Middle Office - Senior Associate at State Street in HINJEWADI PUNE

Job description

• The Senior Associate is responsible for supporting end-to-end transaction management activities across global financial markets, ensuring timely and accurate trade confirmation, settlement processing, static data maintenance, exception management, and client servicing. The role requires close interaction with brokers, custodians, investment managers, counterparties, and internal stakeholders to mitigate settlement risk, maintain data integrity, and support excellent client outcomes.
• The successful candidate will demonstrate strong product knowledge across Equities, Fixed Income, FX, Money Markets, and Derivatives, coupled with exceptional analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Trade Settlement Management
• Manage the complete settlement lifecycle for securities and cash transactions.
• Monitor settlement queues and ensure timely release of trade instructions.
• Investigate and resolve unmatched and failed trades by coordinating with brokers, custodians, counterparties, and internal teams.
• Perform pre-settlement and post-settlement monitoring to maximize settlement efficiency.
• Review settlement exceptions and execute corrective actions within market deadlines.
• Process transaction amendments, SSI updates, and settlement instruction changes.
• Support force settlement, pre-advice processing, and cash management activities where applicable.
• Monitor market-specific settlement requirements and ensure regulatory compliance.
• Escalate high-risk or aged settlement issues in accordance with governance procedures.
• Trade Confirmation & Matching
• Perform daily confirmation and matching of trades through electronic matching platforms and manual processes.
• Investigate confirmation breaks and discrepancies with brokers and trading desks.
• Manage broker matching activities while adhering to client-specific matching tolerances and SLAs.
• Support CTM, Trade Nexus, Trade Suite, Alert, SWIFT, and other matching utilities.
• Ensure proper allocation and block trade processing.
• Validate economic terms, settlement details, and trade attributes prior to matching.
• Maintain audit trails and evidence of confirmations and exception resolutions.
• Drive reduction in manual confirmations and promote STP opportunities.
• Static Data Maintenance
• Create, maintain, and validate standing settlement instructions (SSI).
• Maintain security master, counterparty, broker, custodian, and market reference data.
• Perform periodic reviews and quality control checks on static data records.
• Manage account openings, account maintenance, and related documentation.
• Ensure accurate maintenance of settlement locations, PSETs, BICs, SWIFT details, and market-specific requirements.
• Investigate and resolve data exceptions and reconciliation breaks.
• Support data governance and control framework requirements.
• Risk & Control
• Adhere to operational risk and control standards across all processes.
• Identify process gaps and recommend automation or process improvements.
• Ensure compliance with internal policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements.
• Participate in incident investigations and root cause analysis activities.
• Support audit, compliance, and regulatory reviews.
• Maintain strong evidence and documentation standards.
• Client & Stakeholder Management
• Act as a key contact point for internal and external stakeholders.
• Provide timely updates on critical trade and settlement issues.
• Participate in service review meetings and client calls where required.
• Build effective relationships with clients, brokers, custodians, and vendors.
• Deliver high levels of client satisfaction through proactive issue management.
• Continuous Improvement
• Identify opportunities to improve STP rates and reduce manual touchpoints.
• Participate in transformation, migration, and automation initiatives.
• Contribute to procedure updates, training materials, and process documentation.
• Support implementation of new markets, products, and client onboarding initiatives.

Requirements

• Education
• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Accounting, Economics, Business, Commerce, or related discipline.
• Relevant industry certifications such as CFA, FRM, CISI, or investment operations certifications are preferred.
• Willingness and ability to work in night shifts as per business requirements.
• Experience
• 4 to 8 years of financial services experience.
• Experience in Trade Settlements, Trade Confirmation, Static Data Management, Custody Operations, or Middle Office Operations.
• Exposure to global securities markets and settlement practices.
• Technical Knowledge
• Equities, Fixed Income, FX, Money Market, and Derivatives products.
• Trade lifecycle management.
• Settlement and confirmation processes.
• SWIFT Messaging (MT54x, MT599, MT3xx).
• Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) and International CSDs.
• Settlement instruction management and market practices.
• Reconciliation and exception management.
• GTM
• CTM
• ALERT
• TradeSuite
• Bloomberg
• Aladdin
• Charles River
• Custody platforms
• SWIFT applications
• Microsoft Excel and Power BI
• Functional Competencies
• Trade lifecycle expertise
• Settlement risk management
• Static data governance
• Exception investigation
• Reconciliation analysis
• Regulatory awareness
• Behavioral Competencies
• Strong analytical thinking
• Attention to detail
• Effective communication skills
• Stakeholder management
• Time management
• Decision making under pressure
• Team collaboration
• Client-centric mindset

Skills

Required

• Trade lifecycle expertise
• Settlement risk management
• Static data governance
• Exception investigation
• Reconciliation analysis
• Regulatory awareness
• Strong analytical thinking
• Attention to detail
• Effective communication skills
• Stakeholder management
• Time management
• Decision making under pressure

Preferred

• GTM
• CTM
• ALERT
• TradeSuite
• Bloomberg
• Aladdin
• Charles River
• Custody platforms