Trading Control Uplift Engineer Lead

Standard Chartered; Singapore; On-site; SGD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading international bank in Singapore is seeking a technology leader to drive a multi-year transformation program focused on modernizing controls across the trade lifecycle. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in low-latency infrastructure and hybrid cloud environments. Responsibilities include aligning technology strategy with regulatory expectations and ensuring cross-functional collaboration. The role offers competitive salary and benefits, alongside flexible working options.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Retirement savings funding

Flexible working options

Proactive wellbeing support

Learning & development opportunities

Qualifications

• 15+ years in a global technology leadership position in Financial Markets.
• Ability to dive into technical details and pivot to strategic conversations.
• Experience in secure API design and low-latency trading infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Modernize legacy control environments using emerging technologies.
• Drive strategic direction for Markets control uplift.
• Build trusted partnerships with Markets Sales & Trading.

Skills

Low-latency infrastructure

Hybrid cloud

Cybersecurity

Regulatory technology

Application modernization

End-to-end trade processing

Data quality improvement

Education

Graduate/Master’s degree

Tools

AI/ML driven surveillance

Observability frameworks

Job description

JOB SUMMARY

The role leads a multi year transformation programme to strengthen preventive and detective controls across the Global Markets trade lifecycle. It focuses on delivering a modern, automated, and resilient control environment that meets global regulatory expectations and supports mission critical trading platforms.

The role requires deep domain expertise across low‑latency infrastructure, hybrid cloud, application modernisation, cybersecurity, regulatory technology, and end‑to‑end trade processing. It also demands the ability to influence senior business, risk, and compliance stakeholders and to drive technology outcomes that enhance operational robustness, data quality, and client trust.

Working closely with Product Owners, Architects, Markets CIO leadership, and cross‑functional partners, the role ensures that technology strategy, investment decisions, architectural standards, and control frameworks are aligned with enterprise priorities and regulatory expectations. The position also provides strategic engineering oversight across market data, trading systems, connectivity, and post‑trade environments.

Core Accountabilities

• Modernise legacy control environments using emerging technologies including data fabric, AI/ML driven surveillance, and workflow automation.
• Embed preventative and detective control logic into front to back platforms (Order Management, Execution, Trading Risk).
• Implement observability frameworks to enable proactive health monitoring and automated breach detection.
• Strengthen trade data quality, metadata management, entitlements, and governance.
• Provide oversight of infrastructure blueprints for trading platforms, connectivity, data centres, and colocation.

• Ensure designs comply with major regulatory expectations (DORA, MAS, EMIR, MiFID, other G20 regimes).
• Partner with Application, Data, and Enterprise Architects to ensure integrated and scalable architecture.
• Identify and manage risks related to technical debt, obsolescence, and design complexity.
• Act as a trusted advisor to Markets CIO, COO, and Risk leadership on controls, security posture, data uplift, and technology investments.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy

• Set the strategic direction for Markets control uplift, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture and regulatory commitments.
• Drive a disciplined build vs buy strategy, optimising long term cost efficiency and platform sustainability.
• Shape investment planning cycles, influencing technology roadmap, strategy, and budget allocations for Markets Technology.
• Partner with Business Heads, COOs, Function leaders, and CIOs to ensure a strong link between Markets growth ambitions and the supporting technology control landscape.
• Maintain stewardship of the Markets application estate, ensuring robust lifecycle management, hygiene, and adherence to ICT and obsolescence standards.
• Contribute to CIB wide technology initiatives in collaboration with DCCP, TB, and enterprise architecture teams.

Business

• Build trusted and strategic partnerships with Markets Sales & Trading, and Markets Operations.
• Ensure the Markets TPT strategy is tightly coupled to the business scorecard, with iterative refinements based on business feedback.

• Drive reduction of manual processes and uplift STP ratios through data, workflow, and system modernisation.
• Support the business in delivering sustainable RoTE by driving efficient, high‑quality delivery outcomes.
• Establish a learning‑focused culture by embedding rigorous feedback loops and continuous improvement practices.

