Man Numeric

Man Numeric is an institutional investment manager based in Boston.

We manage assets for clients globally, including sovereign wealth funds, corporate and public pension plans, foundations, and endowments.

Man Numeric
is an institutional investment manager based in Boston.
The Wisdom of Buying Absurdly Expensive Stocks

FAANGM stocks are trading at extraordinary multiples, leading some investors to suggest they have hit bubble territory. What has happened historically when stocks reached these stretched valuations?

The Wisdom of Buying Absurdly Expensive Stocks.
Questioning Quality

Why it might not make sense to invest in well-run companies: a deep dive into the Quality factor asks whether growth at any price has changed investing forever.

Questioning Quality Why it might not make sense to invest in well-run companies.
The CIO Agenda

Insights from the collective experience of Man Group’s CIOs, on the most important investing topic du jour.

The CIO Agenda
Insights from the collective experience of Man Group’s CIOs.

Man Numeric is an institutional investment manager based in Boston, Massachusetts. We manage assets for clients globally, including sovereign wealth funds, corporate and public pension plans, foundations, and endowments. We have a research-driven culture focused on innovation and generating alpha for our clients through quantitative stock selection models.

Since our firm’s founding in 1989 we have remained committed to the pursuit of consistently adding value to our clients' portfolios above their stated benchmarks. As our founder, Lang Wheeler, first put it, “no alpha, no business,” a motto that has since evolved to "alpha first."

Our quantitative investment offerings have grown from a single US equity strategy to include long-only, active extension and long-short equity and fixed income strategies across geographic regions, investment styles and capitalization strata. In September 2014, we were acquired by Man Group plc.

Man Numeric has grown from a few billion dollars in assets and a handful of employees in the 1990’s to more than $30B in total assets and more than 50 dedicated investment professionals today in addition to our extensive employee network within the Man Group infrastructure.

Under our senior leadership, which averages 20 years at Numeric, we remain committed to ongoing innovation as we continue to invest in research and development, incorporating new data science techniques and new data sources, and remain devoted to partnering with our clients as well as delivering growth opportunities for our employees.

1989

Man Numeric founded and launched first strategy (U.S. Equity)

1990

First market neutral strategy

1991

First small cap strategy

1995

Algorithmic trading

1998

First international strategy

2006

First active extension strategy

2009

Innovation portfolio

2010

First emerging markets strategy

2013

Global long-only strategy

2014

Became a PRI signatory
First low volatility strategy

2015

Alternative Risk Premia strategy

2018

Systematic credit
Liquid PE
China A

2019

ESG alpha model
Machine learning

2020

Long-short credit
Long term equity
Multi-strategy

We believe that there are pockets of inefficiency in the market that can be exploited through the use of cutting-edge technology and data science techniques, as enabled by our continuous investment in top talent and research capabilities.

We strive to add value for our clients along multiple dimensions. We believe that security selection, risk control, and efficient implementation are all paramount in our pursuit of alpha. Our quantitative process aims to instill rigor and discipline into each of these aspects of our investment approach. It is deep in our DNA to incorporate vast amounts of data into almost all decisions, providing a foundation that enables us to take advantage of the growth in data that has occurred in recent years. Our investment team plays a critical role in overseeing the models and ensuring that that their output is in line with our qualitative expectations.

In an ever-advancing technological environment, our competitors may have similar access to research and data. Coupled with increasingly efficient markets, we must be ever vigilant in improving our stock selection models and seeking truly differentiated potential sources of alpha.

Research occurs in both our portfolio management team, with a focus on examining portfolio behaviors and issues, and in our Strategic Alpha Research team, where the focus is on more aggressive, far-reaching, open-ended innovation. The Strategic Alpha Research group uses a structured approach to evaluating research ideas, monitoring research progress, and making proposals to the Investment Committee. Through our strategic commitment to research, Man Numeric is able to explore and test a varied and original set of new ideas on an ongoing basis. This allows us to continuously enhance our strategies, remain competitive, and adapt to structural changes in the markets. Our decades of experience have left us with a healthy appreciation for the commitment required to uncover new potential alpha sources.

Hackathon

While we work on innovative new ideas every day, bi-annually we host an internal, 24-hour hackathon, where we encourage employees to test their wildest ideas, take risks and possibly develop these ideas into useable applications.

At Man Numeric we team innovative technology with talented investment professionals.

While computers have revolutionized the investment industry, we believe it is the combination of people and technology that produces the best results. We take a problem-driven approach to design and development by letting the problem drive the tools and technologies we use. We continually invest in technology as we strive to stay ahead of the curve.

Having a common programming language and unified codebase promotes collaborative and stimulating working practices, where researchers and technologists naturally exchange ideas in an open environment. Our robust hardware, tools and software engineering practices help ensure high levels of productivity, quality and the necessary agility to quickly meet the needs of a dynamic business.

