investment analyst

investment associate

performance analyst

director

associate director

Cambridge Associates

Typically, the firm was a very enjoyable operation with very smart and capable staff.  A typical day for IT Technical Support manager was to resolve break/fix issues, process IT requests, maintain enterprise equipment (printers/VC and projection systems) for fast paced environment.  Engaging clients (internal customers) on a daily basis to maintain open link between IT operations and staff, proactively address and issues that may arise, and provide training for specific softwares and databases.  Co-workers were primarily in the USA with two tech offices in London & Singapore which requires 24/7 support - team like atmosphere between all sites gave flexibility to support systems and teams world wide.  Interaction between different IT teams highly established which allowed for success across the network.  Overall, managers met weekly to discuss current issues and explore resolutions or develop liaison with other departments.  The hardest part of the position was staffing as the firm grew the IT staff did not.  The most enjoyable aspect of working at the firm was the clients as their successes were/are directly related to how well the systems provided worked or if not if there was an alternative solution to the normal avenues of production.

Background: I started as an investment analyst (client-side) 5 years ago. Cambridge is a great place to start your career IF you want to go to business school->consulting, go into IR, or if you're very skilled/have a good connection you might be able to get into a HF or PE shop. But that's about it. This is a niche market, and exit opportunities are limited for analysts outside of business school, and as you rise up through the ranks they're limited to pension funds, endowments, or family offices. Cambridge is very top-heavy, with lots of MDs/partners (who are effectively relationship managers) hired out of banking, HF/PE, or big 4 consulting firms that tend to stick around. If you're an analyst right out of undergrad, or a director fresh out of MBA, the best way to get promoted fast is to bring in a client. Outside of that, expect years of long hours dealing with mostly administrative tasks. For analysts, its 80% admin (hope you like formatting powerpoint presentations!)/20% investment analysis, and for directors 30% client communication (mostly emails), 50% managing teams of analysts, and 20% actual portfolio management/manager selection. Below market pay given that the average associate works 60hrs a week. 

Overall, Cambridge is a great company to work for. A great place to start you career. I worked in the Manager Information Group (MIG) which is centralized data collection and dessimination department for the firm. MIG culture is strictly professional. A very fast-paced, high performance culture and it is not for everyone. It is definitley a very productive culture. I have gained many valueable skills such as project management, business development, and building operations. MIG operated as a company within a company and treated external departments as customers. The management is suberb and will create and provide opportunities for those who are willing to step up to the plate. The most enjoyable part of the job is the people and the fact that you will learn something new every single day. The hardest thing about the job is the culture. It is not for everyone. I personally feel at home, but a high performance, results-oriented culture is not for everyone. I would like to use managerment's word to the describe the culture "it is not google'.

Constantly stressful with unrealistic expectations, long hours and poor pay.

Most of the issues myself and coworkers have encountered could be fixed if management actually cared. The other departments we work with act in their own self-interest and truly do not care about your success or the success on deliverable as a whole. 

For example, a lot of the work is reliant on work done by other departments teams. Those other departments are consistently late on handing off what we need to get our work done (days or weeks late). No one holds those departments accountable, yet the department I work in is still expected to get our work done by the original deadline and is held accountable. This means my department has to work crazy hours and is constantly stressed.

Also, Cambridge significantly underpays their employees compared to the rest of the industry. 

A typical day at Cambridge is extremely monotonous.  We collect and enter client-level investment data into our system.  We also handle daily requests - most being urgent.  In addition, we are thrown projects our managers should be handling better. Managers should do a better job of being transparent in what is actually taking place.  Withholding pertinent information from employees make us feel extremely under-appreciated.  We learn of even simple decisions at the very last minute.  Because of the lack of good management, at least 5 to 6 people resign from my department each year.  The overall workplace culture is a ball of confusion.  No one knows how we should interact with each other.  All but the newly hired staff are constantly concerned about job stability.  This insecurity eventually rubs off on the less-tenured staff, and the cycle continues to repeat itself year after year.

CA is truly a great company, with possibly the most amazing colleagues you will ever have. They encourage self advancement (taking courses), but sadly do not offer much growth within the firm. However, the job security is very high. I never worried about losing my job. People who have been there for 15+ years are proof of that. The benefits are very good, but compensation could be better. 

Management is made up of great people, that just haven't seemed to put all the pieces of the puzzle together yet. But they are trying. The workload is often a lot, but can vary depending on the time of year and what department you're in. They reward everyone's hard work with monthly socials, summer outings, and holiday parties. 

Overall, it can be a company you retire with, just depends on your career goals. I only left because of relocating.

Cambridge has historically promoted managers less for their competence and management skills, and more for their ability to say "Yes, Sir" and "how high." About 90% of all day-to-day problems stem from a team of inexperienced supervisors who are openly mocked on the floor. Even when trying to handle situations well, every few months upper management will come down with a new decision that simply demonstrates middle management's lack of power in any situation.
Besides that, the job is uninteresting and unchallenging, promotions are rarely given after one year of employment, HR openly talks about things said in private meetings, and the CEO openly celebrates layoffs in firm-wide calls that the hardest-hit departments have to participate in.
No one is happy, everyone is trying to get out, and the firm underpays compared to the market.

Overall, Cambridge Associates is a great firm.  There are a lot of operations and support staff roles that are good introductory roles for junior professionals looking to start a career in finance, particularly with the opportunities to network with professionals with years of private and public sector experience working on behalf of the fim's clientele.  

I would say there is a still a noticeable gulf between the client-facing, investment management side of the firm and the back-office, support staff where there is a lack of appreciation for the support staff at times.  This isn't manifest or readily apparent to anyone who newly joins the firm, but something that becomes apparent over time.

Quality of work life balance is too inconsistent. 

Although the pay is modest, it doesn't provide enough incentive to fully vest your career in. A good launching pad for your career, but unless you are a "dinosaur" and have worked there for over 20 years, management opportunity is very very iffy. 

A lot of movement OUT of each department, and the company, which shows instability and high turnover probability.

Provides somewhat decent training, as long as your group has the "time".

There has been one management promotion in 6 years that I was there who had not been there for 20+.

There have also been too much company *restructuring* and increased demands of daily tasks that require more hours worked, including nights with no staff headcount increasements.

There's absolutely no room for growth in IT. Hard work goes unnoticed and not even acknowledged during reviews.
They like to speak about "promoting from within" and "buliding up their employees" but that is absolutely not the case. If there is an open position, their first choice is to look outside rather than engage their own employees.
IT manager takes an "end all be all" mentality where they are not open to suggestions- they make decisions without caring how it affects the teams. Management does not know how to track employee work which leads to some employees just wasting time all day while others are working.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Investment analyst 25 salaries reported	$81,660 per year
Investment associate 8 salaries reported	$97,063 per year
Performance analyst 4 salaries reported	$78,475 per year
Director 2 salaries reported	$159,800 per year
Associate director 5 salaries reported	$144,550 per year

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