Head of GM Middle Office

Role Overview

Head of GM Middle Office at First Abu Dhabi Bank – FAB, located in Abu Dhabi. This role oversees all TZERO middle office functions for the Global Markets business.

Role Purpose

The Head of GM Middle Office acts as the vital bridge between the trading desks (front office) and back-end operations (back office). The role ensures that every trade across asset classes—equities, fixed income, FX, and derivatives—is accurately booked, confirmed, and settled in a timely manner while maintaining robust controls and regulatory rigor. The position is responsible for operational excellence, risk management, and process efficiency in support of the revenue-generating trading and sales teams.

Key Responsibilities

Trade Lifecycle Oversight

• Oversee the end-to-end trade lifecycle for all Global Markets products
• Ensure trades are captured, verified, and processed correctly from trade booking and validation in front-office systems through confirmation, settlement, and reconciliation in back-office systems
• Identify and resolve trade discrepancies or exceptions promptly to avoid settlement failures or P&L errors

Operational Risk Management & Controls

• Establish and enforce a robust operational control framework to minimize errors, failed trades, and financial losses
• Oversee trade exception management and investigate and rectify breaks and mismatches
• Implement checks to ensure data accuracy
• Continually re-assess operational risks considering changing market conditions and regulations
• Cultivate a zero-tolerance culture for control lapses
• Frequently review Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) such as error rates and operational loss incidents to gauge performance

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead the global Regional Dealer Assist teams and middle office team
• Manage team managers and staff
• Set performance objectives and provide mentoring and training to develop talent
• Ensure the team is well-resourced and skilled to support current and future business needs
• Oversee succession planning and maintain high engagement
• Lead diverse functions including trade support and collateral operations

Stakeholder and Client Management

• Manage relationships with key internal and external stakeholders
• Interact with senior Front Office leaders (heads of trading desks), Risk Management heads, Compliance officers, and Operations executives to communicate status, escalate issues, and align on improvements
• Interface with clients or counterparties for operational matters, including prime brokerage clients, custodians, clearing houses, and executing brokers to resolve breaks and improve service

Client Activation & Data Readiness

• Act as enabler and coordinator with other internal functions including COO KYC, Reference Data, Credit, and GM Documentation
• Ensure timely setup of new client relationships

Trade Execution & Controls

• Perform and manage Dealer Assist functions including timely booking, client account and portfolio allocations, P&L and dealer and sales position integrity, same day trade validations ensuring FAB books are integral, post trade amend and cancel governance and control principles, off-market trade monitoring, and counterparty exposure monitoring

Exceptions Management and Reconciliation

• Monitor failed and alleged trades
• Manage trade lifecycle event management (credit events, et al)
• Oversee collateral and margin management principles

Reporting and Management Information

• Oversee regulatory reporting and internal dashboards
• Manage KRI and KPI reporting solutions

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Business, Economics, or a related field
• Extensive experience of 10–15+ years in Global Markets operations or Front Office trade support
• Leadership or managerial role (for example, Managing Director, Senior Vice President of Operations) demonstrating the ability to run large teams and multi-faceted processes
• Broad experience across a range of asset classes (equities, fixed income, FX, derivatives)
• Deep understanding of the full trade lifecycle for these products
• Time spent in both front-office facing roles and back-office roles, demonstrating the ability to bridge those worlds effectively