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What You'll Do

We’re looking for a Director of Quantitative Research - Private Markets to join our Asset Management team. In this role, you’ll lead AI-driven decision support systems across Private Markets while enabling and mentoring a high-performing team of quantitative research and development professionals. Advance investment performance by connecting house views on forward macro signals to production-grade statistical and ML models that power underwriting, pricing, risk, and capital allocation. Inspire organizational change to accelerate adoption—codify operating playbooks, training, and success metrics—delivering measurable performance lift and enhanced thought capital! Your day could look like this:

+ **Research Strategy & implementation:** Define and execute AI/ML research roadmap. Drive innovation in connecting economic views to investment strategy.

+ **Model Development & Governance:** Lead the design, validation, and continuous improvement of AI-driven decision systems that deliver measurable business impact. Strengthen the enterprise model governance framework to ensure transparency, compliance, and performance. Drive the implementation model risk management practices, including robust testing, backtesting, and validation protocols.

+ **Thought Leadership and innovation:** Lead ground breaking research and drive the publication of thought leadership through white papers and industry forums. Lead the research, due diligence, and implementation of AI — including GenAI — within the investment process, ensuring alignment with governance standards and strategic objectives.

+ **Team Leadership & Development:** Build, lead, and inspire a high-performing quantitative R&D team that thrives on innovation and collaboration. Recruit top talent and invest in their growth through hands-on mentorship, professional development, and a culture of scientific rigor and technical excellence. Oversee design and code reviews, streamline day-to-day operations, and remove barriers to accelerate productivity and impact.

Operating at the intersection of financial services and technology, Principal builds financial tools that help our customers live better lives. We take pride in being a purpose-led firm, motivated by our mission to make financial security accessible to all. Our mission, integrity, and customer focus have made us a trusted leader for more than 140 years.

As Principal continues to modernize its systems, this role will offer you an exciting opportunity to build solutions that will directly impact our long-term strategy and tech stack, all while ensuring that our products are robust, scalable, and secure!

Who You Are

+ You have a MS/PhD in a quantitative field (Statistics, Applied Math, Operations Research, etc.) - or equivalent experience.

+ You have 8-12 years building statistical/ML models in Python; with production on at least one of AWS Sagemaker, Databricks (Spark / MLflow), Azure ML, or GCP VertexAI, with CI/CD, containers, and model registries.

+ You are a clear and influential communicator who can translate complex model results into actionable insights. You excel at delivering explainability and attribution with confidence, driving understanding, trust, and adoption of AI solutions across the organization.

+ You lead with empathy and precision, guiding teams and collaborators through change with credibility and impact.

Skills That Will Help You Stand Out

+ Deep understanding of financial markets and instruments; CFA charterholder (or Level II/III progress) a plus

+ Private-markets experience in PE, Private Credit, or Real Assets—covering underwriting, valuation, and portfolio/risk analytics.

Salary Range Information

Salary ranges below reflect targeted base salaries. Non-sales positions have the opportunity to participate in a bonus program. Sales positions are eligible for sales incentives, and in some instances a bonus plan, whereby total compensation may far exceed base salary depending on individual performance. Actual compensation for all roles will be based upon geographic location, work experience, education, licensure requirements and/or skill level and will be finalized at the time of offer.

Salary Range (Non-Exempt expressed as hourly; Exempt expressed as yearly)

$153000 - $207000 / year

Time Off Program

Flexible Time Off (FTO) is provided to salaried (exempt) employees and provides the opportunity to take time away from the office with pay for vacation, personal or short-term illness. Employees don’t accrue a bank of time off under FTO and there is no set number of days provided.

Pension Eligible

No

Work Environments

This role offers in-office, hybrid (blending at least three office days in a typical workweek) from our Des Moines, Iowa headquarters.

Work Authorization/Sponsorship

At this time, we're not considering applicants that need any type of immigration sponsorship (additional work authorization or permanent work authorization) now or in the future to work in the United States. This includes, but IS NOT LIMITED TO: F1-OPT, F1-CPT, H-1B, TN, L-1, J-1, etc. For additional information around work authorization needs please use the following links.

Nonimmigrant Workers (https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-nonimmigrant-workers) and Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants (https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-for-employment-based-immigrants)

Investment Code of Ethics

For Principal Asset Management positions, you’ll need to follow an Investment Code of Ethics related to personal and business conduct as well as personal trading activities for you and members of your household. These same requirements may also apply to other positions across the organization.

Experience Principal

At Principal, we value connecting on both a personal and professional level. Together, we’re imagining a more purpose-led future for financial services – and that starts with you. Our success depends on the unique experiences, backgrounds, and talents of our employees. And we support our employees the same way we support our customers: with comprehensive, competitive benefit offerings crafted to protect their physical, financial, and social well-being. Check out our careers site (https://www.principal.com/about-us/careers) to learn more about our purpose, values and benefits.

Principal is an Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Posting Window

We will accept applications for 3 full days following the Original Posting Date, after which the posting may remain open or be removed based upon applications received. If we choose to post the job again, we will accept additional applications for at least 1 full day following the Most Recently Posted Date. Please submit applications in a timely manner as there is no guarantee the posting will be available beyond the applicable deadline.

Original Posting Date

10/7/2025

Most Recently Posted Date

10/7/2025

LinkedIn Hashtag

\#LI-EW1