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Alpaca is a US-headquartered global leader in agent-first brokerage infrastructure serving hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries with institutional-grade APIs. The company is backed by $400 million in funding from top-tier investors including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, and Y Combinator, with a globally distributed team of 400+ members.
As a Global Settlements Associate, you will own the end-to-end global equity settlement process, partnering with custodians, counterparties, and internal stakeholders to ensure timely and accurate settlement across multiple international markets. Your responsibilities span five core areas:
**Global Equity Settlement:** Manage daily settlement activity across international markets, monitor transactions at risk of failing, investigate and resolve settlement exceptions and trade discrepancies, review buy-ins and settlement penalties, and monitor trade matching through SWIFT and settlement platforms to ensure counterparties affirm trades within market deadlines.
**Trade Exception Management:** Investigate and resolve trade mismatches including settlement instruction discrepancies, quantity and price differences, allocation issues, counterparty booking errors, and FX/market-specific exceptions. Partner closely with trading, finance, compliance, counterparties, and custodians to drive resolution, escalating complex issues to leadership as needed.
**Cash & Position Reconciliations:** Perform daily reconciliations of securities positions and cash balances across multiple global markets and currencies. Investigate and resolve breaks between internal ledgers and external custodians, produce reconciliation reports, and ensure all breaks are researched and resolved within service levels.
**Operational Risk & Regulatory Controls:** Ensure processes comply with SEC, FINRA, and global market regulations. Support compliance with SEC Rule 15c3-3 regarding customer securities custody. Identify operational risks, maintain records for audits and examinations, and assist with regulatory reviews.
**Reporting & Process Improvement:** Produce operational reporting on settlement activity, aged fails, and reconciliation breaks. Prepare work papers and root cause analyses. Identify recurring issues through trend analysis and recommend improvements. Support implementation of policy frameworks.
**Automation & Strategic Initiatives:** Partner with Engineering and Product teams to automate manual workflows. Leverage SQL, Metabase, and AI tools (Cursor, ChatGPT) to enhance efficiency. Participate in cross-functional projects supporting new products and international expansion.
You will work cross-functionally with Brokerage Operations, Trading, Finance, Compliance, Engineering, and Customer Operations to ensure seamless post-trade processing.
**Requirements:**
- 2+ years of experience supporting brokerage operations with focus on global equity settlements
- Strong understanding of securities settlement lifecycles within a broker-dealer or carrying firm
- Experience working with third-party clearing firms and global custodians
- Knowledge of U.S. broker-dealer operations and financial industry regulations
- Familiarity with BNY Nexen or similar global custody settlement platforms
- Working knowledge of SWIFT settlement messaging (MT54x series), Euroclear, DTCC, and international settlement practices
- Experience settling securities across global markets including Europe and Asia (Hong Kong, South Korea, and other international markets)
- Strong expertise performing cash and position reconciliations across multiple currencies and markets
- Experience investigating trade mismatches and collaborating with counterparties to resolve settlement issues
- Ability to analyze operational data, identify trends, and make sound decisions
- Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills
- Strong organizational skills with exceptional attention to detail
- Ability to manage multiple priorities while working independently in fast-paced environment
- Comfortable working remotely while collaborating across distributed teams
- Working knowledge of SQL, Metabase, or similar reporting and data analysis tools
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace
- Adaptability to evolving regulatory requirements and business priorities
- Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam and Series 99 license (or higher), or obtain Series 99 within 180 days of hire
**Nice-to-Haves:**
- Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related discipline
- 5+ years of experience in brokerage operations, reconciliation, settlements, accounting, banking, or financial services
- Experience with DTCC U.S. equity settlement processing
- Knowledge of tokenized securities or digital asset settlement
- Experience using AI-powered productivity tools (Cursor, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot)
- Experience supporting automation initiatives with Engineering teams
- Series 7 or additional FINRA licenses
- Experience in high-growth fintech or electronic brokerage environment
