0922 Investment Officer - Sustainable Investing and Stewardship - San Francisco Employees' Retirement System (0922) (158675)

Who We Are

The San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS) is dedicated to securing, protecting, and prudently investing the pension trust assets, administering mandated benefits programs, and providing promised benefits to the active and retired members of the City and County of San Francisco.

Established in 1889 as a fund for families and orphans of firefighters and police officers, today the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System serves more than 75,000 active, vested, and retired employees of the City and County of San Francisco and their survivors.

What We Do

The Investment Division serves as a resource to the Retirement Board in the development of investment policies and practices. In accordance with the annual investment plan, the investment team deploys capital with the objectives of enhancing the structure and diversity of the investment portfolio and sustaining long-term performance. Additionally, the Investment Division’s professional staff analyzes, develops, and recommends asset allocation mixes, manages investment portfolios, and monitors the activities and performance of external investment managers.

• Application Opening: October 25,2025
• Application Deadline: Open Until Filled  
• Salary: $134,576 and $171,834 annually
• Recruitment ID: RTF0158674-01128745      

This job announcement will not close before December 31, 2025. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Appointment Type

This permanent exempt position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service Examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer.

What We’re Looking For

The Investment Officer of Sustainable Investing and Stewardship “IO” assists in the management of SFERS’ Sustainable Investing and Stewardship programs under direction of the Director of Sustainable Investing and Stewardship. The IO is responsible for the following and will keep senior investment staff informed on the relevant issues:

• Assists in analyzing sustainability and corporate governance risks and opportunities that may affect the SFERS portfolio.
• Prepares reports on emerging sustainable investing and corporate governance-related regulation, public policy, and other trends in the market related to sustainable and responsible investing.
• Performs regular sustainable investing due diligence on existing and prospective investment managers.
• Provides sustainable investing-related analysis and written reports to support investment recommendations and performance reports.
• Assists in securing relevant quantitative data and information on sustainable investing subject matter.
• Assists in conducting investment stewardship activities such as engaged with underlying companies in the SFERS portfolio and executing proxy votes according to corporate governance principles and proxy voting guidelines.
• Assists in periodic assessment and reporting of cross organizational sustainable investing, corporate governance, and investment stewardship activities, including annual Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) reporting.
• Takes direction from senior investment staff and completes assigned tasks accurately and on time.
• Responsible for representing SFERS with distinction and class to external investment managers and other stakeholders.

1. Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in finance, economics, business administration, accounting, statistics, environmental sciences, sustainability, or similar field; AND
2. Three (3) years of investing and/or sustainability and/or investment stewardship experience with an investment management firm, pension plan, university, endowment, foundation, corporation, family office, or consulting/services firm.

Substitution

• Possession of a graduate degree in Business Administration, Finance, Statistics, Investment Management, Economics or similar field or possession of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation may be substituted for an undergraduate degree in a different field than described above.

• Two (2) years of investment management experience at a position equivalent to an Investment Officer or higher with an investment management firm, pension plan, university, endowment, foundation, corporation, family office, consulting firm or other investment institution with at least $1 billion in assets, or seven years of such responsibility at a firm of any size, may substituted for an undergraduate degree in a different field than described above.

How to Stand Out

Desirable Qualifications:

• Knowledge and prior experience with sustainable investing and stewardship concepts, specifically conducting fundamental research and/or evaluating sustainable investing performance of external investment managers in public equity, fixed income, and/or private market strategies.
• Experience in understanding sophisticated relevant investment strategies and concepts, such as sustainable or impact investing approach across a range of asset classes.
• Expertise in relevant data systems such as MSCI ESG Manager, Sustainalytics Global Access, Glass Lewis ViewPoint, and others.
• Prior experience in investment stewardship and corporate governance including proxy voting and engaging companies on sustainability matters.
• Subject matter expertise in climate change as it relates to investment management.
• Strong organizational and analytical skills with a demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Experience with Evestment, Caissa, Style Analytics, StyleAdvisor, and Bloomberg Terminal.
• Strong writing and presentation skills with a genuine interest in the subject matter.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal).
• Excellent attention to detail and committed to delivering the highest quality work.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and under the pressure of tight deadlines.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and handle multiple, time-sensitive tasks.
• Highly self-motivated and hardworking with an ability to work and think independently as well as in a collaborative, team-oriented environment.
• High level of professionalism and with an ability to build networks and positive working relationships with key internal and external contacts.
• Sound judgment, integrity, and personal values.

The stated desirable qualifications may be used to identify job finalists at the end of the selection process when candidates are referred for hiring.

VERIFICATION

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements.

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

All work experience, education, training, and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application. 

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification, or may lead to lower scores.

SELECTION PROCEDURES

Applications will be screened for relevant qualifying experience. Additional screening mechanisms may be implemented in order to determine candidates’ qualifications. Only those applicants who most closely meet the needs to the Agency will be invited to participate in the selection process. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement in the selection process.

• Information About The Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Seniority Credit in Promotional Exams
• Veterans Preference
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

HOW TO APPLY

All applicants must submit a resume and completed job application (all sections, including Experience and Education, must be completed) in order to be considered. Resumes will not be taken as a substitute for completing the application. 

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process.

Visit careers.sf.gov and begin the application process.

• Select the “I’m Interested” button and follow instructions on the screen

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com).

Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the recruitment analyst, Michael Nettles, at [email protected].

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.