Vice President, Equity Operations

Vice President, Equity Operations

Location: Pinellas County, FL

Work Arrangement: Fully On-Site

Experience: 6 Years

Employment Type: Full-Time

Position Overview:

Our client is seeking an experienced Vice President, Equity Operations professional to join its securities operations organization in Florida.

This is a senior, hands-on operations role for an individual with a strong broker-dealer background and experience supporting equity and P&S-related functions. The successful candidate will have a thorough understanding of the securities trade lifecycle and be comfortable managing day-to-day operational activity, resolving complex issues, strengthening controls, and partnering with technology teams on operational enhancements.

The role will also have a leadership component, with responsibility for providing direction to team members, serving as a senior escalation point, and helping drive improvements across the broader operations function.

Key Responsibilities:

Equity & P&S Operations

• Provide senior-level oversight of daily equity operations and related P&S activities.
• Support the full trade lifecycle from trade capture and processing through settlement and post-trade activity.
• Monitor trade and transaction activity, ensuring operational issues and exceptions are identified and resolved appropriately.
• Oversee complex trade corrections, cancellations, adjustments, and other transaction-related issues.
• Partner with internal teams to resolve breaks, discrepancies, and operational exceptions.
• Maintain strong operational controls around transaction processing, reconciliations, and account activity.
• Serve as a senior escalation point for complex operational matters.

Process & Operational Management

• Evaluate existing processes and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, scalability, and risk management.
• Establish and maintain procedures, controls, and operational documentation.
• Analyze recurring issues and work with stakeholders to identify root causes and implement sustainable solutions.
• Help establish appropriate workflows and responsibilities across Operations, Trading, Technology, Finance, and other business functions.
• Monitor operational activity and provide management with insight into risks, trends, and areas requiring attention.
• Support the development of scalable processes as the business grows.

Systems, Testing & Implementation

• Participate in system implementations, upgrades, enhancements, and other technology initiatives affecting Operations.
• Translate operational needs into clear business and functional requirements.
• Develop and execute test cases covering normal processing, exceptions, corrections, and other operational scenarios.
• Lead or participate in UAT and system validation, ensuring functionality meets business requirements.
• Identify defects and operational gaps, assess their impact, and coordinate resolution with Technology and other stakeholders.
• Support parallel testing, implementation planning, production readiness, and post-implementation validation.
• Partner with Technology and Product teams to improve operational systems and workflows.

Leadership & Team Development

• Provide day-to-day guidance and subject matter expertise to operations team members.
• Act as a resource for complex P&S and equity-related questions and escalations.
• Mentor and develop junior professionals while promoting strong operational practices.
• Help establish training materials, procedures, and best practices for the team.
• Participate in hiring and onboarding as the operations organization continues to develop.
• Take a leadership role in driving accountability, quality, and continuous improvement across the team.

Required Qualifications:

• 6 years of experience in securities operations, preferably within a broker-dealer environment.
• Strong hands-on experience with equity operations, P&S, or related trade operations functions.
• Solid understanding of the U.S. securities trade lifecycle.
• Experience with trade processing, transaction activity, corrections, exceptions, reconciliations, and settlement-related processes.
• Demonstrated experience working with operational controls and risk management processes.
• Hands-on experience with system testing, UAT, implementations, or significant technology enhancements.
• Ability to work effectively with Technology, Product, Trading, Compliance, Finance, and other cross-functional teams.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to operate effectively as a senior member of an operations organization.
• Ability to work in a fully on-site environment in Southwest Florida.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior team lead, supervisory, or people-management experience.
• Experience supporting a broker-dealer's P&S or clearing operations.
• Experience with equity trade processing and post-trade workflows.
• Familiarity with DTCC, NSCC, DTC, or other industry infrastructure.
• Experience participating in operational transformation or process redesign initiatives.
• Experience supporting new system implementations or significant platform enhancements.
• Experience creating test plans, business requirements, procedures, or operational documentation.
• Exposure to multiple securities products and transaction types.

Ideal Candidate:

The ideal candidate is a senior broker-dealer operations professional who combines strong P&S/equity expertise with leadership capability. They should be comfortable getting into the details of operational issues while also taking a broader view of processes, controls, technology, and team performance.

This person should have a track record of identifying operational problems, working cross-functionally to solve them, and helping implement sustainable improvements. Experience leading a team or serving as a senior subject matter expert is highly valued, as is the ability to take ownership of testing, implementations, and operational change initiatives.