Processes

• Oversee Quality Control within Markets Technology, working closely with the Risk & Control team.
• Act as a point of contact and escalation to internal users (TB, Markets, Client Coverage) on relevant projects and initiatives
• Manage and close audit, risk and regulatory commitment and proactively self‑identify gaps and prevent any audit findings from internal and external auditor and regulators.
• Embed operational risk standards and ensure alignment with the Operational Risk Framework.

People & Talent

• Shape a leadership culture anchored on integrity, accountability, innovation, and risk awareness.
• Attract, develop, and retain top engineering and technology talent across global markets.
• Provide clear direction, coaching, succession planning, and capability uplift to ensure a high‑performing global team.
• Foster an inclusive and collaborative environment that supports professional growth and technical mastery.

Risk Management

• Maintain an enterprise‑wide view of current and emerging technology risk across Markets.
• Ensure governance, risk, and control frameworks remain effective and adaptive to change.
• Promote proactive identification of risks, ensuring controls evolve in line with architectural and operational shifts.
• Drive timely execution of risk‑related commitments and governance actions.

Governance

• Play an influential leadership role in Markets governance forums, including Markets QPR and Markets Refinement Forum.
• Deliver high‑quality risk documentation, including top risk profiles, residual risk assessments, and root cause analyses.
• Maintain SCB Program Management Standards and ensure consistent measurement of benefits, costs, and transformation progress.
• Provide strategic guidance to businesses and functions undergoing change, supporting complex decision‑making and issue resolution.

Regulatory & Business Conduct

• Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group’s Values and Code of Conduct.
• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.
• Lead the Team to achieve the outcomes set out in the Bank’s Conduct Principles
• Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalation, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.

Key Stakeholders

• Markets MT
• Finance
• COO, CIB
• COO, Markets
• CEO, SCSCL
• CIB Operations
• Legal & Compliance
• Global Head, FM Production Management and Head FM Tech China
• Global Head, Risk Technology
• Global Head, FM Channels and eTrading Technology
• CIO, Americas
• Head, FM Technology Risk
• Head, FM Portfolio Management
• Head, FM Technology Strategy and Planning
• CIB Architect
• CIO, SC Securities (China) Ltd.,
• Head, Markets Transformation

Other Responsibilities

• Perform other responsibilities assigned under Business or Functional policies and procedures
• Embed control and security into solution and uplift strategy

Our Ideal Candidate

• Proven capability in a global technology leadership position
• Ability to dive into a conversation on code with development teams, speak the language of technology and pivot to strategy and selling solutions
• Stays current in knowledge with a focus on the future of technology
• Financial services highly regarded, specifically Banking and knowledge of the CB businesses (e.g. Financial Markets, Transaction Banking or Payments)
• Self‑motivated leader with a growth mindset
• An exceptional business partner with deep appreciation of “clients” and technology as an enabler
• Ability to connect and engage with diverse stakeholder networks internally and externally
• Education - Graduate/ Master’s degree
• Certifications - Certification on Architecture, Cloud, Cyber Security will be an added advantage

Role Specific Technical Competencies

• 15+ years designing and delivering Interactive and non-interactives platforms for clients
• 15+ years Financial Markets technology acumen
• Deep experience in secure API design
• Experience in preparing Business Cases for large scale technology transformation initiatives which simplify Application ecosystem and reduce TCO
• Expertise in understanding of trade lifecycle controls, conduct risk frameworks and regulatory obligations
• Strong understanding of low latency trading infrastructure , network optimization and colocation architectures
• Solid knowledge of modern frontend/mobile stacks, LLMs and Agentic AI

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market‑leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first‑aiders and all sorts of self‑help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.

Recruitment Assessments

Some of our roles use assessments to help us understand how suitable you are for the role you've applied to. If you are invited to take an assessment, this is great news. It means your application has progressed to an important stage of our recruitment process.

Visit our careers website www.sc.com/careers