Lead Business Analyst (OTC Derivatives Reconciliations)

Project description

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Lead Business Analyst with deep domain expertise in OTC Derivatives reconciliations and hands-on experience with any of the major reconciliation platform SmartStream TLM, INtellimatch, Gresha,, Duco, Xceptor etc. In this role, you will act as the key interface between Business Operations, Technology, and external stakeholders. You will lead business analysis, manage stakeholder relationships across front-to-back office functions, oversee change management on Xceptor, support BAU operations, and drive the onboarding of new reconciliation use cases onto the Xceptor platform.

Responsibilities

• Key Responsibilities 1. Stakeholder Management & Business Analysis Leadership Act as the primary Lead BA and key bridge between Business Operations, Risk, Compliance, Trading Desks, Product Control, and IT. Elicit, capture, analyze, and translate complex business requirements into detailed Functional Requirement Documents (FRDs), Epics, and User Stories. Conduct workshops and alignment sessions with senior business stakeholders to prioritize requirements, manage project scope, and set clear delivery expectations. Lead and mentor junior/mid-level Business Analysts within the Reconciliations/Trade Operations domain. 2. Xceptor Platform Management & Change Control Drive end-to-end change management lifecycle for Xceptor configuration (data ingestion, mapping, validation rules, matching logic, and workflow automation). Analyze existing Xceptor workflows to identify bottlenecks, optimize performance, and enforce best practices across reconciliations. Partner with technical/configuration teams and vendor support to oversee technical releases, regression testing, and deployment. 3. BAU Support & Escalation Management Provide tier-2/3 business support for operational BAU issues, exception management, and reconciliation discrepancies in Xceptor. Oversee root-cause analysis for production incidents related to data feed breaks, parsing errors, or rule failures, ensuring timely resolution and long-term remediation. 4. Onboarding New Reconciliations & Use Cases Identify, evaluate, and onboard new business use cases onto Xceptor (e.g., trade matching, position reconciliations, cash/collateral reconciliations, valuation/P&L breaks, regulatory reporting recons). Define target operating models (TOM) and business process flows for new product lines or entity expansions. Design standard data templates, data ingestion strategies (SWIFT, FpML, CSV, PDF, APIs, broker statements), and automated match-rules tailored to OTC derivative products. 5. Testing & Implementation Formulate testing strategies, write/review User Acceptance Testing (UAT) test cases, and coordinate execution with Business Operations.

SKILLS

Must have

• Qualifications & Key Requirements Domain & Technical Expertise Education: Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business Administration, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field. OTC Derivatives Domain Expertise: 8+ years of Business Analysis experience in capital markets/investment banking with deep knowledge of OTC Derivatives products (e.g., Interest Rate Swaps, Credit Default Swaps, FX Options, Equity Swaps, Commodity Derivatives). Reconciliations Experience: Strong understanding of front-to-back post-trade processing, trade lifecycle, trade matching, position/cash/collateral reconciliations, and regulatory reconciliation requirements Recon Platform Proficiency: Proven hands-on experience configuring, managing, or onboarding workflows in Intellimatch / Gresham/ SmartStream TLM/ Duco / Xceptor or any other reconciliation platform.. Soft Skills & Leadership Stakeholder Management: Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills with a proven track record of managing senior operational and business stakeholders. Leadership & Delivery: Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional projects, manage change backlogs, and run agile delivery (Scrum/Kanban). Problem-Solving & Data Analysis: Excellent analytical skills with strong proficiency in SQL, data mapping, and parsing complex unstructured/structured financial data formats (FpML, FIX, ISO 20022/SWIFT, JSON, XML, PDF).

Nice to have

Exposure to Xceptor