Risk Manager

About Clear Street:

Clear Street is modernising the brokerage ecosystem. Founded in 2018, Clear Street is a diversified financial services firm replacing the legacy infrastructure used across capital markets.

We started from scratch by building a completely cloud-native clearing and custody system designed for today’s complex, global market. Clear Street’s proprietary prime brokerage platform adds significant efficiency to the market, while focusing on minimising risk, redundancy, and cost for clients. Our goal is to create a single source-of-truth platform for every asset class, in every country, and in any currency. By combining highly skilled product and engineering talent with seasoned finance professionals, we are building the essentials to compete in today’s fast-paced markets.

Clear Street Europe (CSE) is a new company within the Clear Street group of companies. We are in the process of applying for a licence to provide investment and clearing services. Joining Clear Street Europe means being part of building a new successful organisation, backed by a global group; the best of both worlds.

The Role:

The Risk Manager’s primary responsibility is to manage CSE’s operational risks, including second line risk management oversight of the requirements as set within DORA within the appetite set by the Board and to improve and report on the effectiveness of the risk framework, policies, and procedures to both Executive Management and the Board.

As Risk Manager, you will be responsible for designing and implementing our operational risk management framework. Your focus will include key second-line responsibilities related to outsourcing risk governance, support for financial risk oversight third-party/vendor oversight, and compliance with DORA, ensuring robust controls. This is a second-line role, responsible for maintaining and enhancing the firm’s operational risk management capabilities across its business and support functions.  The successful candidate will also be a key point of contact for aligning risk practices and information sharing with our UK-based sister company.

This is an excellent opportunity for those wanting to contribute within a fast-paced financial technology environment. The right candidate will have the opportunity to make a big impact through building and shaping the development of Clear Street Europe.

Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and maintain the Operational and ICT Risk Management Framework, including the outsourcing and third-party risk management framework
• Identify and assess operational risks across departments including trading, IT, compliance, and client services
• Monitoring changes to laws and regulations relevant to the second line risk function.
• Conduct regular risk assessments, control testing, and scenario analysis
• Develop and maintain the risk register, key risk indicators (KRIs), and incident reporting processes
• Work closely with business units to remediate risk exposures and strengthen internal controls
• Assist with regulatory examinations and audits
• Promote a risk-aware culture through training and communication
• Prepare risk reports for senior management, the Management Committee, and regulators
• Work closely with Finance and the outsourced Risk team to provide second-line oversight of liquidity risk, and counterparty credit risk
• Oversee outsourced financial risk considerations are integrated into the wider enterprise risk framework
• Serve as the primary risk liaison between the Dutch office, the UK-based sister company and the US headquarters
• Evaluate outsourcing proposals and ensure compliance with legal and regulatory outsourcing requirements (e.g. ESMA Guidelines, Wft)
• Support the implementation of DORA requirements in collaboration with IT, Compliance, and Information Security
• Ensure operational risk controls align with DORA’s expectations on risk management, incident reporting, and digital resilience testing
• Contribute the local firm's local response strategy for major (ICT-related) incidents and ensure lessons learned are embedded

Skills required:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in an operational risk management role within the financial services industry
• Degree in Risk Management, Business, Finance, Law, Mathematics or a related field advantageous
• Strong understanding of NL, EU and international legislation, regulation and best practice
• Experience with conducting investigations and interacting with regulators and law enforcement agencies
• Experience with data analysis and reporting, including developing internal exception reports and using Excel pivot tables and v-lookups
• Understanding of institutional and retail client dynamics and their respective risk exposures
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Confidence to deal with colleagues at all levels of the organisation and get buy-in where required to enhance processes and procedures
• Fluent in English
• Management of second-line outsourcing and/or third-party risk
• Proficient in risk management systems, Excel, and GRC tools

We Offer:

At Clear Street, we offer competitive compensation packages, company equity, pension, WGA-hiaat and WIA-excedent insurance, a bike plan and an in-office lunch. Our belief has always been that we are better as a business when we are all together in person while at the same time offering our employees flexibility. As such, we are requiring employees to be in the office at least half their working hours.

Our top priority is our people. We’re continuously investing in a culture that promotes collaboration. We help each other through challenges and celebrate each other's successes. We believe that modern workplaces succeed by virtue of having high-performance workforces that are diverse — in ideas, in cultures, and in experiences. We put in the effort to make such a workplace a daily reality and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. #LIHYBRID