Aladdin Client Transformations, Associate

Aladdin Business, Implementations –Post Trade Practice, Associate

Aladdin® is an operating system for investment managers that seeks to connect the information, people, and technology needed to manage money in real time. The Aladdin platform combines risk analytics with portfolio management, trading, compliance, and operations tools on a single platform to power informed decision-making, effective risk management, efficient trading, and operational scale. Aladdin is used by a community of over 200 institutional clients around the world, including BlackRock. There are over 50,000 end users of Aladdin globally. The team is comprised of 800+ professionals responsible for implementing and supporting our Aladdin clients, sales and marketing, and ensuring the Aladdin Community maximizes Aladdin products through engagement and education.

We are seeking a candidate to work within the Post Trade Practice supporting the implementation of investment operations and/or accounting (performance) workflows. The individual will work closely with our partner implementation teams and the client acting as a subject matter expert and primary point of contact, providing guidance on best practices and supporting a smooth implementation. 

Key responsibilities include:

• Own a part of investment operations channel, a functional area or areas i.e. Trade confirmations/settlements, Margin/Collateral management, reconciliations etc. for a project from start to finish i.e. pre-planning, configuration, testing, client training and deployment

• Be an extension of the client’s in-house team to build and share knowledge relating to Aladdin functionality, workflows, and market best-practices

• Build strong internal relationships within BlackRock Solutions, and the wider BlackRock globally, in support of your clients

• Coordinate and implement client specific investment accounting configuration, portfolio initialization, downstream general ledger/ sub ledger integration, and monthly accounting workflows.

Required Skills and Experience

• 3+ years of work experience in the financial services industry within the investment operations space or preferably from a large investment bank 

• Familiarity with operational workflows i.e. trade matching and settlements, collateral and margin management, corporate actions and reconciliations 

• Prior working knowledge and engagement with third party trade execution, settlement/confirmation platforms as well as market data vendors 

• Working understanding of equity, fixed income and derivative markets, and analytics

• Outstanding communication and presentation skills, with the ability to convey complex concepts simply and clearly to clients

• Ambitious approach to large, complex projects, with a flair for problem solving

• Self-starter who enjoys a fast-paced, high-intensity environment and works well as part of a multi-disciplinary global team but also has the ability to take initiative and work independently 

• Ability to travel and be on-site with client at various stages of an implementation 

• Experience working on large agile implementations 

• Strong understanding of project lifecycle

• Experience with accounting standards (e.g., US GAAP, STAT, TAX) as they pertain to investment accounting

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Business Analyst and/or Project management experience

• Experience with SQL, UNIX, VBA, PERL or similar tools, and/or Aladdin

• Knowledge of private market (hedge funds, real estate, private placements) is useful but not required

• Exposure and/or engagement on prior Aladdin implementation(s)

• CPA or CFA certification preferred