Core Operations, AVP

About the role

We are hiring an Assistant Vice President (AVP) to lead end‑to‑end post‑trade custody operations in Saudi Arabia, spanning clearing & settlement, cash & FX operational support, corporate actions/income, reconciliations, and client onboarding/account set‑up – Sunday to Thursday. You will drive service excellence, strong risk & control discipline, and regulatory adherence across the KSA post‑trade ecosystem: trading on Saudi Exchange, clearing via Muqassa (CCP), and depository/settlement via Edaa, with settlement cash movements supported through SAMA.

Why this role is important to us
The company is one of the world’s largest global custodians, with over USD 51.7 trillion in AUC/A, and is executing a growth strategy that includes expanding direct market presence.
As part of this strategy, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is a priority market, supported by Vision 2030 reforms, increasing foreign participation, and strong institutional demand.
This role is critical to:

• Enabling scalable market entry and growth by delivering strong, controlled post‑trade operations aligned to local market infrastructure and rules.
• Ensuring a high-quality client experience through timely settlement, strong exception management, and robust controls as KSA market activity expands.
• Supporting the firm’s ability to deepen relationships with key institutional clients as the market evolves.

Key responsibilities (KSA market aligned)

1) Clearing & Settlement (Equities, ETFs, Sukuk/Bonds)

• Own daily settlement processing for Saudi Exchange trades, settling at Edaa in line with market cycle (standard T+2; negotiated deals T+0 to T+5, where applicable).
• Reconcile and validate client instructions, broker confirmations and Muqassa clearing outcomes; proactively resolve exceptions and breaks.
• Monitor fails, manage aged items, and coordinate remediation per Muqassa fails management processes and local cut‑offs.
• Manage instruction lifecycle (amend/cancel/partial handling where permitted) and maintain robust STP and control checks.

2) Cash & Funding (DvP / SAMA-linked settlement)

• Ensure funding readiness for DvP settlement and oversee cash settlement processing and reconciliations. (KSA market practice: securities settle gross; cash settles net via SAMA-linked settlement accounts).
• Investigate and clear cash breaks within cut‑offs; escalate time‑critical issues with clear impact articulation.

3) FX Operations (Operational Support)

• Support FX activities required for settlement and client cash needs (confirmations, value dates, SSIs); drive timeliness and exception reduction.

4) Corporate Actions, Dividends & Income

• Manage end‑to‑end asset servicing: event capture, entitlement validation, booking/posting, reconciliations, and issue resolution with internal partners and vendors.

5) Client Onboarding / Account Set‑Up (Edaa structures)

• Lead operational onboarding to ensure accounts are set up correctly to be settlement‑ready (including Edaa account structures and investor identifiers required for local processing).
• Partner with Client Service, Compliance/KYC, and market counterparts to deliver smooth go‑lives and operational readiness.

6) Controls, Governance & Audit Readiness

• Own daily controls, reconciliations, evidence retention, and audit‑ready documentation; support internal/external audits and risk assessments.
• Maintain strong messaging discipline and operational risk management; experience with SWIFT MT and exposure to ISO 20022 MX preferred.

7) Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Lead and develop a small‑to‑mid-sized operations team; set objectives, coach performance and build cross‑coverage/skills resilience.
• Act as an escalation point and trusted partner for brokers, custodians, market infrastructures, correspondent banking partners, and internal stakeholders (Ops, Risk, Technology, Client).
• Drive continuous improvement, automation, and standardization aligned to regional and global operating model.

Operational analytics & reporting (streamlined)

• Build and own KPI/MIS for post‑trade performance (e.g., STP, settlement timeliness, fail rate, aged breaks, cash funding accuracy, FX confirmation timeliness, corporate action accuracy, reconciliation break rate).
• Produce daily dashboards and monthly senior management packs (trends, root cause, remediation plan, automation pipeline).
• Run capacity/utilization and coverage planning aligned to local market operating days (Sunday–Thursday coverage considerations).

Qualifications & experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting or related discipline (Master’s/MBA preferred).
• 10–12 years’ experience across settlement, custody operations, corporate actions, FX operations, and reconciliations; 3+ years people management experience (KSA / Middle East experience strongly preferred).
• Strong knowledge of post‑trade risk & controls, exception management, and stakeholder communication.
• Working knowledge of SWIFT (and market messaging); familiarity with Bloomberg/Refinitiv and corporate actions platforms advantageous.