What does a senior portfolio manager do?
A senior portfolio manager is responsible for evaluating the financial portfolios of clients to identify the best investment decisions accordingly. Senior portfolio managers conduct data and statistical analysis of the financial market performance to measure the value of financial instruments and funds. They manage the buying and selling of financial securities based on the clients' specifications and requirements and regularly following the market movement to meet the clients' best interests. A senior portfolio manager must have excellent analytical and leadership skills, especially in coordinating with portfolio analysts, to determine the best courses to minimize the clients' financial loss and risks.
Senior portfolio manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior portfolio manager resumes:
- Manage internal pricing system for exchange trade securities and over-the-counter instruments by verifying all instruments have valid daily closing exchange price.
- Improve portfolio s performance by enhancing research quality, analyzing equities, and selecting stocks that outperform relevant benchmarks.
- Provide oversight and execute multiple complex transactions under very difficult market conditions.
- Review and monitor construction and provide oversight from inception of a portfolio to operations and disposition.
- Prepare comprehensive financial/market analysis to evaluate and support investment opportunities for new investments in the different multi-asset portfolios.
- Collaborate with cross sector portfolio managers on overall public fix income allocation decisions and deep dives into pertinent global macro issues.
- Plan for multiple investment scenarios's using models and test these models against various factors in Bloomberg.
- Define operating model/roles for BPM teams.
- Review municipal bond fund portfolio positioning with lead manager via monthly attribution analysis.
- Start a consistently profitable duration-neutral credit arbitrage portfolio invest in investment grade corporate bonds.
- Monitor preparation of asset/liability management report.
Senior portfolio manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Senior Portfolio Managers are proficient in Portfolio Management, Risk Management, and Project Management. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Analytical skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Portfolio Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Portfolio Management, 10%
Led annual budget process and enterprise prioritization process for NAD IT organization and led implementation of Project Portfolio Management system.
- Risk Management, 6%
Managed Small Business Administration servicing with regards to obtaining the authorization, risk management and loan modifications.
- Project Management, 5%
Reviewed project management methodologies and best practices from the legacy organization and combined them into one cohesive methodology/templates.
- Real Estate, 5%
Initial due diligence quantified both obsolete and functional real estate, site conditions, accessibility, and complicated environmental remediation.
- Business Development, 4%
Managed a team of portfolio managers and analysts while owning accountability of client relationships and new business development.
- Client Relationships, 4%
Exceeded investment performance expectations which resulted in retention of many client relationships during period of significant turnover in the department.
"portfolio management," "risk management," and "project management" are among the most common skills that senior portfolio managers use at work. You can find even more senior portfolio manager responsibilities below, including:
Organizational skills. One of the key soft skills for a senior portfolio manager to have is organizational skills. You can see how this relates to what senior portfolio managers do because "because financial managers deal with a range of information and documents, they must have structures in place to be effective in their work." Additionally, a senior portfolio manager resume shows how senior portfolio managers use organizational skills: "managed the transformation of project management processes to use agile methodologies to align with organizational move towards agile methodologies. "
Analytical skills. Another essential skill to perform senior portfolio manager duties is analytical skills. Senior portfolio managers responsibilities require that "to assist executives in making decisions, financial managers need to evaluate data and information that affects their organization." Senior portfolio managers also use analytical skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "reviewed and calculated monthly portfolio performance measurement data. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for senior portfolio managers to perform their duties. For an example of how senior portfolio manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "financial managers must be able to explain and justify complex financial transactions." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior portfolio manager: "worked with hr department and plan provider, fidelity investments, on all investment related communications and issues. ".
Detail oriented. A big part of what senior portfolio managers do relies on "detail oriented." You can see how essential it is to senior portfolio manager responsibilities because "in preparing and analyzing reports, such as balance sheets and income statements, financial managers must be precise and attentive to their work in order to avoid errors." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical senior portfolio manager tasks: "perform detailed consumer, business, operations, and financial analysis using kpis to develop and/or enhance the strategic planning cycle. "
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in senior portfolio manager job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what senior portfolio managers do. Senior portfolio manager responsibilities rely on this skill because "financial managers need strong skills in certain branches of mathematics, including algebra." You can also see how senior portfolio manager duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "produced current investment manager monitoring statistics and write-up for investment committee meetings. "
The three companies that hire the most senior portfolio managers are:
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Compare different senior portfolio managers
Senior portfolio manager vs. Cash manager
A cash manager is responsible for monitoring cash flow, analyzing financial transactions, and allocating adequate budget and resources for every department's operations. Cash managers conduct data and statistical analysis to determine the company's expenses and financial loss and strategize techniques in minimizing those risks. They also help senior management in identifying business opportunities that would generate more revenue resources and increase profits for the business. A cash manager handles billing disputes, resolves account discrepancies, and submits accurate financial reports.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior portfolio manager are more likely to require skills like "portfolio management," "risk management," "project management," and "real estate." On the other hand, a job as a cash manager requires skills like "customer service," "reconciliations," "ach," and "petty cash." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Cash managers tend to make the most money working in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $101,436. In contrast, senior portfolio managers make the biggest average salary, $146,484, in the technology industry.The education levels that cash managers earn slightly differ from senior portfolio managers. In particular, cash managers are 14.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior portfolio manager. Additionally, they're 1.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior portfolio manager vs. Credit and collection manager
A credit and collection manager is responsible for evaluating credit services and supervising the credit and collection team in reaching out to clients with outstanding debts and credit applications. Credit and collection managers oversee the cash flow systems and identify opportunities to minimize excessive loss and resolve credit disputes. They also determine a customer's eligibility for credit options by analyzing documents and financial status. A credit collection manager must have excellent communication and analytical skills to process receivables and perform credit reconciliations accurately and efficiently.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, senior portfolio manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "portfolio management," "risk management," "project management," and "real estate." Meanwhile, a credit and collection manager has duties that require skills in areas such as "credit limits," "customer service," "dso," and "customer accounts." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
On average, credit and collection managers earn a lower salary than senior portfolio managers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, credit and collection managers earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $77,448. Whereas senior portfolio managers have higher pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $146,484.credit and collection managers earn lower levels of education than senior portfolio managers in general. They're 17.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior portfolio manager vs. Tax manager
A Tax Manager is responsible for managing tax reporting and compliance within an organization. They provide innovative tax planning and prepare state and federal tax returns for companies.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a senior portfolio manager is likely to be skilled in "portfolio management," "risk management," "project management," and "business development," while a typical tax manager is skilled in "cpa," "tax planning," "tax compliance," and "taxation."
Tax managers make a very good living in the finance industry with an average annual salary of $96,231. On the other hand, senior portfolio managers are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $146,484.When it comes to education, tax managers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior portfolio managers. In fact, they're 3.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior portfolio manager vs. Finance manager
A finance manager is responsible for monitoring the financial system of a company. Their tasks include handling their organization's financial status, generating cost estimates and budget goals, identifying business opportunities to increase revenues and profitability, improving financial strategies, reducing costs, analyzing account statements, processing invoice as needed, analyzing market trends, searching potential partnerships, and presenting reports. A finance manager must have excellent analytical skills and knowledge of the accounting and financial industry. They are responsible for providing the best recommendations for the organization's growth.
Types of senior portfolio manager
Updated January 8, 2025
