Associate - Surveillance

About the role

Clear Street is modernizing the brokerage ecosystem. Founded in 2018, Clear Street is a diversified financial services firm replacing the legacy infrastructure used across capital markets. We started from scratch by building a completely cloud-native clearing and custody system designed for today's complex, global market. Clear Street's proprietary prime brokerage platform adds significant efficiency to the market, while focusing on minimizing risk, redundancy, and cost for clients. Our goal is to create a single source-of-truth platform for every asset class, in every country, and in any currency. By combining highly-skilled product and engineering talent with seasoned finance professionals, we're building the essentials to compete in today's fast-paced markets. The Compliance Team seeks a detail-oriented and motivated Surveillance Associate to be responsible for conducting daily trade surveillance reviews for the Firm's active trader client base. This role focuses on detecting, reviewing and escalating potential market manipulation and abusive trading activity using Nasdaq Trade Surveillance (NTS) with primary coverage of equities and listed options. The position requires strong analytical judgment and experience reviewing complex trading strategies and order placement patterns typical of active retail trading. This role offers exposure to complex trading behavior, evolving surveillance scenarios, and opportunities to expand responsibility over time.

Key facts

What you'll do

Review order lifecycle data (order entry, modification, cancellation and execution) to assess intent and impact.

Analyze activity to identify potential manipulation and abusive practices such as spoofing, layering, momentum ignition, wash trading, marking the open/close and pre-arranged trades.

Perform cross-product surveillance across equities and listed options.

Independently review and disposition NTS alerts through trade reconstruction, order book analysis and market context review.

Document findings clearly and concisely in surveillance case management systems.

Escalate potential to senior surveillance personnel with clear supporting analysis.

Assist in preparing case summaries for month Trade Surveillance Committee meetings.

Provide feedback to senior team members on alert performance, false positives and recurring patterns observed in NTS.

Identify surveillance caps or emerging risks associated with new products, order types or customer trading behavior.

Support ad hoc projects that strengthen surveillance methodologies and improve detection logic.

Collaborate with technology and product teams to refine alert parameters and reduce noise in monitoring workflows.

Conduct testing of surveillance controls to validate rule effectiveness and process integrity.

Synthesize complex trading patterns into concise narratives for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Maintain awareness of regulatory expectations and industry best practices related to market surveillance.

Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives that enhance data quality and review efficiency.

Requirements

3-5 years of hands-on experience using NTS in a broker-dealer or exchange environment.

Demonstrated experience identifying and investigating layering, spoofing, momentum ignition, coordinated trading, and other market manipulation alerts.

Strong understanding of equities and listed options markets, including order types, routing, execution mechanics and common trading strategies.

Ability to assess trading intent and distinguish legitimate strategies from abusive conduct.

Experience supporting active retail trading environments.

Strong analytical, investigative and documentation skills.

Ability to work independently and make sound judgments with minimal supervision.

Strong written and verbal communication skills for clear escalation and collaboration.

Proficiency with Microsoft Office and case management tools.

Willingness to adhere to firm policies, regulatory standards, and audit procedures.

Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.

Commitment to maintaining confidentiality of sensitive client and firm information.

Flexibility to adapt to evolving regulatory landscapes and emerging surveillance threats.

Practical notes

In-office benefits include lunch stipends, fully stocked kitchens,