Investment Manager
An Investment Manager develops and executes investment strategies for portfolios of shares, bonds, property, and other financial instruments on behalf of clients or employers.
What this job is
An Investment Manager develops and executes investment strategies for portfolios of shares, bonds, property, and other financial instruments on behalf of clients or employers. They analyse market conditions, economic data, and individual securities to make buy and sell decisions that meet specific investment objectives and risk tolerances. They manage portfolios valued from hundreds of thousands to billions of dollars, monitor performance against benchmarks, and comply with Australian financial services and superannuation regulations.
Are employers advertising this role?
Falling, down 20.8% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Analyse financial statements, earnings reports, and economic indicators to identify investment opportunities in equities, fixed income, and alternative assets. Construct and rebalance investment portfolios to achieve target asset allocations aligned with client risk profiles and investment objectives. Monitor holdings against relevant benchmarks (ASX 200, All Ordinaries, fixed income indices) and adjust positions based on market outlook and fund performance. Conduct due diligence on listed companies, unlisted securities, and fund managers including site visits, management meetings, and competitive analysis. Prepare investment committee papers and presentations that synthesise research findings and recommend portfolio actions with supporting rationale. Comply with ASIC Corporations Act requirements, APRA prudential standards, and Australian Securities Exchange listing rules in all investment decisions. Manage liquidity and cash flow forecasts to ensure timely settlement of trades and payment of distributions to clients. Review and enforce investment mandates, ESG (environmental, social, governance) policies, and exclusion criteria specified by clients or fund documentation.
Who does this now
About 10,500 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Bachelor degree or higher (ABS skill level 1)
Registration or licensing is required.
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation were generally able to find suitable applicants in 2025. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a bachelor degree or higher (ABS Skill Level 1). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
You'll need to get your Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) or work under someone else's licence, which means exams like the Securities Institute diplomas or equivalent. You're also making calls that affect real people's retirement savings, so mistakes carry real stress.
Where the jobs are
Nearly all roles are in metro areas rather than regional Australia. Remote work is growing but less common than in pure IT roles.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 2223, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Skills
- Advise on investmentcore
- Attention to Detailcore
- Goal Setting and Planningcore
- Microsoft Excel Data Managementcore
- Negotiationcore
- Power BI Reporting and Dashboardscore
- Problem Solvingcore
- Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
- Report Writingcore
- Reporting and Analyticscore
- Research and Analysiscore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Stakeholder Communicationcore
- Time Management and Prioritisationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Written Communicationcore
- Advise on financial matters
- Confidentiality and Privacy Compliance
- Continuous Learning and Upskilling
- Correspondence Drafting
- Customer Needs Assessment
- Microsoft Office Suite Proficiency
- Policy Interpretation
- Process Improvement Identification
- Record Management
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
What Investment Manager workers move into, from ten years of tax records.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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