Associate Director, Clearing Operations

About The Role & Team

The Associate Director, Clearing Operations supports end-to-end back-office clearing and settlement across retail and institutional businesses. This role requires strong hands-on knowledge of DTCC settlement, trade exception management, reconciliations, and control reporting, including experience working with self-clearing within an omnibus model.

In This Role, You Will

• Support daily clearing and settlement activities across DTC, CNS, and non-CNS markets, ensuring timely and accurate settlement of securities transactions.
• Ensure all transactions are accurately recorded and processed through internal systems and DTC to facilitate successful settlement.
• Perform DTC settlement functions, including Deliver Orders (DOs), Receiver Authorized Delivery (RAD) management, Securities Payment Orders (SPOs), pair-offs, collateral pledges and fail reversals (FRVs).
• Process ACAT and non-ACAT customer transfers, including free deliveries and associated settlement activities.
• Manage settlement exceptions, including failing transactions, buy-ins, fail reporting, and Obligation Warehouse (OW) processing, while ensuring compliance with Regulation SHO and applicable SEC rules.
• Perform daily trade, cash, position, and securities reconciliations across internal books, DTC, depositories, transfer agents, and counterparties; investigate and resolve discrepancies in a timely manner.
• Support institutional and retail trade flows, including allocations, affirmations, confirmations, settlement, journals, and post-trade processing.
• Resolve trade exceptions across settlement platforms, including CTM.
• Protect customer fully paid securities through proper segregation, memo segregation, and possession and control procedures in accordance with SEC Rule 15c3-3.
• Collect mark-to-market and resolve money differences through Securities Payment Orders (SPOs) and cash reconciliation processes.
• Produce operational reporting, including aging reports, money difference reports, fail reporting, reconciliation metrics, and management reporting.
• Ensure compliance with applicable SEC, FINRA, DTCC, OCC, and internal regulatory requirements while maintaining complete and audit-ready documentation.
• Assist with internal audits, regulatory examinations, and control documentation by preparing supporting work papers and responding to inquiries.
• Perform operational risk assessments, identify control deficiencies, conduct root cause analysis, and escalate material issues to management.
• Partner with Technology, Treasury, Finance, Compliance, and other business units to resolve operational issues, improve controls, and streamline processes.
• Drive continuous operational improvement through automation initiatives, process redesign, trend analysis, and collaboration with engineering teams.
• Develop, maintain, and communicate Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), policies, and process documentation to support training, consistency, and operational continuity.
• Participate in projects, system implementations, testing, and other strategic initiatives supporting the self-clearing business.
• Foster strong cross-functional communication and teamwork while providing subject matter expertise and support across Clearing Operations.
• Perform additional duties and responsibilities as assigned to support business objectives and operational excellence.

The Skills You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Minimum of 7+ years of experience in broker-dealer clearing, settlement, or operations.
• Active FINRA Series 99 and/or Series 7 and Series 24 licenses, or the ability to obtain the required licenses within 180 days of hire.
• Strong understanding of DTCC settlement processes, including both CNS and non-CNS environments.
• Experience supporting institutional trade processing, including allocations, affirmations, confirmations, and settlement.
• Hands-on experience with industry platforms such as Broadridge, Apex, FIS (Phase 3), or comparable systems.
• Experience operating in omnibus clearing and/or self-clearing broker-dealer environments.
• Solid understanding of back-office controls, exception management, operational risk, and trade lifecycle processing.

What Makes You Stand Out

• Previous operations experience at a retail broker-dealer.
• Demonstrated leadership abilities with a collaborative, team-oriented approach.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and project management skills with a focus on process improvement.
• Prioritization of competing priorities with a strong sense of urgency and accountability.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment while maintaining a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.

This Role Is Based In

St. Petersburg, FL