Trade Surveillance Expert - Compliance

Obsidian; New York (NY); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Obsidian is seeking experienced Trade Surveillance Experts to support the development and evaluation of advanced AI systems for markets compliance and detection of market abuse.

In this role, you will leverage your expertise in trade surveillance and regulatory compliance, evaluating complex scenarios while identifying suspicious activities. Candidates should have substantial experience and knowledge of relevant surveillance platforms. The position is located in New York and offers the chance to work on innovative financial technology projects.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in Trade Surveillance, Compliance Surveillance, or Regulatory Oversight.
• Strong understanding of SEC, FINRA, MAR, and MiFID II regulations.
• Experience investigating surveillance alerts.

Responsibilities

• Review simulated and real-world trading scenarios for market abuse indicators.
• Evaluate AI-generated surveillance alerts for next steps.
• Assess trade surveillance workflows and methodologies.

Skills

Trade Surveillance

Market Conduct Monitoring

Regulatory Compliance

Fluent English communication

Tools

Nasdaq SMARTS

NICE Actimize

Eventus Validus

ACA Sigma

SteelEye

Job description

Mercor is seeking experienced Trade Surveillance Experts to support the development and evaluation of advanced AI systems used in capital markets compliance and market abuse detection. In this role, you will leverage your expertise in trade surveillance, market conduct monitoring, and regulatory compliance to evaluate complex trading scenarios, identify suspicious activity, and help create high-quality training data for next‑generation AI models. This role is a good fit for professionals with experience using platforms such as Nasdaq SMARTS, NICE Actimize, eFlow, ACA Sigma, SteelEye, Eventus Validus, or similar surveillance systems, who have investigated potential cases of market abuse and understand global regulatory frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Review and analyse simulated and real‑world trading scenarios for indicators of market abuse.
• Evaluate AI‑generated surveillance alerts and determine whether escalation, closure, or further investigation is warranted.
• Develop and refine surveillance evaluation rubrics covering:
  • Insider Trading
  • Market Manipulation
  • Spoofing & Layering
  • Wash Trading
  • Front Running
  • Marking the Close
  • Cross‑Market Manipulation
  • Information Leakage
• Assess trade surveillance workflows and alert investigation methodologies.
• Provide expert feedback on AI‑generated case narratives, investigations, and regulatory reasoning.
• Validate whether surveillance conclusions align with applicable regulations and industry best practices.
• Contribute domain expertise to improve AI models used for compliance monitoring and financial crime detection.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in Trade Surveillance, Market Surveillance, Market Abuse Monitoring, Compliance Surveillance, or Regulatory Oversight.
• Hands‑on experience with one or more surveillance platforms such as:
  • Nasdaq SMARTS
  • NICE Actimize
  • Eventus Validus
  • ACA Sigma
  • SteelEye
  • eFlow
  • OneMarket Surveillance
  • TradingHub
  • Similar surveillance solutions
• Strong understanding of market abuse regulations and frameworks, including:
  • SEC and FINRA regulations
  • MAR (Market Abuse Regulation)
  • MiFIDII
  • FCA market conduct requirements
  • Exchange surveillance standards
• Experience investigating surveillance alerts and documenting case outcomes.
• Familiarity with equities, options, futures, fixed income, FX, commodities, or digital asset markets.
• Ability to clearly articulate investigative reasoning and regulatory conclusions in written form.
• Fluent English communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at investment banks, broker‑dealers, exchanges, regulatory agencies, hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, or surveillance technology providers.
• Prior involvement in surveillance model tuning, alert calibration, threshold optimisation, or surveillance program design.
• Experience working directly with regulators or responding to regulatory inquiries and examinations.
• Knowledge of algorithmic trading, high‑frequency trading, and electronic market structure.
• Certifications such as CAMS, CISI, CFA, FRM, or equivalent compliance‑related credentials.

Why Join?

• Help build AI systems capable of performing sophisticated market surveillance and compliance analysis.
• Work on cutting‑edge financial technology projects with direct applications in regulatory technology (RegTech).
• Collaborate with experts from trading, compliance, surveillance, and financial crime disciplines.
• Shape the future of AI‑assisted monitoring for global financial markets.