At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the Investment Platform, ensuring its reliability and integrity for investment teams.
- Company: Join a forward-thinking firm transforming the investment landscape with technology.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive pay, generous leave, and a range of perks to support your lifestyle.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in finance by enhancing investment systems and driving innovation.
- Qualifications: Experience in investment data, portfolio analytics, and strong SQL/Python skills required.
- Other info: Dynamic role with opportunities for growth and collaboration across teams.
The predicted salary is between 43200 - 72000 £ per year.
Are you ready to chart your own career path? With our refreshed strategy, we’re building on our rich heritage and transforming our business to be more scalable and efficient, unlocking the capabilities needed for future success. This includes significantly investing in technology, streamlining the way we work and creating an environment where colleagues feel engaged, empowered and accountable; where they can show up, speak up and perform - because we believe in the difference our work makes.
At a glance:
- Location: London - Lombard Street Office
- Workplace Type: On-Site
- Employment Type: Permanent
- Seniority: Mid-Senior Level
The Investment Platforms team bridges the gap between Investments and Technology, partnering closely with the Investment Directorate and Investment Operations teams to deliver technology change and operate platform systems that underpin our Investment Proposition. They manage a diverse and specialist technology landscape, including discrete applications, platform technologies, underlying data stores, market data solutions, and 3rd party managed services. The team works with the broader technology community to ensure Investment systems are scalable, secure, and aligned with business priorities, enabling innovation and operational excellence across the investment lifecycle.
The Investment Platform Systems Lead is a subject matter expert (SME) responsible for supporting and enhancing the technical integrity of the firm’s Investment Platform, an ecosystem of applications, managed services, market data, and data stores. The role is crucial in developing, implementing, and maintaining sophisticated tools, systems and controls to ensure the platform remains a reliable and effective resource for investment teams, supporting the monitoring and oversight of the firm’s investment proposition.
What you’ll be doing:
- Acting as the lead SME for the Investment Platform, providing expert knowledge on its various applications, data stores, and services.
- Administering & managing Investment Platform applications/systems to ensure integrity and reliability for end-users, including monitoring automated job execution, running reconciliation, and issue investigation & resolution.
- Serving as leading SME on investment instrument data, the full investment lifecycle (trade to settlement), investment risk concepts and portfolio analysis, providing expert guidance to data teams and other technical stakeholders in these areas.
- Supporting and enhancing the quality control process for inbound security and position data, including cleansing, overriding, and proxying data to balance integrity with service level agreements (SLAs).
- Working collaboratively with data, technology and change teams in a matrix structure to maintain, enhance and evolve the investment platform ensuring it remains effective, efficient and providing a positive return on investment.
- Leading on Investment Data Stewardship, representing investment data interests with colleagues across the group and being a SME across the breadth of investment data in group systems.
- Accountable for configuration, administration and maintenance of programmatic financial analysis environments, ensuring environments are accurate and fit for purpose.
- Providing technical SME application support to investment teams, enabling them to self-serve operational and analytical workflows through platform applications.
- Identifying and resolving breaks in instrument and position data to ensure platform applications are loaded within required timeframes.
- Performing daily and monthly position reconciliations (depending on complexity of portfolio) across multiple portfolios, systems and parties.
- Investigating and resolving reconciliation breaks in a timely manner and ensuring impacted stakeholders are aware.
Who we’re looking for:
The role holder will act as the key SME for the platform's applications and investment domain data more broadly, providing expert guidance and support to internal teams. They will also play a critical part in a robust data quality control process, ensuring the integrity of inbound security, position and accountancy data.
- Detailed knowledge of various asset classes (e.g., Equities, Fixed Income, Alternatives) and complex over-the-counter (OTC) instruments.
- Deep understanding of investment data, specifically security, position, and pricing data, and the challenges associated with data quality control.
- Significant experience in configuring, maintaining and using portfolio and risk analytics systems, including an in-depth understanding of how these systems are used to analyze portfolio characteristics, measure performance attribution, and quantify risk exposures.
