Japan Fixed Income & Credit Portfolio Manager - Managing Director

About this role

Japan Fixed Income & Credit Portfolio Manager, Managing Director

What team will you be on?

The Japan Fixed Income team is part of the Global Fixed Income platform and is responsible for delivering investment outcomes across Japanese fixed income and credit markets. The team partners closely with local, regional, and global investors to identify opportunities across corporate credit, sovereign and quasi-sovereign markets, and other spread sectors. By leveraging global research, portfolio construction capabilities, risk management expertise, and trading resources, the team seeks to deliver differentiated outcomes for clients while contributing to the continued growth of the Japan investment franchise.

Why is your role important?

As a senior investor within the Japan Fixed Income platform, you will play a critical role in driving portfolio performance and investment outcomes across Japanese fixed income and credit markets. You will contribute investment insight, portfolio management expertise, and leadership across a broad range of strategies and asset classes. The role requires strong investment judgment, deep market knowledge, and the ability to collaborate effectively across global investment teams while representing investment views to clients and stakeholders. Your contributions will help strengthen investment performance, support franchise growth, and advance the development of investment talent within the organization.

What will you be doing?

In every role at BlackRock, you'll be expected to apply sound judgement and critical thinking to solve complex problems, adapt as the business evolves, and combine the curiosity to explore new approaches and technologies with the rigor to challenge the results. The scope of this role also includes the following responsibilities:

Investment Leadership

• Lead portfolio construction and investment decisions across Japanese fixed income and credit markets.
• Generate alpha through security selection, sector allocation, relative value analysis, and macro positioning.
• Develop investment views on credit markets, issuer fundamentals, interest rates and market technicals.
• Manage portfolio risk, performance, and capital allocation in accordance with client objectives and investment guidelines.

Credit Investing

• Maintain deep expertise across Japanese corporate credit markets, particularly high yield bonds, leveraged loans, and bespoke credit.
• Evaluate primary and secondary market opportunities across high yield bonds, leveraged loans, bespoke credit, investment grade credit, and other spread sectors.
• Partner closely with research teams to identify and implement high-conviction investment ideas.
• Contribute to investment discussions across regional and global fixed income platforms.

Client & Platform Leadership

• Represent investment views to institutional clients, consultants, and senior stakeholders.
• Support product development, thought leadership, and franchise growth initiatives.
• Collaborate with portfolio managers, analysts, traders, product strategists, and risk managers across the firm.
• Mentor and develop junior investment professionals and contribute to a high-performance investment culture.

What are we looking for?

• Extensive investment experience, including significant experience focused on Japanese fixed income and credit markets.
• Demonstrated expertise investing across Japanese high yield bonds, leveraged loans, bespoke credit, investment grade credit, and related fixed income sectors.
• Strong understanding of portfolio construction, asset allocation, and how Japanese assets fit within a global investment context.
• Proven track record of portfolio management, alpha generation, and risk management across multiple market cycles.
• Deep understanding of Japanese issuers, credit fundamentals, valuation methodologies, liquidity dynamics, and market structure.
• Strong portfolio construction, risk budgeting, and performance attribution expertise.
• Experience managing institutional client mandates, including pension, insurance, sovereign, intermediary, and wealth-related assets.
• Ability to communicate investment views effectively to sophisticated institutional clients and internal stakeholders.
• Leadership experience within investment organizations, including mentoring and developing investment talent.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in Japanese and English.
• CFA, Master's degree, or equivalent investment qualification preferred.

Preferred Skills

• Strong bottom-up fundamental credit analysis capabilities.
• Ability to combine macroeconomic insights with issuer-level credit selection.
• Experience identifying relative value opportunities across sectors, issuers, and capital structures.
• Strong understanding of trading, liquidity management, and portfolio implementation.
• Familiarity with portfolio analytics, risk systems, and attribution tools.
• Experience contributing to investment committees and strategic asset allocation discussions.
• Working knowledge of institutional portfolio management platforms preferred.
• Ability to leverage artificial intelligence capabilities to enhance investment processes

Our benefits

To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of benefits including a strong retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive healthcare, support for working parents and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.

Our hybrid work model

BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.

Guidance on AI use for candidates

At BlackRock, AI has long been part of how we work – enhancing decision-making, improving operations, and helping us deliver better outcomes for clients. We encourage candidates to use AI thoughtfully to learn, prepare, and work more effectively; but during our interview process, we want to focus on getting to know you through your own experiences, thinking, and judgment. To support you, we’ve provided guidance on when and how to use AI during our hiring process so you can approach each step with confidence and showcase your best self.

About BlackRock

At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being.  Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children’s educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress.

This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment – the one we make in our employees. It’s why we’re dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive.

To learn more about BlackRock, please visit Careers.BlackRock.com. We also encourage you to get to know us on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, X, and TikTok.

BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, family status, gender identity, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected attributes at law.