CFA Institute
Head, Investment Practice & Professional Standards
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Head, Investment Practice & Professional Standards
Location: London, UK, New York or Washington DC (preferred), with Charlottesville, VA or select US East Coast locations (GA, FL, NC) also considered.
Reports to: Managing Director, Research & Policy Center
CFA Institute is hiring a Head, Investment Practice & Professional Standards to lead its investment-practice and professional-standards capability. You will steward CFA Institute's professional standards architecture, including ethical frameworks, professional conduct guidance, and voluntary standards such as the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS), while building the mechanisms that translate research, foresight, and institutional insight into practical guidance, tools, and engagement approaches practitioners can use.
What You'll Do
- Set strategic direction for the Research & Policy Center's (RPC) investment-practice and standards capability, ensuring professional guidance, standards, and related assets stay relevant as practice and market conditions evolve.
- Own the evolution of CFA Institute's professional standards architecture, including ethical frameworks, professional conduct guidance, voluntary standards such as GIPS, cases, and related interpretation mechanisms. Maintain a living-readiness discipline and determine when evidence or changing practice calls for continued monitoring, updated content, new guidance, cases, interpretation, or more fundamental standards-level change.
- Build a clear view of priority practitioner audiences, their workflows, decision contexts, constraints, needs, and adoption barriers, and design the practical routes, guidance, tools, cases, and engagement mechanisms that translate RPC's research and insight into real-world use and adoption.
- Establish a coherent practitioner-engagement and activation approach across RPC, connecting priority audiences, substantive themes, assets, consultations, roundtables, convenings, and feedback mechanisms so that engagement is purposeful rather than ad hoc.
- Partner across RPC and the wider enterprise to turn research and house views into coherent, reusable practitioner-facing and enterprise-facing materials, while the relevant specialist teams retain ownership of the underlying intellectual content. Equip downstream partners and RPC teams themselves to use those assets consistently and effectively.
- Communicate clearly and credibly with senior leaders and external stakeholders, leading with conclusions and translating complex standards or practice issues into concise implications and actionable recommendations.
- Lead, coach, and develop a large, senior, multidisciplinary team, setting priorities, allocating resources, building capability, and ensuring that specialist expertise is translated into clear, timely, and usable outcomes.
What We're Looking For
- Significant experience leading and developing teams, including setting direction, allocating work, and driving accountability.
- Proven track record delivering tangible outputs and assets, not just strategy or recommendations.
- Substantial experience in financial services, a professional body, or a comparable organization, together with a broad understanding of how different parts of the investment industry fit together.
- Significant experience translating complex research, standards, or technical content into practical guidance, tools, or audience-specific materials.
- Experience overseeing professional standards, ethical frameworks, voluntary codes, practitioner guidance, or similarly governed professional assets.
- Significant experience designing or leading practitioner engagement, such as roundtables, consultations, or advisory groups.
- Strong understanding of investment practice, institutional decision-making, fiduciary responsibility, and professional standards, sufficient to direct subject-matter experts and exercise credible judgment.
- Strong strategic and operational judgment, with the ability to translate broad institutional objectives into clear priorities, delivery mechanisms, and practical execution.
- Strong stakeholder-management and interpersonal judgment, with the ability to build trust, challenge constructively, navigate competing perspectives, and influence senior internal and external audiences without relying solely on formal authority.
- Ability to balance rigor with speed, determining when further validation is required and when the available evidence is sufficient to move forward.
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You'll Thrive in This Role If...
- You’re motivated by seeing ideas built, adopted, and used, not merely developed.
- You are as focused on whether an idea works for its intended audience as on the quality of the underlying thinking.
- You enjoy working with senior, technically deep specialists, and you know how to bring a well-established team along through change rather than push against it.
- You understand the investment profession broadly: what different roles need, and what motivates them.
Nice to Have
- A CFA charter or similar credential, a bonus, though not required.
- Experience in a go-to-market or sales-enablement function, translating complex research into accessible and decision-useful insights for practitioners in the financial services industry.
Why Join Us
- Shape the standards and guidance that the investment profession relies on, at global scale.
- Build the practitioner-translation and activation capability that connects RPC insight to professional use, while leading the continued evolution of an established standards function.
- Partner directly with senior leadership across Research & Policy Center and the wider organization.
- Travel: some travel expected for practitioner convenings, roundtables, and stakeholder engagement.
At CFA Institute, we are committed to transparency and equity in our hiring process. In compliance with wage transparency laws in many of the jurisdictions in which we recruit, we provide the following information regarding compensation for this position.
Expected salary range:
- US - Metro Locations (DC, NY): $215,000 - $280,000 per year
- US - National Locations (VA, NC, GA, FL): $175,000 - $225,000 per year
- UK - London: £125,000 - £160,000 per year
Actual salary within the stated ranges will depend on the individual's experience, qualifications, skills, location, and other job-related factors. Additional benefits include eligibility for an annual discretionary incentive bonus, a 12% employer contribution to a 401(k) or pension plan, and a comprehensive medical benefits package.
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We offer a comprehensive benefits package to support our employees, including health coverage, generous time off, competitive retirement plans, flexible work options, and wellbeing and development programs. You can learn more on our careers site: Working at CFA Institute | Comprehensive Benefits
About CFA Institute
CFA Institute is the global leader in investment excellence and ethics. With nearly 200,000 charterholders across 160 markets, we promote professional growth, uphold ethical standards, and help advance better financial markets. Join a global organization committed to putting investors first.
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Important Message
Your application must clearly demonstrate how you meet the requirements as CFA Institute cannot make assumptions about your education, experience, or location. We thank all those who apply.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. CFA Institute prohibits both discrimination and harassment with regard to all identifying characteristics: any individual employee, group of employees, or prospective employee on the basis of race, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, religion, creed or belief, age, marital or partnership status, marital or family status, care giver status, pregnancy and maternity, sexual and other reproductive health decisions, physical abilities/qualities, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, predisposing genetic characteristic, military or veteran status, status as a victim or witness of domestic violence or sex offense or stalking, unemployment status, infectious disease carrier status, migrant worker status, educational background, socio-economic status, geographic location and culture or any other basis protected by applicable law. This policy impacts all aspects of employment, including but not limited to, recruitment, hiring, compensation, training, development, promotion, demotion, layoff, recall, furlough, transfer, leave of absence, and dismissal. This is a global policy that applies to all CFA Institute employees, regardless of location.
If, due to a disability or current medical condition, you need an accommodation or assistance to complete a job application, you can request one at any stage of the recruitment process. Please send an email to TAHelpdesk@cfainstitute.org noting the accommodations or assistance you are requesting. Please do not include any medical or health information in this email. We will review your request and contact you to discuss the possible options and arrangements. We will try our best to provide you with an accommodation or assistance that meets your needs and respects your preferences.
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