Mortgage Analytics - Palisades

COMPANY OVERVIEW:

Palisades Group is an alternative asset manager in the global residential credit markets having managed more than $34.1 billion of loans, real estate, and fixed income securities since its 2012 inception.  It employs a top-down asset allocation approach across residential whole loans, real estate, opportunistic credit, and fixed income markets in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. The Firm provides clients with a control-oriented management style anchored in asset level risk management, loss mitigation, and value-add strategies.

As of March 31, 2024, Palisades manages mortgage, real estate and fixed income assets that amount to over $17.1 billion in notional balance through a series of separate accounts and discretionary investment funds for globally recognized asset managers, private equity, family office, bank, broker dealer and insurance companies.

Palisades offers individuals an exciting and challenging career in a collegial and collaborative environment. We aim to recruit and retain talented individuals who have demonstrated integrity and intellectual curiosity. We seek individuals who are willing to speak up, constantly striving to improve processes, genuinely excited to tackle complex challenges, technically proficient, transparent, collaborative, highly organized, capable of managing multiple tasks simultaneously, detail-oriented with a focus on both form and substance and driven to fulfilling their commitments.

POSITION SUMMARY:

Palisades is seeking an Associate, Senior Associate, or Vice President to join its Investment Management team to focus on mortgage modeling and analytics in either Austin, Texas, or Evanston/Chicago, Illinois.

As part of the Investment Management team, the candidate will be responsible for the design, development, and implementation of firmwide quantitative models and algorithms. This individual will work closely with traders, portfolio managers, and other stakeholders to establish asset valuations and portfolio marks. The candidate will lead the research and development of proprietary models to support the company's trading and investment strategies. This includes developing, maintaining, and enhancing a variety of mortgage models across product sectors (e.g. non-QM, rehab/construction loans, home equity, mortgage servicing rights, residential mortgage-backed securities) providing comprehensive analytics (default, prepay, severity, and transition models) for calculating asset and portfolio level risk and returns. 

This is a small team, and any candidate must be a team player, able and willing to work on cross-over projects, able to pick up complex concepts and communicate effectively to both internal and external constituents.  The position will allow the candidate to work collaboratively across the Company’s cross-functional teams (Data Research & Reporting, Trading & Analytics, Asset Management, Capital Markets, Transaction Management, and Collateral Management) and to learn from the firm’s industry-leading professionals. The ideal candidate will be intellectually curious, a self-starter, have a strong attention to detail, and be able to work under time-sensitive deadlines.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Create, implement, and manage a comprehensive modeling framework from the ground up.
• This unique opportunity is equal parts modeling as it is transformation management. The successful candidate will have a deep understanding of how forecasting/credit models work and the ability to capture evolving business strategies or exogenous events into the model.
• Lead the curation and analysis of pertinent data for forecasting and tuning models.
• Explain the variations in forecast model outputs based on portfolio trends, planned business actions, and model components/assumptions.
• Understand how inputs and outputs are generated and modify inputs and output for what-if scenarios or regression testing of the models.
• Work with and expand the firm's existing proprietary modeling tools.
• Manage various monthly and quarterly reporting and commentary including slide and deck preparation with attention to accuracy and deadlines.

EXPERIENCE, QUALIFICATIONS, AND SKILLS:

• Education: Advanced degree in Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Financial Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience: Minimum of 4+ years of experience in a quantitative role in a financial services company (3-5 years would be Associate level, 5-8 years: Senior Associate, 8+ years: VP level).
• Experience with financial modeling or in the financial industry is a must.
• Strong programming skills in at least one language, such as Python, R, C++, or Java.
• Familiarity with big data manipulation and analysis tools (e.g., SQL, Spark, Hadoop) along with experience building and implementing models in a cloud-based environment (e.g., Azure, AWS, etc.).
• Experience with machine learning, data mining, econometric modeling, and general statistical modeling.
• Understanding of prepayment, default, and loss models.

BENEFITS:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan matching
• Charitable giving employee matching program
• Continuing education and professional certification expense reimbursement
• Wellness stipend (monthly)
• 13 paid holidays
• Remote work option (Fridays)
• Summer hours on Friday
• Friday team lunches

Palisades is committed to maintaining a positive and collaborative work environment that is safe and respectful of others; our shared success depends on it. Accordingly, we do not tolerate workplace discrimination, violence, or harassment.

We are proud to create a diverse environment and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.