Financial Research Associate, AI Product & Testing

Financial Research Associate, AI Product & Testing - Hybrid Algarve

Location: Greater Faro / Loulé, Algarve - Hybrid (2-3 days/week in office)

Employment Type: Full-time

Seniority Level: Mid-level

Compensation: €40.000-€50.000 gross annual (depending on experience)

About Aiera

We're excited to help our client , a fast-growing, well-funded American startup in the financial technology industry, expand their team in the Algarve.

We are hiring a Research Associate to help advance AieraChat-our AI-enabled financial research experience-by building and executing finance-specific testing workflows and helping shape product improvements.

This role is ideal for a candidate who has worked as an associate/junior team member on an investment banking or institutional research team and is looking to pivot into an AI product-focused company. You will use your finance and research background to craft realistic research questions, validate AI outputs against expectations, and translate findings into actionable recommendations for Product, Engineering, and Research Operations.

This is a product and testing role grounded in real-world research workflows-not a technical engineering role.

Why This Opportunity Stands Out

• Join a fast-growing US scale-up in the financial industry - backed by strong funding and a global vision.
• Work on a cutting-edge SaaS platform that uses AI to transform financial research.
• Be part of an international, innovation-driven culture - collaborate directly with product, QA, and engineering teams under US management.
• Enjoy the Algarve lifestyle - combine meaningful, high-impact work with one of Europe's best living environments.
• Help shape the company's first European research & engineering hub.

The Work You'll Do

Finance Workflow Testing & AI Output Review (Core)

• Draft finance- and research-specific questions (test prompts) that reflect how buy-side and sell-side users actually research companies, sectors, and macro themes
• Execute structured test runs in AieraChat across common workflows (earnings, revisions, catalysts, valuation framing, peer comps, macro impacts, event-driven scenarios)
• Assess responses for:
• financial accuracy (numbers, definitions, consistency)
• reasoning quality (logic, assumptions, completeness)
• relevance and usefulness (did it answer what a real user asked?
• proper citation/grounding behaviors when applicable
• Identify failure patterns: hallucinations, stale/incorrect claims, misinterpretation, missing context, weak explanations

Test Script & Scenario Development (High-Impact Ownership)

• Build and maintain a library of test scripts and scenario packs (by sector, use case, complexity)
• Create standardized "expected outcome" guidance for recurring question types (what a good answer looks like)
• Expand edge-case coverage (conflicting sources, partial info, estimate deltas, corporate actions, unusual accounting, macro shocks)
• Partner with QA to ensure scenarios are reproducible, traceable, and useful for release readiness

Product Development Support (Translate Findings Into Improvements)

• Turn testing outcomes into product-ready feedback:
• clear issue write-ups (what happened, what should happen, why it matters)
• severity and user impact assessment
• suggested improvements (UX, product logic, content handling, guardrails, prompt patterns)
• Participate in bug triage and product review sessions with Product and Engineering
• Help validate fixes and confirm improvements across regression test runs
• Contribute to roadmap discussions by identifying recurring user needs and workflow gaps

Research Expertise & Quality Standards (User Lens)

• Bring the "associate mindset" to define what "good" looks like for financial research workflows:
• clarity, structure, correct framing, and decision-useful context
• appropriate use of financial terminology
• capturing thesis, catalysts, risks, and key drivers in a way that matches institutional expectations
• Help establish consistent quality standards across sectors and research styles

Who We're Looking For - Required Skills & Experience

• 2-6 years of experience as an associate/junior professional in:
• investment banking (IB) / equity capital markets / industry coverage teams, or
• sell-side equity research, buy-side research, asset management research, or
• related institutional research functions (strategy, macro research, credit research, etc.)

• Strong ability to think like a research user: ask the right questions, pressure-test answers, and evaluate usefulness
• Comfortable reviewing financial content for accuracy and coherence (metrics, ratios, drivers, catalysts, risks)
• Excellent written communication-able to produce clear test prompts, expected outcomes, and issue documentation
• High attention to detail and strong organizational habits (scenario libraries, tracking, regression discipline)
• Interest in AI products and eagerness to learn how LLM-based tools behave and improve over time

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience supporting analyst workflows (earnings models, comps, sensitivity tables, pitch materials, investment memos)
• Familiarity with financial research platforms and workflows (Bloomberg, FactSet, Refinitiv/LSEG, CapIQ, etc.)
• Experience building repeatable test scenarios, checklists, or quality review processes (even informally)
• Comfort working in ambiguity and iterating quickly in a product environment
• Interest in prompt design, evaluation frameworks, and human-in-the-loop quality loops

Location & relocation

We're especially interested in candidates who are:

• Already based in Portugal and seeking an international product/engineering environment, or
• EU / EEA / Swiss / Brazilian citizens (or others with the right to work in Portugal without sponsorship) who are interested in relocating to the Algarve.

Interested?

Apply now to join a fast-growing global team bringing the future of AI-driven financial research to life - from the heart of the Algarve.