Surveillance Officer | Hedge Fund

OCR Alpha; Slough; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

OCR Alpha is working with a leading global investment firm and seeks a Trade Surveillance Lead in London to own the firm's surveillance activities. The role collaborates with Traders, Technology and Compliance to develop a sophisticated surveillance framework.

The candidate should have over 5 years' experience in trade or market abuse surveillance, strong regulatory knowledge, and the ability to work across Front Office, Operations and Risk. Office presence is four days per week.

Qualifications

• 5+ years' experience in trade or market abuse surveillance.
• Strong knowledge of market abuse regulation and surveillance methodologies.
• Experience with surveillance systems, scenario design, calibration and control testing.
• Ability to work with traders, technology teams and senior Compliance stakeholders.
• Proactive approach to improving surveillance frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the firm's trade surveillance activities and monitor market abuse.
• Monitor best execution, trade allocation and cross-trading activity.
• Review and enhance surveillance scenarios, controls and calibration.
• Support development and integration of electronic communications surveillance.
• Collaborate with Technology and external vendors on surveillance systems and data.
• Support regulatory monitoring around short positions and shareholder disclosure.
• Conduct thematic reviews and identify compliance risks or control weaknesses.
• Work with Front Office, Operations, Risk and other stakeholders on surveillance matters.
• Contribute to surveillance policies, procedures, MI and broader Compliance projects.

Skills

Market abuse surveillance

Trade surveillance

Regulatory knowledge

Data analysis

Stakeholder collaboration

Tools

Python

VBA

SQL

Power BI

Excel

Job description

OCR Alpha is working with a leading global investment firm, who is looking to hire a Trade Surveillance Lead to join its growing Compliance function in London.

This is a broad and high-impact role for an experienced surveillance professional who enjoys working closely with investment teams, Technology and Compliance, and who is interested in helping to develop and enhance a sophisticated surveillance framework.

This role will be in the office four days/week.

The Role

You will take ownership of the firm's trade surveillance activities, with responsibility for monitoring potential market abuse and ensuring adherence to regulatory and internal requirements.

The role will include:

• Conducting trade surveillance across multiple asset classes, identifying potential market abuse including spoofing, wash trading and insider dealing
• Monitoring best execution, trade allocation and cross-trading activity
• Reviewing and enhancing existing surveillance scenarios, controls and calibration to improve effectiveness and reduce false positives
• Supporting the development and integration of electronic communications surveillance
• Working closely with Technology and external vendors on surveillance systems, data and platform enhancements
• Supporting regulatory monitoring around short positions and shareholder disclosure requirements
• Conducting thematic reviews and identifying areas of compliance risk or control weakness
• Working closely with Front Office, Operations, Risk and other stakeholders on surveillance and market conduct matters
• Contributing to surveillance policies, procedures, MI and broader Compliance projects

About You

We're looking for someone with 5+ years' experience in trade or market abuse surveillance, ideally gained within an investment bank, asset manager, hedge fund or other sophisticated trading environment.

You should have:

• Strong knowledge of market abuse regulation and surveillance methodologies
• Experience across trade surveillance and ideally best execution monitoring
• A good understanding of surveillance systems, scenario design, calibration and control testing
• The confidence to work closely with traders, technology teams and senior Compliance stakeholders
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with excellent attention to detail
• A proactive approach and genuine interest in improving surveillance frameworks rather than simply operating existing processes
• Experience with Excel and project/workflow management tools

Technical skills are desirable rather than essential.

Exposure to Python, VBA, SQL, Power BI or other data/automation tools would be advantageous, particularly for candidates interested in using technology to improve surveillance effectiveness.

This is an opportunity to join a lean, collaborative Compliance team within a sophisticated global investment business, with significant scope to take ownership of the surveillance function and help shape its future development.