Lead the function that safeguards the integrity of Northern LGPS’s transaction lifecycle and investment records as its future investment operations model takes shape.

Northern LGPS is entering an important period of development, creating an FCA authorised investment management company and establishing the leadership, governance and operating capabilities required for the future.

As Manager - Trade Operations & Asset Servicing, you’ll lead a key part of Northern’s Investment Operations function, controlling the transaction lifecycle from execution through to settlement and a confirmed, reconciled record of assets. Your remit will bring together settlements and custody, reconciliations and asset servicing, alongside ownership of the investment book of record.

This is an opportunity to help establish a rigorous and well-controlled operating environment at an important stage in Northern’s development. You’ll build capability across multiple operational disciplines, strengthen controls and ensure Northern can demonstrate the completeness and accuracy of its investment records to its depositary, auditors and regulator.

About Northern LGPS

Northern LGPS is a c£70bn pooled investment partnership for the Local Government Pension Scheme, bringing together the investments of Greater Manchester Pension Fund, Merseyside Pension Fund and West Yorkshire Pension Fund.

Building on the foundations of its collaboration over several years, Northern LGPS is now entering the next phase of its development. This phase focuses on establishing an FCA authorised investment management company with a dedicated senior leadership team; strengthening governance and creating a clear operating model to support long-term investment outcomes.

For those joining at this stage, the opportunity is exceptional. These roles offer the chance to shape strategy, set standards and build leadership capability for the long term, working closely with the partner funds, who are both shareholders and clients, Boards and regulators to ensure Northern LGPS continues to evolve as a well-governed, resilient investment organisation.

Our culture

As Northern LGPS continues to evolve, we are building a collaborative, open and trusting organisation where people can do their best work.

We believe strong outcomes come from working together, sharing knowledge and supporting one another. Our flexible and hybrid working arrangements give colleagues greater flexibility in how they manage their time, while supporting collaboration and colleague wellbeing.

We are developing a supportive learning culture where people are encouraged to grow, contribute ideas and help shape how the organisation works. Our ambition is to build a resilient and sustainable organisation that delivers for its Partner Funds over the long term.

The main responsibilities of this role

Reporting to the Head of Investment Operations, you’ll lead Trade Operations & Asset Servicing across the transaction lifecycle, maintaining effective controls and ensuring Northern’s records of its assets are complete, accurate and demonstrable.

You will:

• Lead trade capture and enrichment, confirmation and affirmation, matching and instruction to the custodian within relevant market deadlines.
• Oversee settlement through to completion, ensuring failed trades are identified, pursued and escalated appropriately, including the management of buy-in exposure and market claims.
• Maintain standing settlement instructions through documented change controls and dual authorisation, and oversee operational readiness for new instruments, markets and central securities depositories.
• Lead custody and depot account management, including account opening, amendment and closure, oversight of the custodian and sub-custodian network, and maintenance of relevant market entry documentation.
• Provide the safekeeping and ownership evidence required to support the depositary’s verification obligations.
• Oversee corporate action event capture and validation, ensuring effective management of mandatory and voluntary events, elections, entitlements, income and distributions.
• Lead operational activity covering withholding tax reclaim and relief at source, class actions and support for proxy voting.
• Own daily cash and stock reconciliations to the custodian and reconciliation between the investment book of record and accounting book of record.
• Ensure reconciliation breaks are identified, categorised, aged, investigated and resolved, with appropriate escalation and a clear exceptions register.
• Own the maintenance of the investment book of record, including start-of-day positions, intraday updates and completeness and accuracy checks against the custodian and portfolio management system.
• Maintain robust controls over manual adjustments to investment records, including appropriate logging, approval and reversal.
• Establish and maintain effective procedures and first-line controls across the function, ensuring incidents, errors and near misses are recorded with clear root-cause analysis and remediation.
• Manage day-to-day relationships with custodians and the broker community while contributing to Northern’s wider third-party oversight and monitoring arrangements.
• Provide Trade Operations & Asset Servicing information for Investment Operations reporting to the Operating Committee and support the Trading and Instruments Forum.
• Lead and develop a team spanning multiple operational disciplines, with a target structure of approximately ten direct reports.

What we're looking for

You’ll bring deep operational knowledge across the post-trade environment together with the leadership and control mindset required to build a robust, accountable function.

You’ll have:

• Deep operational experience across settlement, custody, corporate actions and reconciliations, gained within an asset manager, asset owner, custodian or fund administrator.
• Experience supervising a team across more than one operational discipline.
• Working knowledge of custodian and depositary operating models.
• Working knowledge of market settlement conventions and corporate action lifecycles.
• Demonstrable experience designing, operating and evidencing first-line controls.
• Willingness to develop the skills required to operate within an FCA-regulated financial services firm.

You’ll also need to work effectively across Investment Operations and with investment teams, dealing, technology colleagues and external providers, maintaining clear accountability and effective segregation of duties throughout the operating model.

Location

You can be based at any of our offices in Bradford, Manchester or Liverpool.

Flexible and hybrid working

Northern LGPS offers flexible and hybrid working arrangements, alongside a commitment to colleague wellbeing.

Sponsorship

We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

Equal opportunities

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race (including colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and able to thrive. If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process to support your application, please let us know, and we will work with you to meet your needs.

 

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive a sufficient volume of suitable applications.