Harvard University is struggling with postgraduate life. Its giant endowment lost 2 percent in the year to June, falling short of its own yardsticks and the 3.4 percent gain generated by David Swensen at its rival, Yale. More than a decade after the departure of its architect, Jack Meyer, the Harvard Management Company is finding it hard to get past being the sort-of hedge fund it once was.

The $36 billion under its care makes it the largest fund in the country of its kind. Performance has lagged lately. The last year’s effort missed Harvard Management’s own blended benchmark return of 1 percent, about what its neighbor, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, managed with a pot about half the size.

In his 15 years at the helm, Mr. Meyer helped turn the Harvard endowment into something like a hedge fund, with teams inside the organization managing money directly as well as farming out money to external investment firms. His track record was strong, but it came with unsustainable levels of pay, as well as organizational challenges.

After the unexpected departure in July of Stephen Blyth, who was in charge for just 18 months, Harvard is looking for its fourth fund boss since Mr. Meyer left in 2005. Its hybrid internal-external model requires overseeing at least 200 employees, the executive search firm Charles Skorina estimates, in addition to the investments themselves. Mr. Skorina says no other big endowment employs more than 70. Yale, which distributes its $25 billion among outside managers, gets by with about 30 people.