Head of Operations

About the Opportunity

We are recruiting on behalf of a technology-driven digital asset trading and investment platform that has evolved from a proprietary trading background into an institutional-grade investment management business.

The firm operates a highly automated, quantitative trading environment across multiple venues and jurisdictions, with a strong emphasis on risk management, controls, and operational resilience. As the platform scales strategies, products, and external capital, the business is strengthening its senior operations leadership.

Role Overview

The Head of Operations is responsible for the integrity, resilience, and scalability of the end-to-end operating model, covering execution through settlement, reconciliation, NAV support, reporting, and investor servicing.

This role sits at the centre of the platform and owns the operational system that enables the firm to trade efficiently at scale while meeting institutional expectations across governance, controls, and transparency. The role leads both Middle Office control functions and Operations execution teams, and acts as the primary escalation point for operational incidents, market events, and counterparty or custodian issues.

A key component of the role includes operational readiness and lifecycle oversight for structured digital-asset instruments, ensuring settlement, custody, treasury movements, servicing, and reporting processes are fully embedded, repeatable, and audit-ready.

Key Responsibilities

End-to-End Operating Model Ownership

• Own and continuously evolve the operating model across:
• Trading & execution (venues, brokers, OTC)
• Post-trade, settlements, custody, and treasury
• Reconciliation (positions, cash, P&L, fees)
• NAV support and fund administration coordination
• Investor flows, reporting, and servicing workflows
• Define and enforce operational accountability across Middle Office and Operations through documented procedures, controls, and runbooks.
• Ensure workflows scale across strategies, venues, and jurisdictions.

Leadership of Middle Office & Operations

• Lead Middle Office control and Operations execution as a single integrated operating system.
• Set performance standards, control expectations, and escalation frameworks.
• Hire, develop, and retain high-calibre operational talent aligned with a trading-centric culture.
• Drive execution discipline, daily cadence, break management, and continuous improvement.

Control Framework & Governance

• Ensure robust controls across:
• Trade capture integrity
• Position and cash reconciliation
• Wallet management and approvals
• Transfer processes and limits
• Data integrity and reporting accuracy
• Own operational governance artefacts including evidence logs, exception reporting, control checklists, and incident playbooks.
• Build “audit-ready by design” operational processes.

Operational Risk & Incident Management

• Act as the primary operational escalation owner for:
• Market disruptions or venue outages
• Transfer or settlement failures
• Custody issues
• Operational breaches and security escalations
• Lead incident response across Trading, Technology, Risk, and Finance, including post-incident reviews.
• Own operational risk assessments, remediation tracking, and rollout of improvements.

Counterparty, Exchange & Custodian Oversight

• Own operational onboarding and readiness for:
• Centralised exchanges
• OTC counterparties
• Custodians and wallet providers
• Administrators and banking partners
• Define operational due diligence requirements and ongoing monitoring frameworks.
• Maintain service-level oversight, incident tracking, and periodic reviews.

Investor Operations & Capital Flows

• Oversee subscription and redemption workflows end-to-end, including onboarding, wallet approvals, capital transfers, and confirmations.
• Ensure investor servicing processes meet institutional standards.
• Support operational due diligence materials and transparency requirements for allocators.

Key Qualifications & Experience

• 8–15 years of experience in hedge fund, proprietary trading, or digital asset trading operations.
• Strong understanding of:
• Multi-venue trade lifecycle
• Custody models and wallet infrastructure
• Reconciliation and control frameworks
• Operational risk and incident management
• Experience building or scaling operational infrastructure in systematic or high-frequency trading environments (digital assets preferred).
• Comfortable operating in 24/7 market conditions with strong ownership and escalation instincts.
• Hands-on with systems, data, workflows, and automation — not a purely managerial profile.
• Strong stakeholder management across trading, engineering, finance, and external counterparties.