Collateral Specialist in Birmingham

We’re looking for a Collateral Specialist to join our Middle Office team. If you’re looking for a new challenge with an organisation committed to putting customers first, aiming high and working together, you’ll thrive here.

Job Type: Permanent

Location: This role could be based from our London or Birmingham offices with time spent working from home and from the office (3 days) with some travel between Phoenix offices.

Flexible working: All roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process.

Salary and benefits: From £53,000 (subject to experience) plus bonus, excellent pension scheme, private medical insurance, electric vehicle scheme, 38 days holiday incl. Bank Holidays, plus 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more!

Who are we? We’re Standard Life, a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement savings and income. We champion the belief that everyone’s journey to and through retirement can be better, and for more than 200 years, we’ve been helping our customers plan and prepare for their financial futures.

The role: This is a great opportunity for an experienced middle office derivative or collateral professional to play an active role within the Middle Office team. You’ll contribute to process improvement and operating model enhancements, helping to strengthen systems and controls across asset and fund classes. You’ll also support the integration of legacy Phoenix risk carriers across procedures and platforms, working collaboratively with colleagues across the business. The focus of this role is primarily on collateral servicing for both policyholder and shareholder assets. You’ll work closely with Front Office teams – particularly the ALM (Asset Liability Management) function – providing dedicated product support across collateral activity. In addition, you’ll partner with Portfolio Implementation and Manager Oversight teams on a day‑to‑day basis, offering practical operational input and guidance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Supporting oversight of collateral operations, helping to ensure activities are completed and contributing to the resolution of any outstanding issues.
• Acting as a point of escalation for collateral disputes and queries, working with colleagues and external partners.
• Supporting onboarding of new systems, collaborating with third‑party providers to implement new capabilities and establish internal processes.
• Contributing to risk and control processes to ensure collateral operations operate in line with policy standards.
• Supporting oversight of securities lending activities.
• Working with the wider business to help meet regulatory requirements.
• Supporting onboarding of new collateral agreements (GMRA, ISDA, CSA, CSD).
• Contributing to the integration of new business lines arising from closed‑book acquisitions, open‑book activity and BPA transactions.
• Applying a strong understanding of derivatives and CSA structures.
• Supporting activity relating to UMR and the implications of Regulatory Initial Margin.

What are we looking for?

• Experience working with derivative products & securities from a middle office or back‑office perspective.
• Demonstrated understanding of pre‑trade governance, including strategy, investment guidelines and mandates.
• Knowledge of the operational nuances of complex derivative and collateral structures.
• Experience supporting core operational activity, including trade enrichment and validation, transaction reporting, settlement and reconciliations.
• Experience working with external stakeholders such as custodians, clearing brokers and counterparties.
• Experience leading a team (including dotted‑line responsibility), with the ability to delegate appropriately and work collaboratively with wider teams.
• Advanced Excel skills with strong capability in producing management information, analytical reporting and professional presentations (PowerPoint / Word); Aladdin experience desirable.
• Experience supporting project or initiative delivery within a financial services or asset management environment.

Desirable:

• Broad knowledge of the trade lifecycle of derivatives including derivative documentation (ISDA / CSA and central clearing agreements, specifically novations and porting).
• Functional knowledge of end to end investment management technology / operating models, and downstream consumers / value chain.
• Exposure to business transformation projects, such as onboarding of investment managers, products (cash and derivatives, potentially structured products) or portfolio restructurings.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you. If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best. We’re reviewing applications as they come in, so apply early to avoid missing out.