Associate, Back Office Operations

About the Operations Department

The goal of the Operations Department is to enable Bridgewater's ongoing investment engine and client requirements by proactively driving solutions through effective management of people, process, and partners in a principled way.

About Your Role

The Middle & Back Office Specialist in Operations is comprised of (1) monitoring and managing the deliverables and performance of outsource providers, (2) operating internal processes and procedures and (3) improving and evolving both (e.g. participating in initiatives enabling support of new products, markets and unique investor requirements, enhancing processes and controls, etc.).

One of the key advantages of this role as compared to a traditional Operations role is that our Specialists are developed more as "generalists" who can understand the end-to-end processes of all aspects of Operations, as opposed to being specialists in just one particular product or process.

We are seeking motivated, agile and results-oriented people to be part of the team critical to enabling Bridgewater

You will drive the following responsibilities:

On & off-boarding support and maintenance of investor accounts, fund launches, trading and settlement counterparties, as well as new markets & instruments
Trade life cycle and portfolio control support (e.g. trade confirmation, collateral, reconciliation, etc.)
Investor and Fund services (e.g. capital flows, various investor reporting, etc.)
Accounting books and records and associated reporting (e.g. NAV);
Tax, Audit & regulatory/compliance support for BW, its funds and clients
Driving industry leading back-office solutions and engaging in thought leadership and strategic partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to shape key outcomes (e.g., BW Front Office, vendors)
Reviewing outsource partner deliverables for quality, accuracy and timeliness to ensure mission-critical Operations responsibilities are met including excellent escalating and troubleshooting of problems
Produce various internal and external reporting, including but not limited to client, regulatory, risk & control and management metrics
Act as liaison between outsource partner(s) and internal BW departments (e.g. Trading/Front Office, Client Service) for queries and providing subject matter expertise on various projects and initiatives.
Identify problems and inefficiencies with various process and develop and implement solutions (e.g. streamline redundant processes, automate controls & reports, etc)
Contribute towards training, testing, and certification of other Associates over time to ensure a high level of cross-training and fungibility

The anticipated onsite requirement for this role is 4 days per week at our Westport, CT campus.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree, demonstrating a strong academic record from a competitive school
2-7 years’ experience in financial services Operations and/or Investor Services (e.g. investment banking, hedge fund administration, hedge fund, or consulting firm (Operations specific consulting)
Proficient in relevant software applications, particularly Excel, SharePoint, PowerPoint. Data manipulation and coding skills are also valuable (e.g. pivot tables, macros, Power Query, VBA, SQL, "R", etc)
A drive to incorporate AI into both day-to-day and long-term strategic workflows
Strong sense of personal responsibility, ownership mentality, reliability, results-orientation
Excellent ability to detect and trouble-shoot problems, logical reasoning, and common sense
Process orientation (ability to both follow and streamline machines)
Strong Communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to hold others accountable
Learning agility and flexibility to keep up with what can be an uncertain and/or changing environment

About Bridgewater

Bridgewater Associates is a global macro investment firm, founded in 1975, whose mission is to develop a fundamental, cause-and-effect understanding of how markets and economies work—and translate that understanding into insights, returns, and solutions that help the world’s leading institutional investors solve their most important investment challenges.