Lead Investment Stewardship Analyst, APAC

Support Vanguard’s investment stewardship efforts in the APAC region. Serves as an experienced analyst leading day-to-day company engagement, research, and proxy voting activities. Evaluate highly complex proposals and develop proxy voting recommendations in alignment with Vanguard's proxy voting guidelines.

About Vanguard

More than 45 years ago, John C. Bogle had a vision to start an investment company that did things differently. A company with no external shareholders. Where all the profits were invested back into the business and used to lower costs. Evidently, it was as bold as it was brilliant. To this day, Vanguard Group still has no external shareholders. That means no share prices to protect, and no profits to generate for outside owners. 

Today, Vanguard is one of the world’s largest investment management companies, serving more than 50 million investors worldwide. For more than 25 years Vanguard Australia has been supporting individual investors, financial advisers, and superannuation members to achieve their long-term financial goals.

About the Job

Vanguard’s Investment Stewardship program has a clear mandate: to safeguard and promote long-term shareholder returns on behalf of Vanguard’s passively managed equity funds and their investors. We carry out this mandate by promoting governance practices that are associated with long-term shareholder returns at the companies in which the funds invest. We do this by:

• Engaging with portfolio company directors and executives to learn about companies’ corporate governance practices and to share our perspectives on corporate governance practices associated with long-term shareholder returns.
• Voting proxies at portfolio company shareholder meetings based on each fund’s proxy voting policies and guidelines.
• Promoting corporate governance practices associated with long-term shareholder returns through our published materials and participation in industry events and initiatives.

A Lead Investment Stewardship Analyst serves as an experienced Specialist leading portfolio company research and proxy voting activities and plays a key role in supporting direct portfolio company engagement. They also analyze proposals and develops proxy voting recommendations in alignment with the Vanguard funds’ proxy voting guidelines. Candidates with legal, governance, research, data and finance backgrounds and who have an interest in risk oversight and governance issues would be welcome.

In this role, you will:

• Develop a thorough understanding of Vanguard's Investment Stewardship philosophy and guidelines as well as an expertise in select corporate governance areas, such as board composition and effectiveness, board oversight of strategy and risk, executive compensation, and shareholder rights.
• Contribute to the development and application of market-specific voting guidelines in key APAC markets.
• Prepare for and lead engagement conversations with stakeholders from funds' portfolio companies to communicate Vanguard's approach to investment stewardship.
• Utilize company disclosures, third-party research, and other available information to analyze complex proposals against the Vanguard-advised funds’ proxy voting guidelines and present relevant recommendations.
• Review individual analysis and proxy voting recommendations produced by other crew members for proposals.
• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with business partners and vendors. Proactively communicates with stakeholders and business partners, including presentation of ideas and recommendations.
• Lead projects across various divisions of the global organisation and develops ideas for initiatives to improve outcomes, increase operational efficiency, and reduce risk.
• Mentor and provide feedback to less experienced crew members on application of Vanguard’s voting guidelines, engagement preparation materials or general governance topics.
• Participate in special projects and perform other duties as assigned.

What it takes

• Minimum of five years related work experience. Direct experience with voting or engagement is highly preferable.
• Undergraduate degree; pursuit of graduate degree or certification.
• Strong business and investment acumen, including a demonstrated interest in investment stewardship topics such as corporate governance and public policy or regulation.
• Excellent analytical and written/verbal communication skills. Comfortable communicating with individuals of all levels.
• Fluency in one of the following languages would be beneficial: Japanese, Korean, Mandarin.
• Strong research, analytical and conceptual thinking skills.
• Strong work ethic with a proven ability to thrive in a fast paced, dynamic, and ambiguous environment.
• Able to prioritize effectively in response to evolving business needs.

About our Program

https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/corporatesite/us/en/corp/how-we-advocate/investment-stewardship/stewardship-in-action.html

Inclusion Statement

Vanguard’s continued commitment to diversity and inclusion is firmly rooted in our culture. Every decision we make to best serve our clients, crew (internally employees are referred to as crew), and communities is guided by one simple statement: “Do the right thing.”

We believe that a critical aspect of doing the right thing requires building diverse, inclusive, and highly effective teams of individuals who are as unique as the clients they serve. We empower our crew to contribute their distinct strengths to achieving Vanguard’s core purpose through our values.

When all crew members feel valued and included, our ability to collaborate and innovate is amplified, and we are united in delivering on Vanguard’s core purpose.

Our core purpose: To take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success.

How We Work

Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for the majority of our crew members, designed to capture the benefits of enhanced flexibility while enabling in-person learning, collaboration, and connection. We believe our mission-driven and highly collaborative culture is a critical enabler to support long-term client outcomes and enrich the employee experience.