BlackRock Investment Stewardship - Vice President, Communications

Company: BlackRock
Location: New York
Posted on: May 16, 2022

Job Description:

Description About this role About our team: As a fiduciary asset manager, BlackRock is committed to acting in the best long-term interests of our clients. We undertake our Investment Stewardship (BIS) activities to advocate for the sound corporate governance and sustainable business practices that supply to long-term value creation for our clients. In this way, we support BlackRock's purpose of helping more people experience financial well-being. The BIS team is considered an investment function as it engages in proxy voting at portfolio companies to advance the economic interests of clients globally. The BIS team operates in ten offices across three regions - the Americas (New York, Delaware, and San Francisco), EMEA (London, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt) and Asia-Pacific (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney). This role is based in BlackRock's New York office. BlackRock aims to take a common view in-house regarding our engagement and voting policies and uses the BIS group to develop, communicate and implement these policies across the 85 markets and approximately 17,000 shareholder meetings at which the firm votes each year. Interest in the work of BIS has steadily increased over the past few years, as have expectations of clients and others in relation to the communications and transparency of BIS. As BIS is focused on helping BlackRock meet its fiduciary duty to clients, communication directed at and reporting to clients, and other stakeholders, on BIS' work is a key part of the team's output. About the position: The Vice President - Communications will work as part of a team responsible for complementing the work of the three regional teams (AMRS, APAC, EMEA) and communicating it to clients and other stakeholders. The role reports to the Managing Director - Global Institutional Relations and Policy and is based in New York. The intention is for the person in this role to deliver high quality content for client and public communications on BIS' work, particularly on engagements with corporates and policy positions.

• Manage communications to clients and other stakeholders interested in BIS' work
  • Convert information provided by regional team members into content for regular client reports
    • Reports covering voting and engagement activities with case studies and data
    • Annual stewardship report
    • Client specific reporting as required
    • Ad hoc reports or commentaries as required
    • Review and help keep current BIS' suite of publications and suggest areas for innovation as appropriate
    • Initiate improvements to messaging, formats and focus of materials working with BIS communications colleagues and firm-level partners as required
    • Ensure quality of key publications working with BIS team and firm-level partners as required
    • Manage complex projects such as the production of the annual report and voting spotlight, which require multiple inputs from colleagues in BIS and beyond
      • Develop effective means to communicate BLK positioning on emerging trends and issues
        • Work with team experts to publish thought leadership pieces, unique research, and opinion pieces (e.g. blogs)
        • Contribute to firm-wide publications (e.g. BlackRock Sustainable Investing, Investment Institute, Center for Stakeholder Capital and Global Public Policy papers) and internal talking points on stewardship and sustainability themes
        • Contribute to external engagement
          • Provide input into briefings and presentations by senior team members undertaking client or public speaking engagements
          • Lead certain Rapid Response efforts following external publications covering BIS' stewardship work in relation to BlackRock's holdings
          • Collaborate with relevant subject matter experts to communicate at scale with companies on thematic engagements, e.g. through letter writing
          • Collaborate with relevant subject matter experts to develop key messages to communicate to companies on BIS' views on emerging themes and trends and the likely implications for voting and engagement
          • Innovate in content and delivery so BIS remains at the leading edge of stewardship transparency
          • Work with compliance and other businesses to ensure all materials are of high quality and have consistent messaging and appropriate content Desired qualifications include:
            • An undergraduate degree in finance, economics, accounting, or other relevant field that contributed to the development of strong research, qualitative and quantitative analysis and communication skills
            • At least eight years of relevant experience
            • A keen awareness, and ideally knowledge, of sound corporate governance and sustainable business practices
            • Well-developed project management skills, ensuring all parties a successful project depends on are aware of expectations and able to deliver within desired timelines
            • The ability to build and maintain successful relationships with colleagues across the firm and with external parties
            • The ability to prioritize, analyze, and resolve complex issues under time pressure
            • A diligent, focused, and persistent work ethic to implement while leading multiple tasks and changing priorities
            • An organized, self-reliant, and self-motivated approach to responsibilities
            • The ability to communicate clearly and persuasively in writing and orally Our benefits To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of benefits including a strong retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive healthcare, support for working parents and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about. About BlackRock At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being. Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children's educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress. This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment - the one we make in our employees. It's why we're dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit - - - - LinkedIn: BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status, and other statuses protected by law. BlackRock will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in a manner consistent with the requirements of the law, including any applicable fair chance law.

Keywords: BlackRock, New York , BlackRock Investment Stewardship - Vice President, Communications, Other , New York, New York