endowments, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, investment managers, OCIOs, consultants and insurance companies are a plus.
• Familiar with a liability-driven investment strategy and ESG investing
• The ability to market and sell an innovative financial product, convincing investors of the immense relative value of adding our asset to their portfolio.
• Proficiency in Google applications, Microsoft Office, Salesforce CRM, Preqin and Bloomberg.
• Possess a strong understanding of the financial services industry, real estate and global capital markets products
• Motivated individual with a positive attitude
• Intellectually curious and strong analytical skills
• Ability to multi-task long-term and short-term goals effectively and efficiently
• Excellent communication, social, and relationship building skills
• Strong quantitative aptitude
• Travel required: 15-25%

We recognize that people come with experience and talent beyond just the technical requirements of a job. If your experience is close to what you see listed here, please still consider applying. Diversity of experience and skills combined with passion is a key to innovation and excellence. Therefore, we encourage people from all backgrounds to apply to our positions. Please let us know if you require accommodations during the interview process.

About us:

Unison Investment Management invests in owner-occupied residential properties in areas of the US that have strong demand for housing with limited supply and strong wage growth.  We use proprietary and patent-pending technology to select and manage our investments to produce above-market returns. Unison provides investors efficient, diversified and scalable exposure to the US housing market without the expense or liability of owning physical property.  Think Fintech meets Real Estate investing.  We are financially backed by world-class institutions such as Citi, RBC, Canadian Pension Funds - OPTrust and HOOPP, Fidelity and Nordea.

The last few years have been record-breaking for Unison. We expanded our offering to 30 states, surpassed the $6.5B mark in real estate investments and partnered with almost 8,000 customers through our HomeOwner programs. This tremendous growth was recognized by the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 awards two years in a row, as well as being included in the most recent Forbes Fintech 50 list.

For additional information, visit www.unisonim.com, www.unison.com or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

Unison provides equal employment opportunity to all individuals regardless of their race, age, creed, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, gender, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal, or local law.