Associate Analyst

The Role

The Associate Analyst (AA) will conduct comprehensive analysis on an assigned portfolio of ratings/credits. The AA will perform holistic evaluations of credit risk by integrating credit inputs prepared by others, including Financial Data Analysts (FDAs), RRS Associates and external parties. In conducting credit analysis for their assigned portfolios, transactions or credit reviews, AAs will actively participate in rating committee discussions and interact with issuers and other market participants, in collaboration with Lead Analysts.

The AA role is integral to Moody’s focus on ratings accuracy, research and market outreach. The AA role will focus primarily on one Line of Business (LOB), with the potential for cross-training in other LOBs.

Key Responsibilities

Portfolio Management
- Performs day-to-day credit analysis related to ratings, research, presentations, and investor outreach. Examples of analytical work produced include:

- Reviewing financial spreadsheets and charts prepared by others, analyzing data and financial statements, building and updating financial forecasts, and writing analytical commentary in accordance with Moody’s methodologies.
- Reviewing transaction documents and building knowledge of cash flow and loss allocation rules (if applicable to LOB).
- Monitoring portfolio with increasing independence.
- Prepares first draft of rating committee memos, in collaboration with Lead Analysts.
- Demonstrates the ability to understand and identify key factors that affect issuer credit ratings. Escalates matters for discussion with Lead Analyst where appropriate and provides credit specific nuance.
- Interprets and analyzes financial data and other credit inputs provided by others e.g.FDAs and RRS Associates.
- Monitors credit quality and issuer and/or portfolio trends by following market developments, analyzing issuer reporting, and engaging with issuers directly for follow-up clarification and information.
- As applicable to the LOB, monitors and attends earnings calls of companies within assigned portfolio, including monitoring relevant news events.
- Attends and may present certain sections in rating committee meetings. Actively participates, including offering analysis and opinion where appropriate.
- May complete Credit Estimates used to assess elements of credit risk in certain rated transactions.

Research & Investor Outreach
- Prepares first draft of core research as applicable to the LOB e.g. credit opinions, issuer and sector comments, press releases, pre sale and new issue reports etc. in collaboration with Lead Analysts. End product requires mínimal editing for publication to an external audience.
- Contributes to research strategy, including idea generation and preliminary drafting, adhering to Moody's research standards.
- Demonstrates ability to craft and follow through on research ideas.
- Attends investor briefings and issuer meetings as required; may help prepare presentation materials; arrives prepared to engage in discussions and may lead certain sections.
- Builds positive relationships with issuers - displays initiative to understand the issuer’s business and proactively responds to issuer enquiries. May lead discussions with issuers on lower priority issues.

Credit Administration
- Performs analytical tasks related to portfolio reviews and other credit projects (e.g. liquidity scrubs).
- Demonstrates competency in processing ratings and research through internal systems and utilizes software specific to the rating group. Constructs and takes ownership of analytical databases as applicable. Identifies all issues with data for follow up with Lead Analyst.
- Actively participates in special projects while concurrently maintaining consistently high performance in core responsibilities. Provides significant input into various analytical and statistical projects.

Coaching & Guidance
- Provides clear, concise and constructive guidance in the delegation of work to Associates (if applicable), actively managing workload pipeline in order to provide sufficient time for completion. Seeks Associate Analyst Team Manager (AATM) guidance where needed to determine how to allocate work.
- Provides initial review and quality assessment of work produced by more junior RRS staff. Provides feedback to AATM on the quality and accuracy of work produced by Associates, along with providing constructive and proactive feedback to Associates and FDAs.
- Contributes to training and on-boarding of new staff, serving as a ‘buddy’ where applicable.
- Serves as a resource on more complex credit questions and issues for less experienced staff. Acts as mentor to more junior staff, for topics such as research writing, issuer relationship management and credit process.

Requirements/Qualifications
- Undergraduate degree required, with 1-2 years relevant working experience.
- Fluent in English and proficiency in a regional language (eg. Vietnamese, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia) would be adv