Buy-Side Research Analyst

What you will do: Build cases around a single company or investment decision by assembling the complete set of materials an analyst would use. These include multi-year annual reports, quarterly reports and footnotes, earnings call transcripts, investor presentations, industry data, and sell-side research where appropriate. Each case typically includes at least 15 relevant files. Include the intermediate work that shows how the analysis developed, such as research notes, questions for management, successive model versions with revision logs, and the final model, investment thesis, or recommendation memo. Write difficult investment research questions tied to a specific as-of date, so that a correct answer depends only on information available at that point in time. Write detailed grading rubrics that separate an excellent answer from a plausible but flawed one, and that give consistent scores when different reviewers apply them. Write expert hints that point toward the right line of analysis without giving away the answer, so that model performance can be compared with and without guidance. Review how frontier AI models attempted each case, both with and without hints. Judge whether each failure reflects a real gap in capability or instead an ambiguous question, missing materials, or an unfair rubric. Check that every file opens correctly, with no truncation, missing pages, or encoding errors, and that scanned documents are clearly legible. Where materials are de-identified, make sure the original formatting and the differences between model versions are preserved. Example cases include building a full three-statement model and discounted cash flow valuation for a public company from its filings, writing a long or short investment thesis with a clear variant view and identified catalysts, updating a model and price target after an earnings release, and answering an as-of-date question about how a single piece of news should change a valuation or position. Who we are looking for At least six years of investment research experience at a hedge fund, long-only asset manager, family office, or similar buy-side firm. Strong sell-side equity research experience will also be considered. Deep, hands-on expertise building company models in Excel, including three-statement models, discounted cash flow valuations, and relative valuation analysis. Experience writing investment recommendations or memos that informed real portfolio decisions. The judgment to tell a defensible thesis from one that only looks right, and to explain exactly where the difference lies. Careful, direct written communication. Much of the job is writing precise questions, rubrics, and hints. Strong advantagesA Chartered Financial Analyst charter, a Master of Business Administration, or an accounting qualification such as a Certified Public Accountant license. Experience training or reviewing junior analysts, including reviewing their models and marking up their work. Why Cobalt AIWork on frontier AI evaluation. Your judgment directly decides which cases are used to measure what leading models can and cannot do in finance. See how frontier models are trained and assessed. Reviewing model attempts gives you a close view of where current models succeed in investment research and where they break. Fit the work around your other commitments. Set your own schedule, with flexible weeks of 10 to 40 hours. Shape the work. Strong experts can lead case design, run projects, and help define quality standards.