AI Transformation Lead - Investments

Many of the world’s leading investors – from individuals to institutions across the globe – have entrusted us with approximately $280 billion in assets and rely on us to provide world-class investment solutions and advice. We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of complex financial markets, uncovering the best investment opportunities to deliver long-term value for our clients.

Lazard Asset Management (LAM) is seeking an AI Transformation Lead for our Investment capabilities and investor teams. Sitting within our LAM AI & Data Transformation team, you will be the senior technical partner to the investment-side transformation: bringing the technical expertise that shapes the investment AI roadmap, then leading its delivery into working AI tools that analysts and portfolio managers use every day. The firm's proprietary AI research and investment platform is central to that work, alongside AI, data and workflow tools for investment teams across regions and asset classes. 

The ideal candidate has worked in or alongside investment teams at an asset manager, hedge fund or comparable firm, understands how research and portfolio decisions are actually made, and has built technology that front-office users rely on. You can discuss an earnings model with a portfolio manager in the morning and build, test and ship the tool that helps them in the afternoon. You are a builder with investment fluency: not a project coordinator, and not an engineer who needs the investment problem translated. 

We’ll trust you with:

Investment AI Roadmap and Delivery 

• Partner with the investment-side transformation team to design the investment AI roadmap, providing the technical view on architecture, feasibility, effort, data dependencies and delivery risk that sets its shape and sequencing 
• Own the delivery plan, backlog and release schedule that put the roadmap into practice 
• Work directly with portfolio managers, analysts and the transformation lead to scope use cases, define requirements and agree what good looks like before build starts 
• Act as the senior technical voice with CIOs and investment team heads explaining what is possible, what it costs and what it takes to deliver 

Proprietary AI Research Platform 

• Build and extend capabilities on the firm's AI research and investment platform, and take working prototypes through to supported production tools 
• Build and run the evaluation framework for answer quality, source grounding, citation accuracy, latency and cost, and provide the evidence for production-readiness decisions 
• Assess models, research data vendors and tooling, and give technical recommendations into build, buy and partner decisions; onboard approved sources to the agreed rules, including broker research AI-use terms 

Workflow Build and Delivery 

• Build tools for core investment workflows, including idea generation, company and industry research, earnings preparation and results-day analysis, model maintenance, portfolio monitoring and investment committee materials 
• Prototype quickly to test ideas, then harden what works with testing, monitoring, documentation and version control so it can be supported and scaled 
• Coordinate engineering, data and vendor partners through delivery, and work with the investment data product owner so tools run on governed, certified investment data 

Adoption, Governance and Value 

• Support rollout across investment teams: onboard users, run training and working sessions, and turn feedback into the backlog 
• Implement the controls set by AI Governance, Compliance and Risk, including model risk, information barrier and regulatory requirements, and prepare the evidence needed for production release 

• Track adoption, usage and benefits on an identified versus realised basis, and provide the delivery evidence for reporting to senior leadership 

  
  

What You'll Need 

• 10+ years across technology, data or product roles serving investment management, with at least 5 years building data, analytics or AI products for front-office users 
• Working fluency in investment research and portfolio management processes across fundamental and quantitative approaches, and the credibility to work as a peer to portfolio managers and analysts 
• Hands-on experience building LLM applications, including retrieval-augmented generation, embeddings and vector search, agentic workflows and tool use, prompt and context engineering, and evaluation design 
• Strong Python and SQL; you write production-quality code and validate results yourself 
• Working knowledge of investment data and research content, including market and fundamental data, consensus estimates, filings, earnings transcripts, and broker and expert network research, and the licensing terms that govern their use 
• Delivery discipline: backlog management, agile delivery, testing, release management and outcome-based success metrics 
• Experience working across a global organization with teams in multiple regions and time zones 
• Senior presence with investment professionals and the ability to explain technical trade-offs plainly, and an undergraduate degree or higher in a relevant field 

It's a Bonus to Have 

• Direct investment experience as a research analyst, portfolio manager or quantitative researcher 
• CFA charter holder or progress toward the designation 
• Experience with Databricks, Snowflake or similar Lakehouse platforms, and with enterprise LLM platforms and model provider APIs 
• Experience automating or integrating spreadsheet-based financial models with external data 
• Exposure across asset classes, including equities, fixed income and multi-asset strategies 
• Experience delivering AI in a regulated environment, including model risk management and information barrier controls 

What we offer

We strive to enhance the total health and well-being of our employees through comprehensive, competitive benefits. Our goal is to offer a highly individualized employee experience that enables you to balance your commitments to career, family, and community. When you work for Lazard, you are working for an organization that cares about your unique talents and passions, and will continue to invest in the development of your career. 

We expect the base salary range for this role to be approximately $175,000-$200,000 USD. Various factors contribute to determining the actual base compensation offered, including but not limited to the applicant’s years of relevant experience, career tenure, qualifications, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, relevant skills for the role. Base salary is one component of Lazard Asset Management’s compensation package, which also includes comprehensive benefits and may include incentive compensation.

Representation at Lazard

Lazard is an intellectual capital business committed to delivering the best advice and solutions to clients. To achieve these objectives, we focus on attracting, developing and retaining the best talent. We believe that a workforce comprised of people who represent a wide array of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives creates a rich variety of thought that empowers us to challenge conventional wisdom, solve problems creatively and make better decisions.

Lazard was built on the premise that a multicultural firm can best serve a global clientele. As a global firm that has grown organically from local roots in different countries, we have a deep tradition of respecting and appreciating individual differences. Doing so has been core to our success for over 175 years. We are committed to sustaining an environment where every colleague is supported in their professional pursuits, can maximize their individual potential and contribute to our collective success.

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