It all starts with data. Lots of it. We source vast amounts of data from numerous vendors to feed our research and portfolio management processes. This poses constant technological challenges. We are continuously improving our data ingestion by innovating the methods used for data storage solutions and building a next-generation research platform for data science.

Go beyond the models. Our proprietary trading system gives portfolio managers and traders inventive and highly flexible ways to monitor and direct order flow. This allows us to tailor customized strategies for our clients to help meet their specific needs.

Technology is evolving. And so are we.

Technology at Man Group

Building on a long history of incorporating Governance-related signals within our models, we began explicitly incorporating more comprehensive ESG signals directly into our alpha models in early 2019.

Our ESG integration is consistent with our existing investment philosophy: a principles-based approach that focuses on data and academic research rather than datamining factors. Our ESG approach deliberately harnesses the domain expertise of the hundreds of analysts from our primary data providers. For strategies that are explicitly dedicated to Responsible Investing or for clients who request it, we also actively constrain the portfolio’s total carbon emissions.

We adhere to the old adage that you can do well while doing good and believe that our approach to creating portfolios that are more sustainable and ethical allows us to improve risk-adjusted performance for our clients while being responsible stewards of their capital. We work hand in hand with clients to customize portfolios to their desired objectives.

VIEW OUR RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT POLICY

VISIT RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT ON MAN.COM

We offer a comprehensive range of investment solutions in formats that can be tailored to meet specific client needs. Our solutions offer client driven optionality and customization including liquidity, investment restrictions, tracking error as well as the level of ESG exposure, all fully embedded in the investment process.

We offer various structures including separately managed accounts, advisory mandates, and other commingled variants (e.g., Cayman, UCITS, AIFs).

VIEW OUR FEATURED STRATEGIES

We believe our approach to investing is reflected in our culture:

It is disciplined and analytical, yet reflective and collegial. We hold ourselves to a high standard of excellence, encourage transparency and open-dialogue, and believe in empowerment with accountability.

Our investment team consists of a mix of thoughtful, seasoned professionals, with backgrounds from some of the largest and most well-regarded investment firms in the business, complemented by portfolio managers and researchers who joined out of school and gained their experience with us. We have long-held beliefs with respect to successful investing yet encourage new, value-added ideas.

Our research and portfolio management teams are fully integrated. We believe the combination of these skill sets and perspectives directly benefits our clients. The portfolio managers' skill set includes market knowledge of the fundamental drivers for individual and cohorts of stocks acquired through years of experience and closely following companies. Our researchers provide a complementary skill set in the form of higher-level quantitative and programming skills that are applied to the development and improvement of our systematic investment process.

The combination of these two skill sets provides for a sophisticated, intuitive, and fundamental approach to making investment decisions. We do not make decisions about our investment process by simply observing a pattern in historical data without regard to some fundamental, economic rationale for why we may see potential for persistency. This integrated structure makes each career path independent but provides the opportunity for interested personnel to cross over, if desired.

Beyond our investment professionals, we are further supported by the strong Man Group infrastructure, which includes traders, operations, client service, and systems professionals who provide a framework upon which our investment skills are supported. We work hard to maintain a client-centric culture of compliance and high ethical standards.

NINA, Associate Portfolio Manager

“I joined Man Numeric after completing my master’s program at Princeton. At the time, I was actually feeling somewhat jaded about the finance industry and had considered leaving it altogether until I began to interview at Man Numeric. The level of intellectual curiosity and passion among those Man Numeric employees I interviewed with completely blew me away. The best part is, I have continued to observe that same drive every day since I joined the firm. At Man Numeric my colleagues, mentors, and managers have always pushed me to question my implicit assumptions and to reciprocate by encouraging them to question theirs.

Man Numeric has also allowed me to utilize and grow my leadership skills. A big part of Man Numeric’s culture is the bi-annual Hack-A-thon and our community sponsorship events. I have had the privilege to lead the Hack-A-thon over the past few years, which has given me a chance to get to know people from different groups throughout the firm and, most importantly, make sure more junior members of the organization understand just how valuable and influential their ideas can be. A few years ago a few colleagues and I also founded a program where we teach computer science to students from a local underprivileged high school. Our biggest challenge with the program has been the overwhelming numbers of Man Numeric volunteers from all seniority levels and teams of the firm, which is great problem to have!

Man Numeric has a strict open-door policy no matter the seniority difference. I have always felt welcomed to step into my seniors’ offices to discuss a technical question, my career goals, or which set of powder skis I should get for my backcountry setup.”

CHAO, Quantitative Researcher

"During my doctorate program in applied mathematics, I worked on data assimilation and statistical inference in dynamic systems.

After graduation, I was honored to join Man Numeric and continued my explorations in the real quantitative world.

As a member of the Strategic Alpha Research ('S.A.R.') team, I’m completely supported and respected to work on various alpha projects. People at Man Numeric are motivated and hard-working. The management team creates a pretty open and collaborative working culture: brainstorming ideas with us, hands-on solving problems with us, and providing valuable feedback. I really appreciate all the trust and responsibilities I’ve received, which help me continuously to grow with Man Numeric. This is of great importance to a young professional like me.

