Head of Operations

Job Purpose

The Head of Operations is responsible for providing strategic leadership and end-to-end oversight of the brokerage operations function, ensuring service delivery, operational execution, and control outcomes are efficient, resilient, and aligned with business, regulatory, and client expectations.

The role is accountable for maintaining a strong operational risk and control environment, driving process excellence and transformation, and ensuring full compliance with local regulatory requirements, market standards, and regional and group policies.

The role is expected to sustain high standards of service, governance, and execution, while fostering a disciplined, collaborative, and high-performing team culture.

As a key senior stakeholder interface, the role serves as a trusted partner to local business units, support and control functions, regulators, market participants, and regional stakeholders, ensuring that the operating model supports business growth while upholding the highest standards of governance, risk management, client service, and operational excellence.

Key Accountabilities

• Operational Leadership and Service Outcomes: Own the end-to-end performance of the brokerage operations function, ensuring delivery remains stable, efficient, controlled, and aligned with business and client expectations.
• Risk, Control and Compliance Oversight: Be accountable for a strong operational risk, governance, and control environment, with full adherence to regulatory requirements, internal policies, and market standards.
• People and Organisation Leadership: Lead organisational capability through effective team leadership, talent development, succession planning, and the promotion of a disciplined, high-performing culture.
• Transformation and Process Excellence: Drive continuous improvement, operating model enhancement, and technology-enabled change to strengthen scalability, resilience, and control effectiveness.
• Stakeholder and Regulatory Partnership: Serve as the senior operations representative to business leaders, control partners, regulators, and regional stakeholders, ensuring effective alignment, governance, and issue resolution.
• Management Oversight and Decision Support: Provide leadership visibility through clear management reporting, risk insights, and forward-looking recommendations that support timely and informed decision-making.

Role & Responsibilities

1. Set operating priorities, performance expectations, and governance routines for the department, and ensure execution remains aligned with business objectives and regulatory commitments.
2. Oversee day-to-day operational delivery, including transaction processing, settlement, exception management, and service support, to maintain accuracy, timeliness, and control integrity.
3. Establish and maintain effective policies, procedures, and control disciplines that support consistent execution and compliance with internal and external requirements.
4. Monitor operational risks, control issues, audit findings, and regulatory matters, and ensure timely escalation, ownership, and remediation of identified gaps.
5. Lead workforce management across the department, including organisation design, capacity planning, performance management, coaching, and succession development.
6. Sponsor and oversee process reviews, automation opportunities, and change initiatives that improve efficiency, resilience, and service quality.
7. Direct the department's readiness for regulatory change, audits, inspections, and internal reviews, ensuring responses are timely, coordinated, and well governed.
8. Represent the operations function in key forums with business stakeholders, support functions, market participants, and regulators, and resolve issues requiring senior intervention.
9. Manage departmental resources, budgets, and operating capacity to support current priorities and longer-term capability development.
10. Provide regular reporting and executive updates on performance, service issues, risk themes, and transformation progress, with clear recommendations where management action is required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, or a related discipline; postgraduate or professional qualifications would be an advantage.
• Extensive leadership experience in banking or securities operations, with a strong track record in managing complex operational environments, control frameworks, and service delivery outcomes.
• Deep understanding of brokerage and securities operations, including transaction processing, settlement, regulatory requirements, and market practices.
• Demonstrated leadership in operational risk management, with expertise in risk identification, control design, issue remediation, audit engagement, and regulatory compliance.
• Strong experience in process optimisation, operating model enhancement, and change implementation, with the ability to translate strategic priorities into disciplined execution.
• Strong analytical judgement and problem-solving capability, with the ability to assess issues holistically, identify root causes, and drive sustainable solutions.
• Executive-level communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence across business, control, regulatory, and regional stakeholders.
• Proven people leadership capability, including team development, coaching, succession planning, and fostering a high-performance and accountability-driven culture.
• Strong client and service orientation, with the resilience, judgement, and composure to operate effectively in a high-pressure, deadline-driven environment.