Morgan Stanley Investment Management Operations is seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented Equities Trade Support expert to join the Public Markets Middle Office and provide high-touch operational partnership to Portfolio Managers and Traders. This role serves as a day-to-day point of contact for front office stakeholders, ensuring smooth end-to-end operational support across the equity trade lifecycle, governing strong control frameworks, and timely issue resolution across trade capture, confirmations, settlement, cash/position reconciliations, and key lifecycle events.
The position provides an opportunity to partner closely with MSIM Trading, Technology, Compliance, Counterparties, Prime Brokers/Clearing Brokers, Custodians and various functional teams within MSIM Operations to proactively monitor transaction/position data quality and resolve issues that could impact trade execution, settlement, valuation, risk, and client/regulatory reporting. The successful candidate exercises sound operational judgment, maintains composure in high-pressure, time-sensitive market environments, and effectively manages risk across multiple products while delivering exceptional support and issue resolution.
As a Director, you will contribute to continuous improvement initiatives, leverage automation and AI-enabled solutions to drive innovation, and champion operational excellence by enhancing processes, achieving our strategic business outcomes and delivering world-class service to our clients.
Key Responsibilities:Trade Support Coverage:- Provide dedicated day-to-day operational support to Portfolio Managers and Traders across applicable asset classes including equities and foreign exchange, ensuring timely and accurate processing of trades from execution through settlement.
- Serve as a primary point of contact providing proactive oversight of trade lifecycle controls, booking quality, and operational readiness for front office stakeholders.
- Anticipate front office needs and proactively resolve front-to-back workflow issues (trade capture, allocations, confirmations, settlement, clearing), ensuring minimal disruption to investment decision-making.
- Monitor start-of-day readiness (cash/positions reconciliation, breaks, pricing/valuation flags, unmatched confirmations, settlement fails) and consult stakeholders on exposures, exceptions, and required actions.
Issue Resolution and Escalation:- Perform root cause analysis and permanent corrective actions to drive resolution of trade lifecycle and operational issues (allocations, confirmations, exceptions/breaks, settlement fails, fees/interest accruals, corporate actions where applicable), partnering with Custodians, Brokers/Clearing Brokers, Technology, and Compliance, as applicable.
- Exercises sound operational judgment with a strong risk and control mindset, proactively identifying, assessing, and resolving trade issues while ensuring timely escalation of material risks.
Optimization:- Identify opportunities to streamline trade support processes, increase straight-through-processing, implement industry best practices, reduce manual touchpoints, and enhance preventative controls using automation and AI-enabled solutions.
- Maintain accurate support KPIs/KRIs (e.g., breaks, failed trades, aging, incident volumes, turnaround times) and deliver actionable insights to Middle Office leadership and front office stakeholders.
- Contribute to procedures, playbooks, and training; coach peers/juniors as needed to ensure consistent processes and effective knowledge transfer.
- Partner on change initiatives (platform enhancements, new products/strategies, market/regulatory obligations) and prioritize work based on activity, risk, and business needs, escalating where appropriate.
Experience and Qualifications:- 6+ years of experience in equities trade support, middle office, or investment operations at a global asset manager, bank, or financial institution.
- Proven experience supporting front-to-back workflows and partnering closely with PMs/Traders and downstream operations teams from execution through settlement and reporting.
- Strong understanding of equity and foreign exchange market products and lifecycle events (e.g., cash securities; confirmations, netting, settlements, resets, corporate actions, and cash flows)
- Hands-on experience with trade management, confirmations/settlement, reconciliations, exception management, and operational controls; familiarity with applicable regulatory and client reporting expectations.
- Proficiency in Aladdin and/or comparable OMS/IBOR/ABOR platforms, plus market/data tools and post-trade utilities used for confirmations, settlement, and reconciliations such as DTCC CTM, GTSS, Alert, CLS capabilities etc.
- Strong understanding of global market standards, broker/clearing and custodian practices, and risk and control frameworks.
Expected base pay rates for the role will be between $80,000 and $114,500 per year at the commencement of employment. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs.
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