Operations Analyst Job Description Template

The operations analyst handles the daily processing that sits behind the fund’s trading: matching trades, reconciling positions and cash, chasing settlement and clearing breaks. It is a detail role with a fixed daily rhythm, and it is the position where most people learn how a fund actually works end to end. Reliability matters more than speed here, since an error passed downstream is expensive to unwind.

Typical Duties and Responsibilities

• Match and confirm trades with brokers and the administrator
• Perform daily cash and position reconciliations and investigate differences
• Monitor settlement and chase failing trades
• Process corporate actions and verify the resulting entitlements
• Support margin and collateral movements
• Maintain static data for securities, counterparties and accounts
• Assist with month end NAV support and reporting packs
• Document procedures and keep them current
• Escalate breaks and exceptions promptly and clearly
• Support the wider operations team with ad hoc analysis

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, business or a related field

Required Skills and Experience

• 1+ years of operations experience at a fund, bank or fund administrator
• Understanding of the trade lifecycle and settlement conventions
• Strong Excel skills and comfort working with large reconciliations
• Accuracy and consistency with repetitive daily work
• Clear written communication with brokers and counterparties
• Ability to meet fixed daily cut off times
• Willingness to escalate rather than assume
• Organized approach to competing tasks

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to derivatives or fixed income operations
• Experience with a portfolio accounting system