Senior FX Trading Lead
Senior FX Trading Lead at NALA will own and evolve FX trading capabilities across frontier markets, leading strategy and execution of the trading desk, managing risk, driving pricing excellence, and ensuring best rates and deepest liquidity for consumer and B2B clients.
Your Responsibilities In This Role
- Own the Trading Desk: Lead day-to-day operations of the FX trading function, setting standards for execution quality, pricing discipline, and risk management across all currency corridors.
- P&L Ownership: Take full accountability for FX trading margin, actively manage spread between liquidity sources and client rates to maximize profitability.
- Risk & Exposure Management: Design and implement hedging strategies to protect against volatility in frontier and emerging markets while keeping client pricing sharp.
- Liquidity Strategy: Identify, onboard, and manage relationships with liquidity providers across African and Asian markets, diversifying sources to improve pricing, resilience, and execution speed.
- Product & Automation Partnership: Work closely with Engineering and Product to build and refine automated pricing engines and trading workflows, scaling the desk without scaling headcount linearly.
- Market Intelligence: Serve as the internal authority on FX market dynamics and translate insight into actionable pricing and risk decisions.
- Leadership & Team Development: Mentor and develop a high-performing trading team, fostering a culture of commercial urgency, rigorous thinking, and continuous improvement.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Finance, Compliance, and Product to align trading activity with regulatory requirements, treasury policy, and business objectives.
Must-Have Requirements
- Senior Trading Experience: 7+ years in FX trading, with a proven track record of managing a trading book or leading a desk in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment.
- Frontier Market Mastery: Expert-level knowledge of African FX markets, including illiquid currencies, parallel market dynamics, and regulatory nuances affecting execution and settlement.
- P&L Management: Direct experience owning a revenue or margin target, balancing risk and reward under volatile market conditions.
- Risk Framework Expertise: Ability to design and manage hedging strategies and exposure limits that protect the business without sacrificing competitiveness.
- Extreme Ownership: Startup-ready mindset—identify gaps, build infrastructure, and operate with urgency and accountability.
- Stakeholder Communication: Translate complex FX dynamics into clear, actionable insight for non-specialist audiences including senior leadership, product, and clients.
Nice-to-Have Requirements
- Deep Market Network: Established network of liquidity providers, central bank contacts, and counterparties across Africa and Asia.
- Tech-Forward Approach: Experience with automated trading systems, API-driven pricing engines, or alternative settlement rails such as stablecoins as a liquidity tool.
- Payments Context: Prior experience in a cross-border payments or remittance business, understanding how FX interacts with payment flows, compliance, and customer experience.
- Advanced Credentials: CFA, ACI Dealing Certificate, or a Master's degree in a quantitative financial field.
Success in the Role Looks Like
3-Month Metrics
- Full ownership of the FX trading book established, with clear margin targets set and tracked weekly.
- Existing liquidity provider relationships audited and prioritised plan to deepen or diversify coverage across key corridors delivered to leadership.
- Initial assessment of pricing engine gaps completed, with a roadmap for automation improvements agreed with Engineering and Product.
- Risk framework reviewed and any critical exposure gaps addressed with interim hedging measures.
6-Month Metrics
- Measurable improvement in FX margin performance versus baseline, with clear attribution to pricing, liquidity, or process improvements.
- At least two new liquidity provider relationships activated, improving depth or competitiveness in priority corridors.
- Automated pricing workflows live for at least one high-volume corridor, reducing manual intervention and improving execution speed.
- A high-performing trading team in place, with clear roles, development plans, and a culture of commercial rigour embedded.
Interview Process
- 30 minutes: Interview with the Hiring Manager—focus on experience and motivations.
- 60 minutes: Problem-Solving Interview—role-specific exercise.
- 60 minutes: Bar Raiser Interview—final conversation focused on track record, ambition and fit.
Benefits
- 27 days off plus UK bank holidays.
- Birthday leave: bonus day off that month.
- Enhanced parental leave: 16 weeks full pay for primary caregiver and 4 weeks for secondary caregiver after 6‑month probation.
- Enhanced pension: salary sacrifice scheme via Penfold.
- Global workspace: access to WeWork locations worldwide.
- Learning budget: $1,000 annually for learning and development.
- Sarabi: themed snacks and Friday lunch focused on building great working relationships.
- Monthly socials: fun social events every month.
- Free coffee: barista‑style coffee at your fingertips.
