Senior Compliance Officer – Surveillance

IMC Trading; Sydney; On-site; AUD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

IMC is expanding its APAC compliance program and the Senior Compliance Officer - Surveillance will own cross‑market trade surveillance for equities, derivatives and commodities. You will work with Trading, Technology, Compliance and Legal to design controls, investigate alerts and defend findings under regulatory scrutiny.

Based in APAC with Sydney as a focal point, you will prototype analyses using Python/SQL, review vendor surveillance, and partner with traders to understand strategies while

Qualifications

• Significant hands-on trade surveillance experience.
• Experience designing surveillance alerts from scratch.
• Strong practical capability in Python, SQL or equivalent tools.
• Ability to interrogate alert and model logic, validate outputs and challenge tech teams or vendors.
• Defensible investigation methodology with distinguishing false positives from deeper cases.
• Strong equities knowledge and understanding of trading strategies and market microstructure.
• Knowledge of APAC regulatory and exchange requirements (CSRC, SFC, ASIC).
• Experience across APAC markets (Australia, HK, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore); vendor tools are helpful but not substitutes.

Responsibilities

• Develop the APAC trade surveillance roadmap with focus on systematic equities expansion.
• Identify market-abuse risks and translate regulations into surveillance controls.
• Apply a structured investigation framework to alerts with clear documentation.
• Design surveillance alerts including scenario logic, data inputs, calculations and thresholds.
• W rite functional specifications and collaborate with developers on alerts and data feeds.
• Use Python, SQL to interrogate order, trade and market data; prototype analyses and test hypotheses.
• Review model logic and vendor surveillance; develop bespoke controls as needed.
• Manage alert queues and reduce false positives while maintaining risk coverage.
• Collaborate with traders to understand strategies and assess misconduct.
• Support responses to regulatory inquiries with evidence-based analysis.

Skills

Trade surveillance

Python

SQL

Alert design

Investigation methodology

Market microstructure

Regulatory knowledge APAC

Stakeholder communication

Tools

OneTick

SMARTS

Nice Actimize

Job description

IMC's APAC Compliance team works closely with our Trading and Technology teams to manage the regulatory risks arising from trading activity across multiple jurisdictions. As IMC expands its systematic equities business in APAC, this role will help build the surveillance coverage, controls and technical analysis needed to support that growth.

As Senior Compliance Officer - Surveillance, you will be a senior individual contributor with broad ownership of APAC trade surveillance. You will remain hands‑on across surveillance strategy, alert design, data analysis and investigations, covering equities, derivatives and commodities across multiple markets. Working closely with Trading, Technology, Compliance and Legal, you will develop controls that are practical, technically robust and defensible under regulatory scrutiny.

Your Core Responsibilities

• Developing the APAC trade surveillance roadmap, with an initial focus on supporting the systematic equities expansion across new markets, products and trading strategies
• Identifying market‑abuse risks and translating new regulations, exchange updates and changes in trading activity into effective surveillance controls
• Applying a structured investigation framework to alerts, including documenting the analysis, evidence and rationale for closure or escalation so decisions can be clearly defended
• Designing surveillance alerts from first principles, including the scenario logic, data inputs, calculations, thresholds, exclusions, testing approach and expected outputs
• Writing clear functional specifications and working with software developers to implement, validate and enhance alerts, data feeds and internal surveillance tooling
• Using Python, SQL or equivalent tools to interrogate order, trade and market data; prototype analyses; test hypotheses; and assess alert performance
• Reviewing model logic and vendor‑provided surveillance, challenging systems such as OneTick or SMARTS, and developing bespoke controls where standard coverage is insufficient
• Managing and prioritising alert queues, including high‑volume scenarios, while maintaining investigation quality and improving false‑positive rates without weakening risk coverage
• Working directly with traders to understand strategies and market microstructure, assess potential misconduct and constructively challenge trading activity where required
• Supporting responses to regulatory and exchange inquiries with clear, evidence‑based analysis of trading activity

Your Skills And Experience

• Significant hands‑on trade surveillance experience, preferably within a proprietary trading firm, market maker, HFT or systematic trading environment
• Demonstrated experience designing surveillance alerts or controls from scratch, rather than solely operating or calibrating vendor‑provided scenarios
• Strong practical capability in Python, SQL or equivalent tools, including writing scripts and working independently with large order, trade and market datasets
• Ability to interrogate alert and model logic, validate outputs, identify data‑quality issues and challenge technology teams or surveillance vendors with an independent view
• A clear and defensible investigation methodology, with experience distinguishing false positives from matters requiring deeper investigation or escalation
• Strong equities knowledge and a practical understanding of trading strategies, order‑book behaviour and market microstructure; front‑office, trading or sales‑trading exposure is valuable
• Strong understanding of market‑abuse typologies, including spoofing, layering, ramping, marking the close, wash trading and insider trading indicators
• Knowledge of relevant APAC regulatory and exchange requirements, such as CSRC program trading rules, the SFC Code of Conduct or ASIC Market Integrity Rules
• Experience across APAC markets, including any combination of Australia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea or Singapore; experience with OneTick, SMARTS, Nice Actimise or equivalent is useful but is not a substitute for independent control design
• Ability to communicate technical surveillance logic clearly to developers and explain and defend investigation decisions to traders, senior stakeholders, exchanges and regulators

About Us

IMC is a research‑driven trading firm where quantitative modeling, machine learning, and engineering shape how modern markets are traded. A stabilizing force in markets since 1989, we provide liquidity across trading venues, delivering the best outcome in value and risk management to investors. Using our own technology and capital, we build proprietary systems and algorithms that operate across global markets. Our researchers, traders, and engineers work as a collective, combining rapid experimentation, advanced infrastructure, and real‑time feedback to turn insight into execution and execution into advantage.