Opportunity to work with highly intelligent people and experienced professionals, who seem to enjoy giving it all in a business in which they can have a real impact.
Intellectually demanding - ETFs have been made so successful by a delicate eco-system that supports them - understanding, building and maintaining that eco-system is a wonderful challenge at the development stage. At the selling stage, distributing these products across multiple markets is also an involved undertaking - each of these markets is different in its structure, language, legal system, investor types and their motivations, requiring a highly versatile sales and marketing team. All this makes for daily intellectual challenges for anyone even mildly attentive.
Given the relatively small size of the business, staff at almost every level are exposed to strategy, and get to see more aspects of how a business is run than one would in larger or less transparent firms
Good work/life balance is encouraged from the top down
Very friendly environment, from the analysts and associates up to senior management- it's truly collegial and people collaborate with a shared sense of purpose
Opinions are welcome, open debate is encouraged, disagreements are aired, everyone is heard. Without the collegiality this might have led to a wreck of bruised egos and dead-end meetings, but the collegial open environment means that debate is just commonly accepted as a means of getting to a richer range of opinions being considered with mostly better decisions coming out the other end. I've been around for a while and I've only ever seen this have positive impact.
True meritocracy: if you are capable and motivated, if your ideas have merit and you show results, you will be rewarded with more responsibility, leadership opportunities, higher rank, compensation and support in your personal growth. It is the rule rather than the exception, although there are obviously also instances where people may feel that wasn't true in their case
Being a high growth business means people are encouraged to expand beyond their comfort zones, develop new skills and get experience in a wider range of activities than would be possible in larger or more densely populated firms.
Multi-cultural office: among 40 employees in the London office there are representatives of close to 20 countries: Spain, Germany, Italy, the US, Ireland, Argentina, France, South Africa, the UK, India, China, Brazil, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Israel, Switzerland, Mauritius, and that's just off the top of my head... it makes for a very vibrant, fun and enriching work environment.
The ETF industry has been growing at a rate of 30% per year for over 10 years, reaching new records in assets every year and the firm is very much exposed to that. The products created and sold are innovative and differentiated, covering all asset classes. As an employee it has been an opportunity to learn about and become an expert on interesting strategies in a range of asset classes.
ETF experience in this high-growth industry is rare and cherished and this is a fantastic place to get this experience and work with top people in the field
The firm organises and supports social activities, team get-togethers, lunch & learns, the occasional massage session in the office and other activities to make employees escape their traditional workday and spend some fun time together every once in a while
Business casual dress code, except for external meetings
Fridges fully stacked with beverages, and cabinets packed with snacks available for free for employees... an Italian espresso machine that staff chose by voting among 5-6 different machines HR brought in for testing, resulting in some very decent cappucinos and espressos all day long. It's all just a small piece of what makes staff feel at home in WisdomTree
