Trade Support Specialist

FirstRand Limited; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

FirstRand Limited is seeking a trading-systems specialist to provide L1/L2 support for electronic trading and market data platforms in a fast-paced environment. You will troubleshoot complex production issues across the stack and own incidents from diagnosis to permanent resolution.

You will also help with proactive monitoring, automation, and change management, coordinating with vendors and internal teams to ensure service stability and regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, engineering, finance or related field.
• 3-5 years' experience in technology or production-support, ideally with trading systems.
• Experience with incident, problem, change and release management.
• Experience working with technology vendors and cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide L1/L2 technical and operational support for electronic trading and market-data platforms.
• Troubleshoot production issues across application, server, database, network and integrations.
• Support trading desks with time-sensitive system, connectivity, order-flow and market-data issues.
• Own incidents from diagnosis to root cause analysis and permanent resolution.
• Coordinate major incidents across business, technology teams and vendors.
• Maintain proactive monitoring, dashboards, health checks and automation.
• Develop scripts to reduce manual work and improve efficiency.
• Manage trading connectivity, FIX sessions, order routing and market data services.
• Coordinate production changes, releases and UAT/test activities.
• Support risk, governance, vendor relations and control requirements.

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Finance or a related field

Tools

FIX protocol

Cloud platforms

Monitoring tools

Automation tools

Job description

Job Description

The purpose of the role is as follows:

Key Responsibilities

Trading systems support

• Provide L1/L2 technical and operational support for electronic trading and market-data platforms
• Troubleshoot complex production issues across application, server, database, network and integration layers
• Support trading desks with time-sensitive system, connectivity, order-flow, execution and market-data issues
• Own incidents from diagnosis and service restoration through root cause analysis and permanent resolution
• Coordinate major incidents across business, technology teams and vendors

Monitoring, automation and service improvement

• Maintain proactive monitoring, alerting, dashboards and operational health checks
• Identify stability, performance and monitoring gaps and implement preventative improvements
• Develop scripts and automation to reduce manual work and improve operational efficiency
• Maintain support playbooks, procedures and technical documentation, and drive recurring-issue remediation

Trading connectivity and platform administration

• Support exchange connectivity, FIX sessions, order routing, execution, market access and market-data services
• Troubleshoot integrations between trading platforms, exchanges, vendors and downstream systems
• Administer application access, entitlements, trading sessions, reference/static data and approved configuration
• Support exchange releases, certifications and mandatory market changes

Change, release and operational readiness

• Coordinate production and non-production changes, upgrades, patches and application releases
• Support UAT, regression testing, implementation and post-release validation Support new-platform onboarding, migrations and production stabilization
• Ensure monitoring, documentation, access, support processes and escalation arrangements are in place for new services
• Participate in disaster recovery, resilience and business-continuity testing

Risk, governance and vendor management

• Coordinate vendors and technology partners for incidents, defects, upgrades and service improvements
• Support technology risk, audit, regulatory and control requirements for supported platforms
• Maintain controls relating to access, production change and platform administration
• Identify and upscale operational, security and technology risks
• Collaborate with cybersecurity, infrastructure, network, database, architecture and development teams

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Finance or a related field
• 3-5 years' experience in a technology or production-support environment, ideally with exposure to trading systems or financial-markets technology
• Experience supporting business-critical enterprise applications and integrated technology environments
• Experience with incident, problem, change and release management Experience working with technology vendors and cross-functional technical teams

Technical and Functional Skills

• Electronic trading systems, financial markets and trade lifecycle
• Order routing, execution, market connectivity and market-data flows
• FIX protocol and electronic trading connectivity
• Linux/Unix, SQL, networking and application troubleshooting
• Scripting, automation, monitoring and alerting technologies
• Cloud platforms and infrastructure
• Access management, cybersecurity and operational controls
• Disaster recovery and operational resilience

Key Competencies

• Strong analytical and troubleshooting capability
• Ownership and problem-solving mindset
• Calm, effective delivery in time-sensitive trading environments
• Clear technical and business communication
• Stakeholder and vendor management
• Ability to balance BAU, incidents, change and project priorities
• Continuous-improvement and automation mindset
• Strong focus on operational risk, control and stabili ty

All appointments will be made in line with FirstRand Group's Employment Equity plan.

The Bank supports the recruitment and advancement of individuals with disabilities. In order for us to fulfill this purpose, candidates can disclose their disability information on a voluntary basis.

The Bank will keep this information confidential unless we are required by law to disclose this information to other parties.