abrdn Graduate Programme 2025 - Investment Operations

Job Description

Job Title: Investments COO Graduate Programme

Location: Edinburgh

Programme Start date: September 2025

Closing date: Friday 25th October (We reserve the right to close earlier due to volume of applications)

Explore Endless Opportunities with abrdn's Investments Chief Operating Office Graduate Programme!

About abrdn

At abrdn, we empower our clients to become better investors. With a global presence, we provide innovative investment solutions that drive positive outcomes. Our commitment to responsible investing helps us contribute to building a better world.

Why Choose Our Graduate Programme?

Embark on a unique, challenging, and rewarding journey with abrdn. Our graduate programme offers you the chance to work within our dynamic Investments COO Business. Here, you’ll engage in real projects, collaborate with talented professionals, and develop skills that will enhance your career.

Our graduate development programmes provides you with the opportunity to rotate around the business for six month placements giving you exposure to the wider business. To support our graduates to get going quickly we provide an extensive induction giving you access to hear from senior professionals across the company, complete soft and technical skills training courses and get to know your cohort of graduates.

Further to formal structured development programme and rotational opportunities, as a graduate you will be supported to work towards a recognised industry qualification.

What You'll Do

The COO is the engine that powers and enables the Investments business. We have unparalleled expertise, innovative ideas and dynamic ways of working. We invest in the future, take individual and collective responsibility, maximise collaboration and are proud to deliver a world class client service. On the graduate programme you will learn about our departments;

• Strategy & Business Management - A highly connected team working with teams across the Investment Chief Operating Office to make sure the functions operate cohesively as a single client-focused and commercial unit. The area oversees strategy, business design, colleague engagement, capability and financial planning.

• Public Market Operations - Multidisciplinary operations team delivering industry leading investment enablement capabilities across data management, trade operations, transitions, fund accounting, asset pricing and performance analytics

• Alternative Operations – Specialist operations teams supporting our fund range focussed on asset classes such as Real Estate, Hedge, and Private Credit
• Investment Platform Strategy and Demand - The Investment Platform Strategy and Demand Manager coordinates and prioritises change demand across our key functions with a focus on ensuring we have a future-fit, efficient, and scalable platform.
• Governance & Controls – Supporting the whole Investments business to ensure there are robust governance frameworks in place. The area also concentrates on ensuring we have appropriate controls in place internally and at our third-party administrators, as well as operationally identifying and managing risks and issues transparently.
• Client & Regulatory Operations –managing the relationships with our key external suppliers such as our core Middle Office Third Party Administrators and client facing Transfer Agents. They also are responsible for investment regulatory reporting, client reporting (including ESG), client regulatory reporting, fund reporting and fund data dissemination.
• Supplier Relationship Management - This team have established and reliable relationships, and strategic partnerships, with respective suppliers. Their responsibilities include contract and rate card management and ensuring that the overall service provided to the business meets the required standards and evolution of our business.
• Market Data Services - Primary focus lies in the procurement & management of market data services for third-party providers. The team is responsible for relationship management with market data providers; handling negotiations for new contracts, renewals, introduction of new services, and software/data trials.

Due to the broad span of activities carried out in COO you should have a great understanding of the end to end value chain of our business; how clients are onboarded, how we manage their investments and their servicing needs in a controlled manner, then how we make sure they have the data & reporting they require to see their investments performance. 

What we look for

We are looking for students in their final year of University, or who have recently graduated, from diverse academic backgrounds. Ideal candidates are performance-driven, client-focused, ambitious, strategic thinkers with a futurist mindset. Demonstrating inclusive and empowering leadership is essential. If you also have a passion for analysing data to spot trends, this would be an advantage.

Our Commitment to Inclusion

abrdn is dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is valued. As a Disability Confident Committed Level One employer, we welcome applications from all backgrounds and provide support throughout the recruitment process.

Our Benefits

There's more to working life than coming home with a good salary. We have an environment where you can learn, get involved and be supported. You will enjoy competitive rewards, including 40 days of annual leave, a 16% employer pension contribution, private healthcare, and flexible benefits such as gym discounts and more. You can read more about our benefits here

Apply Today

Join us in building a future where everyone can thrive.

For more information visit our careers site: https://www.abrdn.com/en-gb/corporate/careers

We’re committed to providing an inclusive workplace where all forms of difference are valued and which is free from any form of unfair or unlawful treatment. We define diversity in its broadest sense – this includes but is not limited to our diversity of educational and professional backgrounds, experience, cognitive and neurodiversity, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief and ethnicity and geographical provenance. We support a culture that values meritocracy, fairness and transparency and welcomes enquiries from everyone.If you need assistance or an adjustment due to a disability please let us know as part of your application and we will assist.