Project Manager - Capital Markets

Phyton Talent Advisors; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global hedge fund is seeking an experienced Project Manager – Capital Markets Operations & Middle Office to lead strategic initiatives across the firm's investment operations and middle-office platform.

This individual will partner closely with Operations, Middle Office, Trading, Portfolio Management, Treasury, Finance, Risk, Technology, Compliance, and external service providers to deliver complex, cross-functional projects supporting the firm's trading and investment activities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Information Systems, or related discipline.
• 8–15+ years of relevant financial-services experience, including project/program management.
• Strong background in hedge funds, investment managers, investment banks, or capital markets.
• Knowledge of Capital Markets Operations and Middle Office.
• Understanding of front-to-back trade lifecycle across asset classes.
• Ability to lead large, complex projects with multiple stakeholders.
• Experience with requirements, process mapping, operating model design, UAT, implementation, and change management.
• Identify operational risks, dependencies, and control gaps; develop practical solutions.
• Strong executive communication and presentation skills.
• Influence stakeholders without direct authority; highly organized in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience with third-party vendors, prime brokers, custodians, and market utilities is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex projects and strategic initiatives across Capital Markets Operations, Middle Office, Investment Operations, Treasury, and related functions.
• Manage projects through the complete lifecycle from requirements to post-production stabilization.
• Partner with Trading, Portfolio Management, Operations, Technology, Risk, Finance, Treasury, Compliance, Legal, and Product Control to define requirements and objectives.
• Develop detailed project plans with scope, milestones, deliverables, dependencies, resources, risks, and timelines.
• Drive initiatives involving trade capture, confirmations, settlements, reconciliations, collateral, margin, cash management, and regulatory reporting.
• Support front-to-back operating model enhancements across the trade lifecycle; improve STP, automation, scalability, controls, and resiliency.
• Lead onboarding of new products, markets, counterparties, brokers, custodians, administrators, and technology platforms.
• Coordinate readiness for new investment strategies and trading capabilities.
• Evaluate workflows for gaps, risks, and control weaknesses; develop future-state processes.
• Partner with Technology on system enhancements, integrations, and automation initiatives.
• Translate business requirements into functional specs; ensure technology meets operational needs.
• Coordinate UAT, defect management, implementation planning, data validation, parallel testing, and production rollout.
• Manage dependencies and escalation issues; establish governance with steering committees and RAID logs.
• Provide senior management with status, risks, dependencies, budgets, and key decisions.
• Work with Operations leadership to prioritize the project portfolio based on value and regulatory needs.
• Document operating procedures, controls, workflows, and governance post-implementation.

Skills

Capital markets

Stakeholder management

Project management

Communication

Risk assessment

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Information Systems, or related discipline

Tools

PMP/Agile/Scrum certification

Job description

A leading global hedge fund is seeking an experienced Project Manager – Capital Markets Operations & Middle Office to lead strategic initiatives across the firm's investment operations and middle-office platform. This individual will partner closely with Operations, Middle Office, Trading, Portfolio Management, Treasury, Finance, Risk, Technology, Compliance, and external service providers to deliver complex, cross-functional projects supporting the firm's trading and investment activities.

The successful candidate will have a strong understanding of capital markets products and the front-to-back trade lifecycle, combined with demonstrated experience managing large-scale operational, technology, regulatory, and business transformation initiatives within a hedge fund, investment bank, asset manager, or other sophisticated financial institution.

This role requires someone who can operate effectively between the business and technology organizations, translate operational requirements into executable project plans, identify dependencies and risks, and drive initiatives from initial design through implementation and stabilization.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead complex projects and strategic initiatives across Capital Markets Operations, Middle Office, Investment Operations, Treasury, and related functions.
• Manage projects through the complete lifecycle, including requirements gathering, current-state assessment, future-state design, project planning, execution, testing, implementation, and post-production stabilization.
• Partner with Trading, Portfolio Management, Operations, Technology, Risk, Finance, Treasury, Compliance, Legal, and Product Control to define business requirements and project objectives.
• Develop detailed project plans outlining scope, milestones, deliverables, dependencies, resources, risks, and implementation timelines.
• Drive initiatives involving trade capture, confirmations, settlements, reconciliations, collateral, margin, cash management, corporate actions, valuations, reference data, and regulatory reporting.
• Support front-to-back operating model enhancements across the trade lifecycle, identifying opportunities to improve STP, automation, scalability, controls, and operational resiliency.
• Lead projects associated with onboarding new products, markets, counterparties, brokers, custodians, administrators, and technology platforms.
• Coordinate operational readiness for new investment strategies and trading capabilities.
• Evaluate existing workflows and identify process gaps, manual dependencies, operational risks, and control weaknesses.
• Develop future-state workflows and operating models designed to reduce operational risk and increase efficiency.
• Partner with Technology teams on system enhancements, integrations, platform implementations, and automation initiatives.
• Translate business requirements into detailed functional requirements and ensure technology solutions appropriately address operational needs.
• Coordinate UAT, defect management, implementation planning, data validation, parallel testing, and production rollout.
• Manage dependencies across multiple projects and workstreams and escalation issues that could impact delivery.
• Establish project governance, including steering committees, working groups, status reporting, RAID logs, decision logs, and executive-level communications.
• Provide senior management with clear reporting regarding project status, risks, dependencies, budgets, resource requirements, and key decisions.
• Work closely with Operations leadership to prioritize the project portfolio based on business value, regulatory requirements, risk reduction, and strategic objectives.
• Ensure appropriate documentation of operating procedures, controls, workflows, and governance following implementation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Information Systems, or related discipline.
• Typically 8–15+ years of relevant financial-services experience, including significant project/program management experience.
• Strong background within a hedge fund, investment manager, investment bank, broker-dealer, or capital markets organization.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Capital Markets Operations and Middle Office.
• Strong understanding of the front-to-back trade lifecycle across multiple asset classes.
• Proven ability to lead large, complex projects involving multiple business and technology stakeholders.
• Experience with business requirements, process mapping, operating model design, UAT, implementation, and change management.
• Ability to identify operational risks, dependencies, and control gaps and develop practical solutions.
• Strong executive communication and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to influence stakeholders without direct authority.
• Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives in a fast-paced investment environment.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Experience working with third-party vendors, prime brokers, custodians, administrators, and market utilities is preferred.
• PMP, Agile, Scrum, or similar project-management certification is beneficial but not required.