Sustainability Data Systems Lead

Ninety One; East London; On-site; ZAR 1 362 000 - 1 931 000; Full time

Job summary

A global asset management firm in East London seeks an experienced professional for its Regulatory Technology and Reporting team. This role involves analyzing regulatory requirements, collaborating on technical solutions, and managing reporting initiatives. Ideal candidates have extensive experience in financial services, strong SQL skills, and a background in Agile environments. The position offers an opportunity to contribute to compliance and operational excellence.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years of financial services or asset management experience with exposure to regulatory reporting.
• 3–5 years of experience in business analysis within Agile frameworks.
• Strong understanding of data architecture related to trade reporting.
• Experience in automated reconciliations and exception management.
• Excellent communication skills for stakeholder interaction.

Responsibilities

• Analyze and translate complex regulatory requirements into technical specifications.
• Collaborate with teams to implement solutions that meet compliance objectives.
• Manage regulatory reporting initiatives with clear milestones and delivery.
• Define testing approaches to ensure reporting accuracy and completeness.
• Support production reporting processes and drive improvements.

Skills

Financial services experience

Business analysis

SQL proficiency

Documentation skills

Collaboration tools knowledge

Tools

Postman

SOAP UI

Confluence

Job description

About us: Ninety One is an independent, active global asset manager with R3.5 trillion of assets under management. Established in South Africa as Investec Asset Management, the firm started offering domestic investments in an emerging market.

In almost three decades of organic growth later, the firm demerged from Investec Group and became Ninety One. Our distinctive capabilities sit within differentiated fixed income and credit as well as specialist equities, and we have a unique perspective and approach to investment opportunities presented by emerging markets and the energy transition. As at 30 September Ninety One is an equal opportunities employer.

Our imperative is to attract and retain the best talent by providing a corporate environment where people from varying backgrounds can develop professionally and build a rewarding career.

About the team

The role will form part of the Regulatory Technology and Reporting team within IT, working alongside engineers, analysts, and operations specialists responsible for delivering robust data and reporting solutions to support Ninety One's global regulatory obligations under EMIR and MiFIR / MiFID. The team are custodians of the firm's trade and transaction reporting architecture, including API integrations, data models, validation frameworks, and control environments that underpin compliant and accurate submissions. The team perform detailed business analysis, requirements gathering, and technical specification design to ensure seamless integration between internal trading systems, data warehouses, and external reporting venues such as Trade Repositories (TRs) and Approved Reporting Mechanisms (ARMs).

The team prides itself on delivering high-quality, controlled, and auditable technology solutions through Agile delivery principles, focusing on small, well-defined enhancements that deliver measurable regulatory and operational value. Agility also requires the team to remain current with evolving regulatory standards, API technologies, and data governance best practices to continually strengthen Ninety One's reporting capability, operational resilience, and transparency to regulators and clients.

Responsibilities

• Analyse, document, and translate complex EMIR and MiFIR/MiFID regulatory and operational requirements into detailed technical specifications.
• Collaborate with internal teams and external vendors to design and implement technical solutions and data interfaces that meet compliance and business objectives.
• Coordinate and manage small to medium-sized regulatory reporting initiatives, ensuring clear milestones, controlled delivery, and timely resolution of technical issues.
• Define and execute robust testing approaches including schema validation, data quality checks, and reconciliation processes to ensure reporting accuracy and completeness.
• Monitor, track, and communicate project progress, risks, and dependencies through established reporting channels and governance structures.
• Work closely with the broader IT and data architecture teams to ensure all integration and reporting solutions align with enterprise architecture, security, and compliance standards.
• Design and maintain documentation including process maps and data dictionaries to support transparency and knowledge transfer.
• Support production reporting processes by analysing exceptions, managing data quality issues, and driving continuous improvement in reporting accuracy and timeliness.
• Champion best practice in Agile delivery, stakeholder communication, and technical quality to ensure sustainable, auditable, and regulator-ready reporting outcomes.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years financial services or asset management experience, with hands‑on exposure to regulatory reporting processes and data structures.
• 3–5 years business analysis experience translating regulatory and operational requirements into functional and technical specifications within Agile or iterative delivery frameworks.
• A strong understanding of data architecture, lineage and quality controls as they relate to trade and transaction reporting systems and repositories.
• Experience in building and maintaining automated reconciliations, exception management tools, and audit trails for regulatory submissions.
• Proficient in SQL (with the ability to prototype data transformations and validation rules).
• Knowledge of trade lifecycle events, counterparty data.
• Excellent documentation and stakeholder communication skills, able to bridge compliance, operations and development teams effectively.
• Collaboration and DevSecOps tools (e.g. Confluence).
• API Interface testing (e.g. Postman, SOAP UI).

Attributes

• The ability to build and maintain meaningful relationships.
• Driven by results.
• A client‑focused and collaborative approach.
• Ability to analyse, interpret and assimilate information.
• A curiosity about technology and its potential to drive innovation.