Asset & Wealth Management, Global Stewardship Team – Global Proxy Voting Implementation Lead, Vice President

Asset & Wealth Management

A career with Goldman Sachs Asset & Wealth Management is an opportunity to help clients across the globe realize their potential, while you discover your own. As part of one of the world's leading asset managers with over $2 trillion in assets under supervision, you can expect to participate in exciting investment opportunities while collaborating with talented colleagues from all asset classes and regions, and building meaningful relationships with your clients. Working in a culture that values integrity and transparency, you will be part of a diverse team that is passionate about our craft, our clients, and building sustainable success. Bringing together traditional and alternative investments, Goldman Sachs Asset & Wealth Management provides clients around the world with a dedicated partnership and focus on long-term performance. As a primary investment area within Goldman Sachs, we provide investment and advisory services for pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, financial advisors and individuals.

Global Stewardship Team 

Within the public markets investing business, the Global Stewardship Team helps drive the continued enhancement of our global approach to stewardship, in collaboration with our equity and fixed income investment teams. The team also works closely with other areas of the firm, including request for proposal (RFP), risk and performance analytics, legal and compliance.

Key Responsibilities:

Team Organization and Governance

• Design and manage the structure of internal working groups and serve as a co-chair for moderation meetings, including the preparation of all meeting materials and documentation.
• Maintain a centralized repository for all proxy-related information, including, but not limited to: the source book, voting reports, policy documents, and voting backup information.

Regional Coordination and Decision-Making:

• Lead the coordination of approvals and decision-making across the EMEA, Americas, and APAC regions to ensure global alignment and differences on voting positions.
• Act as the primary liaison between regional teams and the Head of Stewardship.
• Review and approve proxy voting decisions in Americas region and coordinate voting decisions across regions to ensure global consistency

Company Engagement:

• Engaging with the management of investee companies on corporate strategy and governance throughout the year, both independently and with portfolio managers; 
• Collaborating with internal stakeholders to propose the annual engagement roadmap for the team;
• Coordinating and strategizing with Portfolio Managers to evaluate investee companies for material risks and opportunities; 
• Tracking meetings and documenting meeting discussions to identify areas of success and opportunities

Policy and Compliance Monitoring:

• Coordinate the annual update of regional Proxy Voting Policies by drafting updates and obtaining necessary approvals from investment teams.
• Manage the Proxy Voting Council by preparing all necessary materials.
• Draft approved public policy changes, ensuring policy changes are published on the website and internal document repositories.
• Prepare materials for annual mutual fund board meetings.
• Maintain comprehensive desk procedures to ensure regulatory and internal compliance.

Strategic Reporting and Data Management:

• Gather global proxy voting and engagement statistics for biweekly, quarterly, and annual stewardship reports.
• Lead the coordination and drafting of the annual Proxy Season Review, managing the framework, division of sections, and the internal approval process.
• Ensure the accuracy of quarterly proxy vote disclosures and sign off on final reports before public release.

Vendor and Platform Management:

• Serve as the primary point of contact for third-party proxy service providers to ensure policy alignment 
• Work closely with the technology team to build out platform capabilities (such as Fluent) that increase efficiency and automate voting processes.
• Serve as the point person to direct and resolve any technical issues related to proxy voting technology platforms.

Thought Leadership

• Serve as a key subject matter expert for the organization on proxy voting and corporate governance, representing the firm in appropriate forums and industry working groups
• Provide a strategic voice by authoring internal briefings and content regarding emerging governance and proxy voting trends
• Develop voting related research insights to provide insight to investment teams

Basic Qualifications:

• 12 + years of experience executing proxy voting and engagement research within the asset management business, performing shareholder engagement with a publicly listed company, developing stewardship strategies 
• Strong communication, interpersonal skills, and attention to detail
• Strong professional character, self-starter, and ability to both work and manage a diverse team
• Demonstrated willingness and ability to partner with portfolio managers