Job Description & Qualification
The newly established Department of Wealth Creation at the Lake Lucerne Institute (LLUI Wealth) in Vitznau (Switzerland) aims to fill a vacancy for an Applied Financial Economist position. The appointment is for a term of three years and can be renewed. The position is suitable for candidates who have a strong interest in applied quantitative investments and asset management. The position offers the possibility to contemporaneously pursue a PhD degree, but is equally suitable for recent PhD graduates in Finance and related fields who aim to pursue an applied financial economist track. The position is ideally suited for highly motivated individuals who wish to work at the intersection of academic finance and applied questions in asset pricing, investments, and machine learning, bridging the gap between academic research and the investment industry. It is particularly attractive for candidates with some experience in the asset management industry who seek to deepen their expertise in questions related to the practice of finance through rigorous empirical research and closer engagement with the academic frontier.

The Applied Financial Economist position at LLUI Wealth offers the opportunity to conduct empirical research inspired by frontier academic findings at the intersection of capital markets, data science, and behavioral finance, with a focus on implementability. To concretely foster this aim, the Applied Financial Economist will work closely with the team managing a proprietary endowment assigned to the Lake Lucerne Institute.

As an Applied Financial Economist, you will join LLUI Wealth and work under the supervision of four affiliated faculty members: Michael Weber, Francesco D’Acunto, Andreas Neuhierl, and Alberto Rossi, who are leading empirical researchers specializing in asset pricing, investments, and behavioral finance. Their work focuses on cutting-edge areas such as big data analytics, machine learning, behavioral and cognitive economics, finance, and expectations.

You will develop and test empirical models inspired by cutting-edge research in financial economics, work with large and complex datasets, follow global financial and macroeconomic developments, and identify patterns and mechanisms suggested by LLUI Wealth’s frontier research findings.

Principal Duties & Responsibilities:
-Conduct independent and collaborative empirical applied research in investments, asset pricing, and machine learning.
-Generate applied research ideas, formulate hypotheses, and present findings in internal meetings, research groups, and discussions with LLUI faculty.
-Work with and analyze large financial, macroeconomic, and alternative datasets and implement statistical, econometric, and computational methods at scale.
-Develop, estimate, and evaluate empirical investment models and data-driven research tools, with a focus on transforming research insights into testable and implementable trading signals.
-Assess the performance and behavior of these signals and models across market environments, including portfolio construction, back-testing, stress testing, and robustness evaluation.

Qualifications:
-University degree in Economics, Finance, Statistics, or a related field (at least Master/ equivalent)\ -Strong quantitative background and analytical skills
-Strong programming background in Python and R
-Knowledge of Stata and other statistical software packages is an advantage
-Motivation and passion for shaping the future of quantitative investing
-Previous experience in asset management is an advantage
-Fluency in both English and German is required
-Strong verbal and written communication skills

What We Offer:
-An industry-competitive compensation and benefits package that scales with experience, designed to attract top talent interested in combining academic research with practical investment applications.
-Possibility to obtain a PhD degree at your university while being employed and fully embedded in LLUI’s research environment. Mentoring by LLUI academic researchers during the dissertation elaboration phase.
-Financial support and access to scalable technological infrastructure.
-Exposure to industry-relevant research questions that inspire real investment processes, including practical questions related to the management of a proprietary endowment, ensuring practical relevance.

The position is available immediately, and applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Please contact Felix von Meyerinck (felix.vonmeyerinck@llui.org) with any questions you may have. Please send your complete application (CV and cover letter) to hr@llui.org.

About the Organization
LLUI Wealth is committed to advancing high-impact research that meets the rigorous standards of top-tier academic journals in economics and finance. At the same time, it aims to maintain strong connections with the asset management industry, ensuring its research is practical and highly relevant to the financial sector. The Applied Financial Economist position is instrumental in building such strong connections with finance practice.

For Additional Questions
wealth@llui.org

Website
https://www.llui.org/wealth/