Operations Automation Associate

About the role

Operations Automation Associate

Nearwater Capital

Nearwater Capital is seeking an Operations Automation Associate to join its Capital Markets operations team, with a primary focus on the regulated swap business (SBSD). This position is essential to preserving the integrity of trade lifecycle processes across OTC derivatives, equity, fixed income, and commercial paper. The associate will act as a central resource for operational inquiries, executing reconciliations, managing settlements, and developing automated workflows, data pipelines, and control enhancements that align the front-to-back office operating model.

The role demands consistent collaboration with internal trading desks, Risk, Finance, Compliance, counterparties, and custodians. Success requires translating operational feedback into reliable automated routines while maintaining strict control standards. The associate will own key operational touchpoints, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and transparency across all lifecycle activities.

Key Responsibilities

The associate will drive automation, reporting, and cross-functional collaboration. This includes preparing monthly metrics reports for Compliance (SEC), Finance (13F and Focus filings), Risk, and Management. The role will lead efforts to design and implement automated solutions using Python, SQL, or VBA-Alteryx and Power BI are valued-to replace manual tasks, reduce errors, and strengthen reporting precision. The associate will also participate in firmwide and departmental initiatives aimed at streamlining workflows and mitigating operational risk. Collaboration with Technology teams will be required to define, deliver, and validate system enhancements, from requirements gathering through user acceptance testing.

Trade lifecycle and settlement management form another core area of accountability. The associate will support the full lifecycle of Total Return Swaps, equity, fixed income, commercial paper, and sec lending transactions. Settlement management will emphasize TRS and repo transactions, covering trade confirmation, broker and custodian communication, reconciliation, cash flow settlement, and issue resolution. The role will ensure proper booking, reconciliation, and settlement of corporate actions and income events such as dividends. Trade capture, allocation, settlement, and automated exception handling-including break resolution for swaps and cash hedge securities-will also be key responsibilities.

Oversight of collateral management and reconciliation completes the core duties. This involves managing the full OTC derivatives lifecycle in Acadia, calculating exposure, handling initial and variation margin, resolving disputes, and managing agreement onboarding. The associate will perform trade, position, and cash reconciliations across custody, administrator, and prime broker accounts. Control reconciliations will be conducted to validate booking accuracy between internal systems and external records. Liaising with Risk teams on exposures, settlement fails, and margin disputes is expected.

Qualifications and Experience

Candidates must bring a minimum of three years of experience within financial services middle office, structured finance, or prime brokerage operations. Demonstrated operational expertise in settlements, trade lifecycle management, margin, reconciliations, trade support, and corporate actions across global markets is required. High-level knowledge of cash equity and equity total return swap products is essential, with awareness of fixed income, securities lending, and commercial paper being advantageous.

Strong market fluency is expected, along with familiarity with key systems such as Acadia, Cassini, BNY Nexen, TriResolve, and Bloomberg. Experience with Enfusion is a plus. Advanced Excel skills are non-negotiable, along with proven proficiency in Python, SQL, or VBA. Candidates must show a track record of building automated workflows that deliver measurable reductions in manual effort or operational risk. Experience independently designing automation for post-trade workflows or settlement processes-and collaborating directly with traders and developers-is essential. Meticulous organization and the ability to maintain clear documentation under tight deadlines are required.

Additional Considerations

Prior experience with Enfusion is considered a bonus. The role will use Acadia, Cassini, BNY Nexen, TriResolve, Bloomberg, Python, SQL, VBA, Alteryx, Power BI, and Claude AI as primary tools.

This position is based in New York and operates on a full-time basis, with a base salary of 180,000 USD annually. Candidates are advised to What you'll do