VP – OTC Client Clearing Projects recruitment

The goal of the Clearing Operations Project Group (CPG) is to deliver an industry leading Client Clearing service for the following asset classes (OTC Derivatives (equity, interest rates and credit), Listed Derivatives, Commodities and FX) by doing the following:
• Specify and deliver the technology and processes necessary to support the Derivative Clearing businesses;
• Define the future vision for Derivative Clearing Operations (processes, organizational models etc.);
• Institute a client on-boarding and support model within Operations for the Derivative Clearing businesses
Clearing Operations cover Client On-boarding, Trade Support, Collateral Management and Settlement for derivative clearing transactions of all major asset classes (equity, interest rates and credit). CPG is a global organization with the majority of projects having a global focus. CPG has teams in London and New York and is supported by a global IT organization.

The goal of the CPG IRD Clearing Projects team is to deliver an industry leading clearing platform for Interest Rate Derivatives covering Trade Entry, Trade Affirmation, Allocation and External Connectivity (Affirmation Platforms and Clearing Houses).
This role is to head the Interest Rate Derivatives  Clearing programme and hence be responsible for all projects within that space. Additionally, the successful candidate will be part of the CPG management team defining the future state processes and architecture for all asset classes along with helping to manage the evolution of the global team.

The successful candidate will be capable of performing detailed business analysis (either on their own or through a team of analysts) in order to understand and resolve current issues and develop/define the future state vision. This will require the individual to influence at senior levels, while also being skilled at extracting requirements from subject matter experts (primarily Operations, but occasionally Legal, Compliance, Trading, Sales and Risk Management).

The successful candidate will be responsible for delivering multiple projects to global stakeholders and consequently will be required to partner with IT to ensure the successful delivery of technology solutions to business requirements. They will also be comfortable working with ambiguity, managing resolving complex issues and have a history of being able to articulate a clear message for which support is garnered.

Duties and Responsibilities
The role requires the candidate to:
-  Possess extensive experience working within Financial Services, preferably with experience in Interest Rate Derivatives (IRD) and Project Management
-  Have a detailed understanding of IRD processing; Able to give significant input into the design and development of the future state architecture, operational processes and operating model being developed as part of the renovation of the IRD Clearing space.
-  Act as the gatekeeper of the IRD Clearing Program; Ensuring best practice is followed across all projects.
-  Take ownership of multiple projects within the IRD Clearing space with ultimate responsibility for successful delivery of the project(s) to time and budget
-  Ensure that the business case for renovation work is transparent, understood and committed to by all key stakeholders in all regions. Create and chair appropriate forums (such as working groups) to drive the project(s), provide status updates and escalate/resolve issues.
-  Ensure for each of these projects that thorough business analysis is performed and accurate detailed business requirements are developed with the support of the appropriate Operations resources.
- Develop strong relationships with IT colleagues to design, develop and implement technology platforms to deliver solutions to these business requirements.

- Develop comprehensive and robust test cases/plans and co-ordinate the execution of these tests to ensure successful delivery of these technology platforms.
-  Mentor and develop junior team members

Skills and experience required:

• The role requires a high level of guardianship to ensure that the clearing solution meets the needs of the business and ensure that the process is generic where appropriate.

• The individual will be required to influence and build strong relationships with stakeholders across geographical functional boundaries with conflicting priorities, hence good client skills are essential.

• Strong communication and organisation skills.

• Strong business analysis skills are essential - both low level analysis such as requirement capture, and high level analysis such as developing a future state architecture. These skills should be coupled with a creative, flexible and pragmatic approach to problem solving.
A track record of project delivery and prior experience of stakeholder management is also required.

• Detailed knowledge experience of Interest Rate derivative processing is essential along with practical knowledge of the changing regulatory landscape with an emphasis on OTC Derivative Clearing.

• Proven experience of leading technology projects, understanding the complexities and issues that result from such initiatives and be able to harness technology, e.g. to be aware of how to leverage technology platforms across businesses and enable others to do so.

• The role involves a great deal of interaction with other members of the project team and relies on the ability to identify appropriate information, sharing leveraging of information, effectively and appropriately

• The role involves managing a large team in London and potentially some virtual team members in NY. It will also involve directing individuals who are not direct reports – which will increase the management challenge and the need for the candidate to show strong influencing skills. The individual also needs to understand the importance of career development across a team, how to make best use of team experience skills sets and implement manage activities to achieve high levels of individual team performance.

• The individual must have a strong drive to succeed and set the agenda for change.