Associate Director / Director, Equity Derivatives Operations, Operations

citicclsa; Hong Kong; On-site; HKD 1,000,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Citic CLSA is seeking a senior specialist to lead Equity Derivatives Operations in Hong Kong. You will guide day-to-day processes, ensure accurate trade lifecycle handling and drive risk controls across multiple desks and offshore teams.

You will partner with Trading, Front Office and Compliance to implement controls, manage incidents and support new product launches while mentoring the team in a high‑volume environment.

Qualifications

• At least 10 years of relevant Equity Derivatives Operations, Middle Office or Trade Support experience.
• Strong knowledge of over-the-counter and listed equity derivative products, booking models and lifecycle events.
• Demonstrated experience in service oversight, reconciliations, operational controls and complex issue resolution.
• Experience supporting new products, system implementation, process migration, control design and testing.
• Strong analytical, organisational and communication skills, with the ability to challenge constructively and make decisions under pressure.
• Advanced Excel and experience with automation or data-analysis tools are advantageous.
• Fluency in English is required. Cantonese and Mandarin are advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior day-to-day support to the Head of Equity Derivatives Operations, including prioritisation, coverage, escalation management and team guidance.
• Oversee operational support for Delta One, Prime Services, Equity Finance, exotic and flow derivatives, structured products and listed derivatives.
• Ensure accurate and timely trade capture, validation, confirmation, settlement and lifecycle processing, including resets, fixings, corporate actions, financing, expiries and early terminations.
• Provide end-to-end oversight of services delivered by Derivatives Operations, Collateral, Cash Operations, Asset Services, Reference Data, Controls and Reconciliations, and offshore or shared-service teams.
• Maintain clear service ownership, hand-offs, cut-off times and escalation routes. Review service levels, aged items, settlement failures, control exceptions and recurring incidents, and drive corrective action.
• Oversee trade, position, cash, settlement, broker, counterparty, bank or nostro, accounting-interface and system-to-system reconciliations.
• Lead or support incident management, risk reporting, control assessments, audit and regulatory reviews, and remediation of identified weaknesses.

Job description

Key Areas of Responsibilities

• Provide senior day-to-day support to the Head of Equity Derivatives Operations, including prioritisation, coverage, escalation management and team guidance.
• Oversee operational support for Delta One, Prime Services, Equity Finance, exotic and flow derivatives, structured products and listed derivatives.
• Ensure accurate and timely trade capture, validation, confirmation, settlement and lifecycle processing, including resets, fixings, corporate actions, financing, expiries and early terminations.
• Provide end-to-end oversight of services delivered by Derivatives Operations, Collateral, Cash Operations, Asset Services, Reference Data, Controls and Reconciliations, and offshore or shared-service teams.
• Maintain clear service ownership, hand-offs, cut-off times and escalation routes. Review service levels, aged items, settlement failures, control exceptions and recurring incidents, and drive corrective action.
• Oversee trade, position, cash, settlement, broker, counterparty, bank or nostro, accounting-interface and system-to-system reconciliations.
• Ensure breaks are assigned, investigated, evidenced, aged and resolved promptly, with material or recurring items escalated and subject to root-cause analysis.
• Maintain a strong first-line control environment covering maker-checker reviews, payments, access, static data, manual adjustments, exception management and evidence retention.
• Lead or support incident management, risk reporting, control assessments, audit and regulatory reviews, and remediation of identified weaknesses.
• Represent Equity Derivatives Operations in new-product approvals, system changes, testing and process improvements, ensuring controls and reconciliations are in place before launch.
• Build effective relationships with Trading, Sales, Structuring, Finance, Product Control, Risk, Technology, Legal, Compliance and external service providers.
• Coach team members, support cross-training and contribute to succession planning and business continuity.

Requirements

• At least 10 years of relevant Equity Derivatives Operations, Middle Office or Trade Support experience, including senior-level responsibility.
• Strong knowledge of over-the-counter and listed equity derivative products, booking models and lifecycle events.
• Demonstrated experience in service oversight, reconciliations, operational controls and complex issue resolution.
• Experience supporting new products, system implementation, process migration, control design and testing.
• Strong analytical, organisational and communication skills, with the ability to challenge constructively and make decisions under pressure.
• Advanced Excel and experience with automation or data-analysis tools are advantageous.
• Fluency in English is required. Cantonese and Mandarin are advantageous.

Key Contact/Engagement points for the role:

• Internal:
• Operations
• Front Office
• IT
• Finance
• Credit Risk/Market Risk
• Product Control
• Internal Audit
• Legal and Compliance
• External:
• Clients
• Custodian banks / Prime Brokers