Associate Director, Capital Markets Operations

Associate Director, Capital Markets Operations

Nearwater Capital is a rapidly growing and innovative specialty-finance company headquartered in New York City with global operations and client base. Established in 2017, Nearwater has distinguished itself as a leader in delivering thoughtful, solutions-based financing to some of the largest financial institutions and financial services firms in the world.

Role / Job Description:

The Associate Director, Operations role will be a key member of Nearwater Capital's Operations team, supporting the firm's Capital Markets business with a primary focus on the regulated swap business.

The ideal candidate will have deep expertise across the trade lifecycle for Fixed Income, Equity, and Derivative products, a strong understanding of front-to-back operations, and the ability to collaborate across departments to enhance workflows and controls. This role will serve as a main point of contact for operational inquiries, working closely with the Director of Operations and engaging with internal trading desks, counterparties, and custodians.

Key Responsibilities:

• Partner with the Director of Operations to oversee daily operations for the Capital Markets business.
• Provide lifecycle management support for Commercial Paper, Equities, Fixed Income, and Swap transactions.
• Manage trade settlements with a focus on Total Return Swaps (TRS) and Repurchase Transactions, including trade confirmation, broker and custodian communication, reconciliation, and issue resolution.
• Oversee trade, position, and cash reconciliations across custody, administrator, and prime broker accounts.
• Ensure proper booking of corporate actions.
• Manage initial and variation margin (IM/VM) processes and validate end-of-day balances.
• Coordinate monthly reporting with the Program Compliance team and Administrator
• Handle trade capture, allocation, and exception management across swaps and cash hedge securities.
• Act as a key point of contact for client settlement queries and operational escalations.
• Conduct control reconciliations to ensure booking accuracy between internal systems and external records.
• Liaise with Risk teams to address open exposures, settlement fails, and margin disputes.
• Drive operational improvements by identifying process enhancements, automation opportunities, and control refinements.
• Participate in firmwide and departmental projects aimed at streamlining workflows and reducing operational risk.
• Mentor and provide guidance to junior operations staff, supporting a culture of accountability, risk awareness, and continuous improvement.

Skills and Experience:

• Operational Expertise: demonstrate considerable understanding of key operational functions such as Settlements, Trade Lifecycle Management, Reconciliations, Trade Support and Corporate Actions across Global Markets.
• Product Knowledge: demonstrate high-level knowledge and understanding of the Cash Equity and Equity Swap product. A general knowledge of Equities/Fixed Income/Securities Lending is highly desirable. Knowledge of Commercial Paper is a plus.
• 7-10 years of direct experience in a financial services organization performing derivatives operations activities
• Strong knowledge of financial markets, trade lifecycle and industry technology (AcadiaSoft, Markit, Bloomberg) . Experience with Enfusion is a plus.
• Advanced Excel and experience with data-analysis or automation tools (e.g., Alteryx, Python, SQL, VBA, Power BI) to improve reporting accuracy and efficiency.
• Build and maintain automated dashboards and reconciliations for asset-pool monitoring and cash-flow tracking. Partner with Technology to migrate and embed built functionality into an enterprise-wide technology infrastructure.
• Partner with Technology teams to enhance system functionality, implement data validation checks, and support workflow digitization. Excellent organizational skills and superior problem-solving capabilities
• Excellent organizational skills and superior problem-solving capabilities.
• Self-motivated and proactive team player who takes ownership of projects with the aptitude to manage multiple tasks at the same time.
• Ability to work in a structured, high volume, time sensitive, high risk and demanding environment.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Able to work as part of a team, as well as operate independently.

What Else You'll Get:

Nearwater offers an attractive market compensation and benefits package including, health, dental & vision benefits, life insurance, paid vacation and holidays, and a 401(k) plan. Our office is located in midtown, close and convenient for commuting. As a creative, intellectual capital firm, Nearwater is proud to be 100% work from office, which promotes our collaborative and 'get things done' atmosphere.

You will be joining a firm that is well established but still growing rapidly and You will have the ability to impact the design of developing new business segments. Work in a fast-paced and intellectually stimulating environment, in which you will learn something new every day. A collaborative working environment where every voice is heard.