Director of Middle Back office Quality Assurance

Hybrid: 2-3 days onsite in Charlotte, NC

Role Description

We are seeking a highly experienced Director of Quality Engineering to lead our Fixed Income Middle/Back Office testing function. This role is responsible for defining, implementing, and governing a robust testing strategy that ensures the reliability, scalability, and compliance of post-trade processing systems across settlements, confirmations, collateral management, regulatory reporting, and risk. The ideal candidate combines deep Fixed Income product knowledge, back office workflows, and hands-on Quality Engineering leadership to drive automation, governance, and continuous improvement.

Role Objectives

" Leadership & Strategy
o Define and execute the Quality Engineering strategy for Back Office applications supporting Fixed Income trading.
o Partner with Technology, Operations, Risk, and Compliance to align QA with business priorities and regulatory requirements.
o Build and manage a high-performing QE team across manual, automation, and performance testing disciplines.
" Governance & Standards
o Establish QA governance frameworks with clear accountability, traceability, and reporting across all back office test cycles.
o Drive adoption of test management tools (e.g., Jira + Xray) to ensure complete coverage and defect traceability.
o Define and enforce QE best practices, including test automation frameworks, regression coverage, and shift-left practices.
" Test Execution & Coverage
o Oversee end-to-end testing for settlements, reconciliations, clearing, payments, regulatory reporting (MiFID, TRACE, CFTC), and other post-trade processes.
o Ensure test coverage includes STP (straight-through-processing), fail/exception handling, SWIFT messaging, and integration with custodians/clearing houses.
o Expand performance, resilience, and failover testing for high-volume transaction flows.
" Automation & Tooling
o Drive automation strategy to increase regression efficiency, scalability, and accuracy across back office platforms (e.g., Calypso, Murex BO, or proprietary systems).
o Leverage modern test harnesses, CI/CD pipelines, and AI-driven test frameworks for smarter, faster, and more reliable validation.
" Metrics & Continuous Improvement
o Define and maintain key quality metrics (defect leakage, automation coverage, cycle time, escape rate).
o Deliver executive-level reporting via dashboards (Power BI, Tableau, or equivalent).
o Implement continuous improvement loops to reduce production escapes and improve testing efficiency.

Qualifications and Skills

o 12+ years in Quality Assurance/Engineering, with at least 5+ in a Director/Head of QE role in Capital Markets.
o Strong background in Fixed Income products (Swaps, Govies, Corporates, Repos, Derivatives, OTC products) and Back Office workflows (settlements, clearing, custody, payments).
o Demonstrated success in building QE functions in complex, regulated environments.
o Proven track record of implementing large-scale automation and QA governance frameworks.
" Technical Skills
o Deep knowledge of post-trade systems and integrations (e.g., Calypso, Murex, Client, Impact, GLOSS, DTCC, SWIFT).
o Strong expertise in test automation frameworks (Java/Python + Selenium, Cypress, REST/SOAP service testing, performance tools like JMeter/LoadRunner).
o Familiarity with DevOps and CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab, Azure DevOps).
o Data validation skills (SQL, Excel, reconciliation tools).
" Leadership & Soft Skills
o Exceptional leadership, mentoring, and communication skills.
o Ability to engage with Front Office, Back/Middle Office, Risk, Operations, and Regulators at senior levels.
o Strategic mindset with hands-on problem-solving capabilities.
Preferred Qualifications
" Advanced degree (MBA, MS in Computer Science/Engineering, or Financial Engineering).
" Prior experience in a sell-side investment bank or hedge fund back/middle office environment.
" Knowledge of regulatory frameworks (Dodd-Frank, MiFID II, CFTC, EMIR).
" Experience with AI/ML in test automation and predictive analytics for QA.
Success Metrics
" Successful production release of new Middle/Back Office platform buildout
" Reduction in production defects / escape rate.
" Increased automation coverage and execution reliability.
" Improved cycle time for testing across major releases.