Head of Trade Support - Executive Director

Head of Trade Support – Executive Director

Role Overview

The Head of Trade Support will lead a global team of 35+ professionals responsible for overseeing the trade lifecycle across multiple asset classes and markets including Fixed Income, Equity, Derivatives and Liquidity. This Executive Director role requires a proven leader who can ensure operational excellence and continuous automation improvement in trade matching, confirmation, settlement, and issue resolution, while driving efficiency, scalability, and risk mitigation across the function. The individual will partner closely with investment teams, brokers, custodians, and internal operations groups to deliver timely, accurate, and well-controlled trade processing aligned with regulatory requirements (including global T+1 readiness).

The successful candidate will also play a key role in proactively identifying process inefficiencies, mitigating risks, and implementing innovative solutions, including the evaluation and adoption of AI, automation, and emerging technologies—to continuously enhance trade support operations and scalability. They must have strong analytical, automation (low code) tooling, pro dev capabilities, and AI strategies and solutions, along with strong interpersonal and communication skills and be able to build and foster relationships at all levels of the firm’s, clients’, and outsourcing agent’s organization.

Responsibilities

• Global Leadership: Lead and develop a global Trade Support team of 35+ FTEs, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Use industry-leading technologies like Alteryx, PowerBI, GenAI, etc., to develop tools for the operations team to pursue automation and improve scale and risk management
• Trade Lifecycle Oversight: Manage trade lifecycle events, including trade matching, confirmation, pre-settlement matching, and settlement
• Exception & Fail Management: Resolve trade breaks, exceptions, and settlement fails, escalating issues as necessary to senior management and counterparties
• Broker & Custodian Coordination: Build strong relationships with brokers and custodians, ensuring timely affirmation, issue resolution, and adherence to service-level standards
• Cash & Tax Investigations: Oversee resolution of cash breaks, interest claims, and tax-related issues impacting trade settlements
• Ensure processes, controls, and reporting are aligned with evolving regulatory requirements (e.g., T+1 settlement in the U.S.)
• Process Innovation: Drive the adoption of automation, AI, and advanced technologies to streamline workflows and reduce operational risk
• FOF Trades: Manage execution and support for Fund-of-Funds (FOF) transactions, ensuring smooth and timely settlement
• Oversee onboarding, maintenance, and ongoing management of broker relationships
• Produce and analyze KPIs/SLAs (e.g., settlement efficiency, fail rates, on-time settlement) and present regularly to senior management

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in trade support, operations, or middle office functions within Asset Management, Investment Banking, or a related financial institution
• Proven leadership experience at Director/Executive Director level, with responsibility for managing large, global teams (25+ FTEs)
• Expertise across trade support processes including SSI management, trade confirmation, pre-settlement matching, fails management, and broker setup
• Strong understanding of global markets, settlement cycles, and regulatory requirements (with focus on T+1 implementation)
• Demonstrated ability to identify inefficiencies and implement process improvements using automation and emerging technologies
• Excellent management skills with brokers, custodians, and internal stakeholders
• Strong reporting and analytical skills, with experience managing KPIs/SLAs
• Familiarity with OMS, EMS, trade matching, and settlement platforms (e.g., CTM, ALERT, SWIFT), as well as Payments Utilities
• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Economics, Business, or related field (advanced degree or CFA/CAIA a plus)

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

We are committed to maintaining the first-class service and high standard of excellence that have defined Morgan Stanley for over 89 years. Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

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Expected base pay rates for the role will be between $160,000.00 and $250,000.00 per year at the commencement of employment. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs.

Morgan Stanley's goal is to build and maintain a workforce that is diverse in experience and background but uniform in reflecting our standards of integrity and excellence. Consequently, our recruiting efforts reflect our desire to attract and retain the best and brightest from all talent pools. We want to be the first choice for prospective employees.

It is the policy of the Firm to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, sex stereotype, gender, gender identity or expression, transgender, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability, marital and civil partnership/union status, pregnancy, veteran or military service status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversifying its workforce (M/F/Disability/Vet).