Associate Director - Data Delivery & Client Integrations in Southampton

At Aztec, we provide talented and dynamic individuals with the opportunity to build a rewarding career. We’re an ambitious company, committed to building long-term partnerships with our clients and delivering operational excellence at every stage of their fund’s lifecycle. Our culture is what makes us a standout place to work. Our people are at the heart of our business: putting clients first; delivering service excellence; working as one team; building lasting connections and embodying our values and purpose. Join our journey and discover what makes us the bright alternative.

About the role:

The Associate Director – Data Delivery & Client Integrations is the senior delivery leader accountable for Aztec’s most complex Markets data programmes, including two-way integrations between Aztec and client platforms, structured datasets and extracts derived from eFront Invest, and delivery of high-complexity client reporting and data products. This role forms part of the Markets Technology leadership team, working closely with platform and regional technology leaders to ensure joined-up delivery and consistent governance across the Markets technology landscape. The role leads multi-disciplinary squads and workstreams (Reporting & Data engineers, Integration Engineers, Solution Architects, application SMEs, and Client Facing Teams), ensuring delivery is predictable, controlled, audit-ready, and scalable. The role provides line management to senior technical leaders in the Reporting & Data domain and acts as the senior escalation point for delivery risks that affect client commitments, control outcomes, or operational integrity. In addition, the role contributes to business development activity by supporting RFP responses, solution design workshops, and client due diligence, ensuring Aztec’s data exchange proposition is credible, deliverable, and aligned to platform and control standards.

Key Responsibilities:

• Domain Ownership: Data Delivery & Client Integrations (Markets-wide)
  • Own the end-to-end delivery of a portfolio of complex client data exchange and reporting initiatives for Aztec’s largest and most demanding global clients.
  • Translate Markets Technology strategy into a sequenced delivery roadmap for data exchange initiatives, balancing client value, operational risk, and engineering capacity.
  • Act as the accountable owner for delivery outcomes across the domain, including scope control, dependency management, and risk-based prioritisation.
  • Provide a clear escalation path and decision-making structure for delivery trade-offs impacting client outcomes, operational integrity, or control compliance.
  • Partner with BD and Solution Architecture to shape standard delivery patterns and “reference solutions” for repeatable client data exchanges.
• Two-Way Client Integrations & Data Exchange Accountability
  • Lead delivery of two-way integrations between Aztec and client platforms, including: Outbound: structured datasets, extracts, APIs, investor/regulatory feeds; Inbound: client reference data, portfolio/enrichment datasets, mapping feeds.
  • Ensure integrations are designed and delivered with strong controls for completeness, reconciliation, exception handling, operational usability, and secure transport.
  • Oversee delivery across multiple connectivity patterns, including SFTP, API-led integration, and data-sharing / data-platform outputs.
  • Coordinate delivery across platforms (especially eFront Invest), integration tooling, and data layers, ensuring solutions align to enterprise integration standards and long-term maintainability.
• Delivery Governance, Controls & Audit Readiness (ISAE / CAB / ACLM)
  • Ensure delivery operates within Aztec’s ISAE 3402 control environment, including evidence retention, approvals, traceability, and support to control testing.
  • Own the delivery governance model for client data exchange programmes, ensuring: CAB-managed change for production releases; Structured documentation and test evidence; Controlled promotion through Dev → SIT → UAT → Production, with cutover and hypercare.
  • Maintain portfolio-level oversight of data protection, access controls, and secure handling of client data, including periodic access reviews and alignment with InfoSec requirements.
  • Drive consistent application of ACLM discipline for configuration and release artefacts where applicable (especially for reporting logic, mapping, and interface contracts).
  • Ensure security-by-design for all client data exchanges and integrations, including data classification, encryption in transit/at rest (where applicable), authentication/authorisation, secrets handling, and alignment with InfoSec patterns and policies.
  • Own delivery inputs to third-party risk assessments for connectivity solutions and delivery partners (e.g., due diligence evidence, control alignment, remediation tracking), ensuring appropriate documentation is maintained for audit.
• Stakeholder, Client & Solution Design Leadership
  • Serve as senior counterpart to Client Facing Teams (CFT) and key client stakeholders for delivery governance, milestones, testing cycles, and acceptance criteria.
  • Engage directly with strategic clients (as required) to align on schemas, mapping assumptions, reconciliation rules, and delivery sign-off.
  • Lead internal stakeholder alignment across Operations, Product, Data, Risk, Security, Architecture, and platform SMEs to ensure joined-up delivery and clear accountability.
  • Support client solution design activities including discovery workshops, requirements shaping, data architecture approach, integration patterns, and delivery planning.
  • Contribute to BD / RFP processes, including: Input into written responses for data exchange, reporting, controls and delivery approach; Estimation, delivery assumptions, timelines, risks, and dependencies; Participation in client due diligence and technical solution presentations where appropriate.
• People Leadership & Capability Building (Reporting & Data domain)
  • Provide line management to senior technical leaders within the Reporting & Data function, including F-band technical track roles and workstream leads as the capability scales.
  • Build depth and resilience across the domain, reducing key-person dependency through standards, documentation, reusable assets, and structured mentoring.
  • Lead performance management, objective setting, and development planning aligned to Markets Technology outcomes.
  • Drive consistent ways of working across reporting and data delivery to support repeatability and scale.
• Delivery Excellence, Agile Leadership & Continuous Improvement
  • Establish and enforce delivery best practices across squads and workstreams (Agile, hybrid Agile, or stage-gated delivery where appropriate).
  • Provide senior agile leadership: backlog governance, sprint discipline, dependency management, and delivery metrics (velocity, cycle time, defect leakage).
  • Develop repeatable delivery playbooks for client data exchanges (templates, acceptance criteria, test packs, mapping standards, runbooks).
  • Identify opportunities to reduce bespoke work by productising common client requirements into scalable reporting/data assets.
  • Own service transition and BAU handover for delivered solutions, including operational acceptance criteria, runbooks, monitoring/alerting, support model, RACI, training, and SLA baselines.
• Commercial & Capacity Accountability
  • Own delivery resourcing and capacity planning across the portfolio, balancing demand against capability and ensuring realistic client commitments.
  • Contribute to commercial planning through estimation, sequencing, and impact assessment—protecting margin by avoiding uncontrolled bespoke expansion.
  • Govern the use of third-party partners/contractors (where required), ensuring scope control, measurable deliverables, and performance management.