Associate Manager

What makes this opportunity outstanding?

At Principal, you will have the chance to coordinate the end-to-end security master reference data lifecycle, ensuring the accuracy and timely availability of security records across platforms. This role offers an outstanding blend of hands-on expertise and team oversight, improving data quality, strengthening controls, and maintaining governance standards that support trading, risk management, compliance, and reporting. You will collaborate with internal partners and external data vendors to onboard new instruments and resolve production issues efficiently, all while maintaining clear documentation and audit readiness.

Key Responsibilities

• Direct the full security master lifecycle throughout multiple asset classes
• Build, validate, and maintain security master records for equities, fixed income, derivatives, OTC instruments, and alternative investments.

• Ensure timely onboarding of new securities, markets, and products in line with operational cut-offs and downstream dependencies.

• Review and approve complex setups and new instrument types
• Approve complex security setups, including structured products and newly introduced instrument types.

• Ensure setup decisions are detailed and aligned with governance policies.

• Ensure accurate capture of core reference data attributes
• Confirm identifiers and key attributes including ISIN, CUSIP, SEDOL, pricing sources, market conventions, classifications, and related reference fields.

• Coordinate corrections and prevent recurrence through root-cause fixes.

• Conduct data quality checks, perform reconciliations, and manage exception handling
• Complete daily data quality checks, break management, and reconciliations across systems.

• Track exceptions through to closure with clear ownership, timestamps, and evidence.

• Act as the point of contact for production issues and critical incidents involving customer concerns
• Own critical issues for data breaks and high-impact production incidents, coordinate rapid resolution, and communicate status and next steps to customers.

• Maintain an incident log and post-incident actions.

• Drive continuous improvement, automation, and process optimization
• Identify inefficiencies and implement improvements to reduce manual work, errors, and rework.

• Partner with technology and data teams to automate repeatable steps where feasible.

• Ensure compliance with governance, audit, and regulatory expectations
• Follow data governance frameworks, policies, and audit/regulatory requirements, and support reviews with complete evidence and traceability.

• Maintain documentation of processes, controls, and data lineage.

• Support improvements, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), and vendor feed/platform changes
• Participate in system improvements, UAT testing, and implementation activities for new data platforms or vendor feeds.

• Provide business validation, testing evidence, and sign-off input per agreed standards.

• Lead team execution and collaborator communication
• Provide day-to-day guidance, mentorship, and work allocation for analysts in the securities setup team.

• Monitor SLAs, manage priorities, and ensure timely delivery with required quality.

• Build strong working relationships with global investment operations, IT, data governance teams, and external vendors (e.g., Bloomberg, Refinitiv).

• Communicate risks, breaks, and remediation plans clearly to senior collaborators.

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, accounting, or a related field.
• 10–12 years of experience in securities setup, reference data, or investment operations in asset management, custody, or financial services.
• Knowledge of financial instruments spanning various asset classes, including complex and OTC products.
• Extensive understanding of security identifiers and classification standards (ISIN, CUSIP, SEDOL, etc.).
• Hands-on experience with market data vendors such as Bloomberg and Refinitiv.
• Established background in managing data accuracy controls, resolving exceptions, and conducting reconciliations.
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel at an advanced level; familiarity with SQL or data querying tools is advantageous.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Clear communication and effective collaboration management, including communication of critical issues.
• Experience providing oversight, guidance, and mentoring to team members.

Shift Timings: 1.30PM - 10.30PM IST

We will prefer candidates with hands-on experience in Data Management, Securities Setup, and Market Data Vendor Management within the Asset Management space. Join us and be part of an exceptionally driven team as we strive for flawless execution and continuous improvement!