In addition, I really enjoy the out-of-work activities organized by the firm, such as the occasional rock climbing and trivia nights, the summer outing, and Halloween party, to name a few. These events make me feel that people at Man Numeric are not just colleagues and mentors, but also friends and family.”

PAUL, Co-Head of Credit

“As an undergraduate in materials science and engineering, I first joined a research group studying the welding of dissimilar aluminum alloys.

Although I enjoyed casting samples in the foundry and welding them together, I was more excited about the computational materials research being done in the department. In 2006, I started computational research studying atomistic modeling and found real joy and excitement using programming to study the world. Through a co-op at Oak Ridge National Lab and graduate studies at Oxford in the materials department, I gained more experience with model design and the ins and outs of the research process. I also picked up investing as a hobby during graduate school, reading every investment book I could get my hands on. Investing was something I quickly became very passionate about. Working at Man Numeric has allowed me to mix that passion with my computational research skills into a career I love.

Man Numeric’s culture has given me opportunities to move from portfolio analyst, to technology, to research. Each role helps develop my skills and contribute meaningfully in different ways. From our CEO’s board game night each quarter to our mentoring program and staff meetings, I appreciate how management truly cares about making our work enjoyable, how they make themselves accessible to us, and how they support opportunities for growth and better understanding the firm’s prospects and strategy.”

ASHOK, Senior Quantitative Researcher

“I joined Man Numeric after finishing my master’s degree, and I am impressed by how the firm has leveraged my skills and encouraged my professional growth.

I started formally on the trading desk, doing trade cost analytics and modeling. Before long, I was also getting involved in research, and after a couple years I now find myself as a full-fledged researcher, working on a combination of trading and alpha modeling projects. As a result of my new role I have experienced a steep learning curve, which has been enabled through strong mentorship from multiple senior people at the firm. The Man Numeric leadership team is very engaged: they roll up their sleeves, write code, provide training and insight, and they have been very generous with their time.

Everything is not always about work at Man Numeric, which is something that I really appreciate. For example, several of us became interested in mountaineering and ended up leading a Man Numeric expedition up Mount Rainier – together! I realize mountaineering isn’t for everybody, but this illustrates the firm’s culture of collaboration not just at work but in other areas of personal passion as well, and as a young professional that is something that I really appreciate.”

Alpha and Clients First

Our focus is on our clients' portfolios, not growing our assets under management.

Collaboration

We foster a driven, competitive yet collegial work environment. We strive to attract, motivate, and retain the most capable investment professionals.

Innovation

We have a research-driven culture focused on innovation that spans alpha generation, risk management, portfolio construction, implementation, and execution.

People

People, not computers, are our key assets. We believe that our diverse, experienced team of investment professionals augments and complements our quantitative process.

Man Numeric has a unique culture where intensity intersects with collaboration, creativity, and openness.

Dan TaylorCIO, Man Numeric

We promote an alpha-centric culture and rely on a team of talented people to cultivate that culture.

We have a stable, experienced team of investment professionals with multidisciplinary backgrounds that range from Physical Oceanography to Economics and Engineering. Our team promotes an environment that is investment focused, intellectually honest, collaborative, and transparent. We place a special emphasis on having professionals from diverse economic, social and geographical backgrounds in order to stimulate discussion and approach problems and challenges from multiple angles, as opposed to having all PhDs in Finance who went to similar schools and learned from the same text books.

Above all, individuals must show a love for and deep understanding of equity and credit markets, as we aim to marry theoretical ideas with real-world practicality. We are committed to the encouragement of continuing education through additional schooling or certifications, including the CFA.

View our current opportunities

The Man Charitable Trust

The Man Charitable Trust is a philanthropic trust funded by donations from Man Group, which focuses its grant giving on literacy, numeracy and programmes that support disadvantaged people to engage with education and build the necessary life skills to improve life chances and employment prospects. At Man Numeric, our culture encourages team philanthropic activities and the Trust provides access to charitable activities such as sponsorship matching and dedicated employee community volunteering days, known as Man Kind Days.

At Man Numeric, we are proud to partner with Codman Academy, a Boston based Charter Public School focused on preparing students for success in college and further education. Groups of students participate in after school sessions in the Boston office with members of the Research and Technology team as well as other groups. At the end of the 10-week sessions the students present their coding projects to Man Numeric employees.

We are also proud to partner with Girls who Invest, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in portfolio management and executive leadership in the asset management industry. Man Numeric participates in their Summer Intensive program by hosting college interns while they complete a six-week internship in the Boston office.

We are also proud to partner with South Boston Neighborhood House ('SBNH'), whose mission is to support family and neighborhood life in South Boston, our Boston office's back yard. Annually we sponsor several families through SBNH's Holiday Helper program to help give our struggling local families the holiday season we all deserve.