Settlements Associate

<div class="content-intro"><p><strong>Who We Are:</strong></p> <p>Alpaca is a US-headquartered self-clearing broker-dealer and brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, fixed income, 24/5 trading, and more. Our&nbsp;<a href="https://alpaca.markets/blog/alpaca-raises-150-million-at-a-1-15b-valuation-to-build-the-global-standard-for-brokerage-infrastructure/">recent Series D funding round</a> brought our total investment to over $320 million, fueling our ambitious vision.</p> <p>Amongst our subsidiaries, Alpaca is a licensed financial services company, serving hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries with our institutional-grade APIs. This includes broker-dealers, investment advisors, wealth managers, hedge funds, and crypto exchanges, totalling over 9 million brokerage accounts.</p> <p>Our global team is a diverse group of experienced engineers, traders, and brokerage professionals who are working to achieve our mission of&nbsp;<strong>opening financial services to everyone on the planet</strong>. We're deeply committed to open-source contributions and fostering a vibrant community, continuously enhancing our award-winning, developer-friendly API and the robust infrastructure behind it.</p> <p>Alpaca is proudly backed by top-tier global investors, including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Unbound, SBI Group, Derayah Financial, Elefund, and Y Combinator.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Our Team Members:</strong></p> <p>We're a dynamic team of 380+ globally distributed members who thrive working from our favorite places around the world, with teammates spanning the USA, Canada, Japan, Hungary, Nigeria, Brazil, the UK, and beyond!<br><br>We're searching for passionate individuals eager to contribute to Alpaca's rapid growth. If you align with our core values—Stay Curious, Have Empathy, and Be Accountable—and are ready to make a significant impact, we encourage you to apply.</p></div><div class="ak-renderer-extension " data-layout="default"> <div class="ak-renderer-extension-overflow-container"> <div class="ak-renderer-wrapper is-undefined css-1jke4yk"> <div class="css-jamgs6"> <div class="ak-renderer-document"> <p data-renderer-start-pos="1"><strong>Your Role:</strong></p> <p data-renderer-start-pos="1">&nbsp;Global Equity Settlement</p> <ul> <li>Own the end-to-end global equity settlement process, partnering with our custodian, counterparties, and internal stakeholders to ensure timely and accurate settlement across multiple international markets.</li> <li>Ensure transactions are accurately recorded across internal and external systems to facilitate successful settlement.</li> <li>Monitor daily settlement activity and proactively identify transactions at risk of failing.</li> <li>Investigate and resolve settlement exceptions, trade discrepancies, and failing transactions.</li> <li>Review buy-ins, settlement penalties, and aged fails while coordinating remediation efforts with counterparties and our custodian.</li> <li>Monitor trade matching through SWIFT and settlement platforms, ensuring counterparties affirm and match trades within required market deadlines.</li> </ul> <div>Trade Exception Management</div> <ul> <li>Investigate and resolve trade mismatches, including: <ul> <li>Settlement instruction discrepancies</li> <li>Quantity and price differences</li> <li>Allocation issues</li> <li>Counterparty booking errors</li> <li>FX and market-specific settlement exceptions</li> </ul> </li> <li>Partner closely with trading, finance, compliance, counterparties, and custodians to drive timely resolution of settlement issues.</li> <li>Escalate complex settlement discrepancies and operational risks to the Director of Brokerage Operations when appropriate.</li> </ul> <div>Cash &amp; Position Reconciliations</div> <ul> <li>Perform daily reconciliations of securities positions and cash balances across multiple global markets and currencies.</li> <li>Investigate and resolve cash and stock reconciliation breaks between internal ledgers and external custodians.</li> <li>Produce reconciliation reports identifying money differences, position discrepancies, and operational exceptions.</li> <li>Ensure all reconciliation breaks are researched, documented, and resolved within established service levels.</li> </ul> <div>Operational Risk &amp; Regulatory Controls</div> <ul> <li>Ensure operational processes comply with applicable SEC, FINRA, and global market regulations.</li> <li>Support compliance with SEC Rule 15c3-3 by helping maintain proper possession and control of customer securities.</li> <li>Identify operational risks and escalate issues that may impact clients, settlement, or regulatory obligations.</li> <li>Maintain complete and organized operational records supporting audits, examinations, and regulatory reviews.</li> <li>Assist the Director of Brokerage Operations with Internal Audit requests, regulatory examinations, and remediation efforts.</li> </ul> <div>Reporting &amp; Process Improvement</div> <ul> <li>Produce timely, accurate, and meaningful operational reporting on settlement activity, aged fails, reconciliation breaks, and operational metrics.</li> <li>Prepare work papers, operational summaries, root cause analyses, and management reporting.