Lead Associate

To oversee all reconciliations conducted by the CASS Reconciliation team to ensure all client money & assets held by Winterflood are accurately accounted for and safeguarded, ensuring the firms adherence to controls and the FCA CASS regulations. Approval of all reconciliations to ensure all have been conducted in line with internal policies and industry requirements. This includes the timely escalation and resolution of discrepancies to Operational teams.

Reporting directly into the Senior CASS Oversight Manager the Lead Associate for the CASS Reconciliations team will be pivotal in ensuring that the firms remains compliant with CASS rules.

**Key Responsibilities**
- Review and approval of all reconciliations conducted by the CASS Reconciliations Team, ensuring compliance with the FCA CASS regulations and adhering to internal policies.
- Ensuring all cash and asset reconciliation discrepancies are promptly investigated and resolved, and that reconciliation discrepancies have been allocated and reported in line with procedures.
- Ensure all cash and asset shortfalls are identified and correctly funded identified via the reconciliation process.
- Production of management information to internal committees and presentation of information where required.
- Manage all internal or external audit requests relating to CASS reconciliations.
- Ensure procedures are accurately maintained and where controls are changed, promptly updated.
- Manage the attestation process relating to CASS reconciliation controls, ensure any control failures are recorded accurately and where identified support the implementation of enhancements to these controls.
- Develop and deliver ongoing training to the business relating to discrepancy management and the reconciliations process.

People
- Coordinate with colleagues in Operations to resolve reconciliation discrepancies, ensuring the teams rectify the highest priority items first.
- Assist colleagues with identifying the root cause for discrepancies and arranging for these to be fixed to avoid repeating issues.
- Represent the Company and communicate effectively with stakeholders, clients, employees.

**Skills & Experience**
- Proven experience leading a CASS reconciliations team.
- Exposure to automated reconciliation tools, Autorek is desirable.
- Evidenced ability to energise and align direct reports with the overall Company purpose, through clear direct management and guidance; and the building of high-performance team(s)
- Detail-oriented and organized, with the ability to work independently and meet deadlines.
- Excellent communicator; able to engage positively with colleagues at all levels and third parties.
- Benefits_

Salary - competitive
- Discretionary annual bonus & annual pay review
- Work Abroad Policy for up to 15 days per year
- 25 days holiday plus bank holidays and additional well-being day
- Option to purchase an additional 5 days holiday per year
- Flexible working options available, including hybrid working
- Pension scheme up to 10% employer contribution
- Sharesave scheme
- Income Protection & Life insurance (4 x salary core level of cover)
- Private health care via BUPA
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Discounted Gym Membership
- Variety of travel to work schemes

Company benefits are provided on completion of either six months service, or a successful probation period whichever is sooner.

Entitlement outlined above is in respect of full-time entitlement, and will be provided to part-time workers on a prorate basis in accordance with the relevant scheme rules.

**_ We appreciate that from time to time, recruitment agencies will have speculative CVs that they may wish to submit to our Talent Acquisition team in relation to a specific role._**

**_ To avoid any ambiguity around fees, please note that speculative CVs received by Close Brothers, that have not been authorised in advance, by us, will be ineligible for an agency fee. Thank you._**

**The Company**

Winterflood Securities is a leading market maker committed to providing liquidity and flexible execution services to retail brokers, asset managers and institutional investors.

Winterflood’s strengths are a combination of traditional trading values and the performance of our own cutting edge technology. Our experienced team of traders helps clients achieve high quality execution in over 15,000 tradable instruments including UK, European and North American Equities together with Investment Trusts, Exchange Traded Products, Fixed Income, Structured Products and Funds. Founded in 1988, Winterflood has gone from being a niche market maker in the UK Small Cap market, to a mature, diverse and major liquidity provider across multiple asset classes in the UK and European markets.

Winterflood is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Winterflood Securities is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Close Brothers Group plc, a specialist financial services group which makes loans, takes deposits, t