Build an Investment Team

Build your investment team in India

From your first specialist hire to a full capability centre, we help asset and wealth managers build expert investment risk, performance, quantitative, ESG and operations teams in India, on the ground where we are deepest.

Risk · Performance · QuantESG · OperationsIndia, our deepest market

How we help you build

Capability Build Recruitment since 2014, from first hire to full centre, with deep investment risk, performance, quantitative and ESG expertise. India is our home and deepest market.

Since 2014

Capability Build Recruitment

80%

screening ratio, candidates we submit get interviewed

85%

joining ratio, offers that become joiners

Performance

attribution, the distinctive anchor

The answer

How do you build an investments team in India?

You build an investments team in India the way you build any centre of expertise: with the right anchor hires first, the right specialists around them, and the right leadership to hold it together, recruited by people who understand both the investment work and the Indian talent market. EliteRecruitments does exactly this. Through our Capability Build Recruitment work, we help asset and wealth managers build specialist teams in India from the first hire upward, whether you need an investment risk team, a performance and attribution function, a quantitative research and analytics team, or a full investment capability centre. We focus on the investment risk, performance, quantitative, ESG, operations and reporting work, which is exactly where our depth lies.

The signature

The analytical engine room of investing

The most successful investment capability centres are built around the analytical disciplines that sit behind every investment decision. Investment risk specialists, performance and attribution analysts, quantitative researchers, ESG professionals, and investment data and reporting experts form the analytical engine room of modern investing. These are the teams we help build, in the disciplines where genuine specialists are scarce and the right hire is hardest to get right.

The teams we build

The investment teams we help build

Investment teams are rarely built all at once. Most begin with a small group of highly specialised professionals, often investment risk specialists, performance analysts, quantitative researchers or ESG leads, and grow into broader centres of expertise over time. Whether you are establishing a new presence in India or expanding an existing capability centre, the challenge is usually the same: finding scarce specialist talent in precise, technical disciplines, and assembling it in the right order.

We work with investment managers building in India for the first time, and with those who already have a centre, often an operations centre, that they want to extend into genuine risk, performance and analytics expertise. Both come down to the same thing, hiring the right people in the right order, in disciplines where genuine specialists are scarce.

Typical engagements

Typical team building engagements

Most engagements take one of a few recognisable shapes. Whichever one fits, the approach is the same: the right specialists, in the right order, with the leadership to hold the team together.

Building an investment risk team

Portfolio, market and liquidity risk specialists.

Building a performance and attribution team

Performance measurement and attribution specialists, a discipline distinctive to investing.

Building a quantitative research team

Factor, index and portfolio analytics specialists.

Building an ESG team

ESG analysis, data and stewardship specialists, one of the fastest growing areas in the industry.

Extending an operations centre

Adding the analytical and risk expertise an operations centre lacks.

Adding leadership

The senior and leadership hires that let a centre take ownership of its work.

How we build

How we build your team

Building a team is different from filling a single role, and we approach it that way. We start by understanding what you are building and why: the function, the seniority, the timeline, and how the team fits your business. We then recruit in the right order, often starting with the anchor hires and senior specialists who set the standard, then building the team around them. Throughout, we assess on real capability, not job titles, because the early hires in a capability centre shape everything that follows. Our full process, from briefing to onboarding and aftercare, is on our how we work page

Not traditional recruitment

Capability building is not traditional recruitment

Most recruitment fills a vacancy: a role opens, and it is filled. Capability building starts with the team you are trying to create and works backwards to the hires that build it, in the right order. Building a centre of expertise is an exercise in team architecture, not a series of unconnected hires.

Traditional recruitmentCapability build recruitment
Role by roleTeam first
Immediate vacancyLong term capability
Individual hireTeam architecture
Short termCentre growth

The roles we build around

The specialist roles we build around

Investment teams in India are built around the disciplines we specialise in. Our focus is the investment risk, performance, quantitative, ESG, operations and reporting side of investment management, not front office portfolio management, trading, sales or capital raising.

Why investment managers choose us

Why investment managers choose us to build in India

Investment managers choose us to build their India teams for three reasons. We have genuine depth in the disciplines these teams do, across investment risk, performance, quantitative research and ESG, which are precise and technical and hard to assess without specialist knowledge. India is our home and deepest market, so we know the talent, what good looks like, and what it takes to attract it. And our placements last, which matters enormously when you are building a team where the early hires set the standard for everyone who follows. We are also honest about what we do: we build specialist teams through recruitment, we do not provide volume hiring or run the centre for you.

The first hires

Typical first hires in an investment capability centre

Most investment capability centres begin with a combination of hires who set the standard for everything that follows. The exact sequence varies, but the pattern is consistent: technical and analytical credibility first, scale second.

A senior investment risk leader

Portfolio, market and liquidity risk credibility at the core of the centre.

A performance and attribution specialist

The distinctive investment measurement capability, accurate and trusted from the start.

A quantitative research specialist

The analytical engine behind research and portfolio decisions.

An ESG or investment data lead

A fast growing and increasingly essential discipline, established early.

A people leader

Someone to build and scale specialist teams once the technical core is in place.

Then scale, in the right order

The broader specialist team, built on the standard the anchors set.

Built right

How we make sure the team is built right

Because the early hires in a capability centre shape everything that follows, we hold a high bar. We assess on real capability rather than job titles, we screen at an 80 per cent rate, our candidates join at an 85 per cent rate, and since 2014 we have had to return fewer than fifteen fees because a placement left early, backed by our 90 day replacement guarantee. When you are building a team for the long term in work this precise, that is the discipline that protects it. See how we work

Founder led

A founder close to the work

EliteRecruitments is led by its founder, Shagun Gupta, who built the firm in India and stays closely involved in capability building engagements. When you are building a team in India, that means a firm whose founder understands both the work and the market, and who treats building a capability centre as the strategic decision it is.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

How do you help build an investments team in India?
Through Capability Build Recruitment: we understand what you are building, recruit in the right order starting with the anchor hires and senior specialists who set the standard, and build the team around them, assessing on real capability throughout. Our how we work page sets out the full process.
Can you build a full investment capability centre, or just individual roles?
Both. We help with a single senior hire, a specialist team such as investment risk, performance and attribution, quantitative research or ESG, or a full investment capability centre spanning these functions. The approach is the same: the right people in the right order, with the leadership to hold the team together.
Do you recruit front office portfolio managers or sales roles?
No. We focus on the investment risk, performance, quantitative, ESG, operations and reporting work that investment capability centres run on, which is where our depth lies. Front office portfolio management, trading, distribution and capital raising are not our focus.
Do you only recruit, or do you also run the centre?
We are specialist recruiters: we find and assess the right people and help you build the team, including the leadership. We do not provide volume hiring or run the centre for you. Our value is in finding the specialist talent that makes a centre work and building the team properly.
Do candidates pay any fees?
No. Candidates never pay any fees. The firm is engaged and paid by the hiring organisation.

Start a conversation

Talk to us about building your team

Building an investment team in India is a strategic decision, and it comes down to hiring the right specialists, across investment risk, performance, quantitative research and ESG, in the right order. If you are ready to build, or just starting to think about it, we would like to help you do it well.

What you are hiring for

Read the investment capability centre landscape