</li> <li>Identify recurring operational issues through trend analysis and recommend improvements that reduce risk and increase efficiency.</li> <li>Update operational procedures, controls, and documentation as business processes evolve.</li> <li>Support the implementation of policy frameworks while serving as a resource for operational policy questions.</li> </ul> <div>Automation &amp; Strategic Initiatives</div> <ul> <li>Partner with Engineering and Product teams to automate manual operational workflows and improve settlement processes.</li> <li>Leverage SQL, Metabase, AI tools (such as Cursor and ChatGPT), and reporting platforms to enhance operational efficiency and analytics.</li> <li>Participate in cross-functional projects supporting new products, international market expansion, and operational scalability.</li> <li>Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives that enhance the client experience while reducing operational risk.</li> </ul> <div>Collaboration</div> <ul> <li>Work cross-functionally with Brokerage Operations, Trading, Finance, Compliance, Engineering, and Customer Operations to ensure seamless post-trade processing.</li> <li>Foster an environment of teamwork, accountability, and continuous learning.</li> <li>Support department initiatives and perform additional responsibilities as business needs evolve.</li> </ul> <div><br>Who You Are (Must-Haves)</div> <ul> <li>3+ years of experience supporting brokerage operations with a focus on global equity settlements.</li> <li>Strong understanding of securities settlement lifecycles within a broker-dealer or carrying firm.</li> <li>Experience working with third-party clearing firms and global custodians.</li> <li>Knowledge of U.S. broker-dealer operations and financial industry regulations.</li> <li>Familiarity with BNY Nexen or similar global custody settlement platforms.</li> <li>Working knowledge of SWIFT settlement messaging (MT54x series), Euroclear, DTCC, and international settlement practices.</li> <li>Experience settling securities across global markets, including Europe and Asia (Hong Kong, South Korea, and other international markets).</li> <li>Strong expertise performing cash and position reconciliations across multiple currencies and markets.</li> <li>Experience investigating trade mismatches and collaborating directly with counterparties to resolve settlement issues.</li> <li>Ability to analyze operational data, identify trends, and make sound decisions based on available information.</li> <li>Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.</li> <li>Strong organizational skills with exceptional attention to detail.</li> <li>Ability to manage multiple priorities while working independently in a fast-paced environment.</li> <li>Comfortable working remotely while collaborating across distributed teams.</li> <li>Working knowledge of SQL, Metabase, or similar reporting and data analysis tools.</li> <li>Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace.</li> <li>Adaptability to evolving regulatory requirements and business priorities.</li> <li>Possess the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam and Series 99 license (or higher), or obtain the Series 99 within 180 days of hire.</li> </ul> <div>We Value Team Members Who</div> <ul> <li>Stay Curious by continuously learning and seeking opportunities to improve.</li> <li>Have Empathy when collaborating with teammates, clients, and partners.</li> <li>Are Accountable by taking ownership of outcomes and following through on commitments.</li> </ul> <div><br>Nice to Have</div> <ul> <li>Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related discipline.</li> <li>Five or more years of experience in brokerage operations, reconciliation, settlements, accounting, banking, or financial services.</li> <li>Experience with DTCC U.S. equity settlement processing.</li> <li>Knowledge of tokenized securities or digital asset settlement.</li> <li>Experience using AI-powered productivity tools (Cursor, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot) to automate workflows or enhance data analysis.</li> <li>Experience supporting automation initiatives in partnership with Engineering teams.</li> <li>Series 7 or additional FINRA licenses.</li> <li>Experience working within a high-growth fintech or electronic brokerage environment.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="content-conclusion"><h3><strong>How We Take Care of You:</strong></h3> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Competitive Salary &amp; Stock Options</span></li> <li style="text-align: justify;">Health Benefits</li> <li style="font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">New Hire Home-Office Setup: One-time USD $500</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Monthly Stipend: USD $150 per month via a Brex Card</span></li> </ul> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alpaca is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace dedicated to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce.<br></span></em></p> <p><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a href="https://files.alpaca.markets/disclosures/AlpacaRecruitmentPrivacyPolicy.pdf"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Recruitment Privacy Policy</span></em></a></span></p></div>