- Strong ability in data querying and manipulation, particularly using SQL and Python, programmatically generating and testing reports, analytics and statistical models.
- Significant experience working with portfolio analytics platforms (Bloomberg, Aladdin, Factset etc).
- Understanding of software development life cycle.
- Experienced in reconciling trade/positional data across multiple sources and proactively investigating discrepancies.
Special Requirements:
Some business travel may be necessary.
What’s in it for you?
We reward you for the work you do, whether that’s through our discretionary annual bonus scheme that reflects both personal and company performance, competitive annual leave allowance (28 days plus bank holidays, with the option to purchase an additional 5 days), or online rewards platform with a variety of discounts. We also have benefits to support whatever stage of life you are in, including:
- Competitive parental leave (26 weeks full pay)
- Private medical insurance (optional taxable benefit)
- 10% non-contributory pension (increasing with length of service)
Reasonable Adjustments:
We’re an equal opportunities employer and want to ensure our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive for all. If you require reasonable adjustment(s) at any stage please let us know by emailing us at careers@sjp.co.uk. Research tells us that applicants (especially those from underrepresented groups) can be put off from applying for a role if they do not meet all the criteria or have been on an extended career break. If you think you would be a good match for this role and can demonstrate some transferable experience please apply, regardless of whether you tick every box.
What’s next?
If you’re excited about this role and believe you have the skills and experience we’re looking for, we’d love to hear from you! Please submit an application by clicking ‘apply’ below and our team will be in touch.
As a business regulated by the FCA we would advise you to familiarise yourself with the conduct regulations and in particular consumer duty obligations prior to an interview with SJP.
Investment Platform Systems Lead employer: St. James's Place
Contact Detail:
St. James's Place Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Investment Platform Systems Lead
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to folks in the investment and tech space on LinkedIn. Join relevant groups, attend meetups, and don’t be shy about asking for informational interviews. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings!
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for those interviews! Research the company’s investment platform and think about how your skills can enhance their operations. Be ready to discuss your experience with portfolio analytics systems and data quality control – they’ll want to see you know your stuff!
✨Tip Number 3
Showcase your expertise! Bring examples of your work with SQL, Python, or any portfolio analytics platforms you’ve used. If you’ve tackled complex data issues before, share those stories – they love a candidate who can demonstrate problem-solving skills.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in being part of our team. Let’s get you that dream job!
We think you need these skills to ace Investment Platform Systems Lead
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter to highlight your experience with investment platforms and technology. We want to see how your skills align with the role, so don’t hold back on showcasing your relevant expertise!
Show Your Passion: Let us know why you’re excited about this position! Share your enthusiasm for investment technology and how you can contribute to our mission. A bit of personality goes a long way in making your application stand out.
Be Clear and Concise: When writing your application, keep it straightforward and to the point. Use clear language to describe your experiences and achievements, especially those related to data quality control and portfolio analytics. We appreciate clarity!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to submit your application directly through our website. It’s the best way to ensure your application gets into the right hands. Plus, it shows you’re keen on joining our team!
How to prepare for a job interview at St. James's Place
✨Know Your Stuff
Make sure you brush up on your knowledge of investment platforms and the specific technologies mentioned in the job description. Familiarise yourself with various asset classes, data quality control processes, and portfolio analytics systems like Bloomberg or Aladdin. This will help you demonstrate your expertise and show that you're the right fit for the role.
✨Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills
Be prepared to discuss how you've tackled challenges in previous roles, especially those related to data integrity and reconciliation. Think of specific examples where you identified issues and implemented solutions. This will highlight your analytical skills and ability to work under pressure, which are crucial for this position.
✨Collaborate Like a Pro
Since the role involves working closely with various teams, be ready to talk about your experience in collaborative environments. Share examples of how you've successfully partnered with technical and non-technical stakeholders to achieve common goals. This will show that you can navigate a matrix structure effectively.
✨Ask Insightful Questions
Prepare thoughtful questions about the company's strategy, the investment platform's future developments, and how the team measures success. This not only shows your genuine interest in the role but also gives you a chance to assess if the company aligns with your career aspirations.