TRADING APPLICATION SUPPORT ANALYST - Blake Smith Staffing, LLC

ROLE PROFILE – TRADING APPLICATION SUPPORT ANALYST
ROLE : Trading Application Support Analyst
DEPARTMENT : US Operations
DIVISION : Technology
REPORTS TO : Trading Application Support Manager (BOS)
REGION : Boston, MA (3 days in the office)
OVERVIEW OF THE ROLE :
The Trading Application Support team provides investment application support
across all areas of the Insight business, primarily supporting:
a) all trade flow and pricing of investment positions, including overnight
batch processing and collaboration with UK-based colleagues
b) all associated applications used by the Front Office and other areas of the
business (Middle Office, Guidelines, Risk, Performance, Client Reporting, etc)
to manage investment book
The role is user-facing, and its purpose is to ensure that the day-to-day (BAU) IT
needs of the business are met. The team deals with a wide variety of support issues
and BAU planning activities, supporting a range of applications from 3rd party Front
Office systems to bespoke portfolio/order management and quantitative financial
modelling platforms.
The role also encompasses support, development, and change management tasks
across a number of the systems we support. The US business is aligned to EST, and
the hours for this CA-based role will be reflective of that.
ROLE ACCOUNTABILITIES :
Support & Issue Management
• Prioritize issue resolution based on business risk.
• Devise and develop solutions appropriate to the urgency of the problem.
• Develop permanent solutions at every opportunity.
• Own issues reported to you from notification to closure. This is particularly
applicable for issues where you have a limited contribution to make to the
solution.
• Ensure that users are provided with updates on calls at intervals appropriate
to the severity of the problem and relevant details regarding solutions are
recorded (e.g. in ServiceNow). Provide timescales where appropriate.
• Assess issues in person when possible and where appropriate.
• Ensure any issue that has the potential for the company to incur financial or
reputational loss is escalated to your manager.
Small Scale Development
• Adopt a structured approach to your development tasks that is appropriate to
the complexity of the solution. This is important because of the constant
interruptions you are likely to experience during your work. If you are in any
doubt as to what constitutes appropriate structure, obtain agreement from line
management.
Further Support and Project involvement
• Identify and engage with Product Teams and Project teams as needed. This
will ensure the final delivery is acceptable to the support team and we have
sufficient knowledge and handover to deal with BAU queries.
• Testing is an integral part to larger projects, and we are often required to
carry out testing to validate results and ensure timeframes are met.
• Identify improvements to standard processes and procedures. Seek to
champion causes that you feel strongly about.
• Adherence to all company policies and procedures. This includes all HR or
risk requirements and the various IT procedures, including change
management, release, and code reviews.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
• Proven track record supporting Portfolio Management / OMS / Bespoke
investment applications.
• Proven track record of providing support in a fast-paced, user-facing role.
• Strong experience supporting fixed income products, including all types of
bonds / MBS / Converts, Credit / Rates derivatives, GIC, CFD, etc. A solid
understanding of these asset classes, their attributes, and the analytics
associated with them (on a high level) is required.
• Good SQL skills. Ability to debug SQL scripts is required, and any experience
with creating or amending Stored Procedures and other SQL objects is
strongly preferred.
• Experience with CADIS and Control-M (or a similar ETL and scheduling) is
very advantageous.
• Experience with / exposure to development languages (Python, VBA, C#) or
BI tools (Tableau) are also a big plus.
REQUIRED PERSONAL QUALITIES:
Analytical thinking:
• Uses a systematic approach to a complex problem or situation, approaches it
from different angles.
• Can understand advice given from technical specialists and assess the
impact in relation to actual requirements.
• Is able to work with incomplete information and to determine dependencies
and constraints, likely to be of a highly technical nature.
• Understands the conflicting and changing business requirements and factors
these into planning.
Initiative:
• Takes ownership of problems.
• Takes action ahead of time, anticipating what is needed.
• Actively seeks out the knowledge to perform their role and improve in line with
objectives.
Communication:
• Able to communicate key issues and their importance to the business.
• Can adapt approach according to the situation and audience.
• Builds relationships with relevant areas across the whole organization.
• Responds or acts calmly even under difficult or distressing conditions such as
interpersonal conflict or major disruptions to plans.
CONTACTS :
Internal Contacts:
Varied, including Portfolio Managers, Traders, Quantitative Analysts, Research
Analysts, Risk, Compliance, Guidelines, Middle Office, Performance, and all IT
departments.
External Contacts:
3rd Party vendors and some clients

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