The posting
At M&G, our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions.
Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.
Through telling it like it is, owning it now and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.
We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and offer workplace adjustments to ensure you have the support you need to succeed in your role.
Role Purpose
The New Markets and Instruments Specialist leads the end-to-end assessment and implementation of new markets, exchanges and instruments, enabling Fund Managers to expand their investment universe safely and efficiently. The role coordinates investment, operations, risk, compliance, technology and external service providers to evaluate feasibility, identify and mitigate risks, design appropriate operating models and confirm operational readiness.
Working from initial request through to implementation, the role captures the investment rationale and detailed requirements, leads cross-functional due diligence, resolves issues and dependencies, and ensures that all required approvals, controls and implementation activities are completed. It provides clear governance, communication and escalation throughout delivery.
The assessment may include clarifying the investment strategy, designing a new operating model and evaluating the full investment lifecycle. This includes pre-funding requirements, non-standard working days, cross-time-zone dependencies and the processing of complex instruments. The analysis identifies material risks and supports the development of proportionate mitigating controls with the New Markets and Instruments (NMI) Process Champions.
The role acts as a subject-matter expert and contributes to the development of a centre of excellence for new markets and instruments across M&G plc, promoting consistent standards, reusable knowledge and continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities
- Leads the end-to-end delivery of new market, exchange and instrument initiatives from initial feasibility assessment through to implementation and operational readiness.
- Captures and documents Fund Manager requirements, investment rationale and expected outcomes at the level of detail required by impacted teams.
- Coordinates cross-functional due diligence across investment, operations, risk, compliance, technology and legal teams, including internal, overseas and third-party dependencies.
- Assesses the proposed investment lifecycle and operating model, identifying requirements relating to trading, funding, settlement, custody, collateral, valuation, accounting, reporting and lifecycle-event management.
- Ensures that material risks—including operational, regulatory, compliance, scalability and third-party risks—are identified, assessed and either mitigated or formally accepted through the appropriate governance process.
- Designs or coordinates changes to operating models, processes and controls, working with NMI Process Champions and impacted teams to develop proportionate and sustainable solutions.
- Plans, manages and, where necessary, performs implementation activities to ensure that all approvals, documentation, system changes, testing, training and operational-readiness actions are completed.
- Collaborates with custodians, third-party administrators and other external service providers, including State Street and HSS, to define and implement required service and operating-model changes.
- Provides Fund Managers and senior stakeholders with clear reporting on scope, delivery status, timelines, risks, dependencies and capacity constraints, escalating issues where requirements or delivery dates are at risk.
- Critically evaluates information and consolidates input from multiple teams to support executive decision-making and formal approval.
- Develops and shares specialist knowledge of investment markets, instruments, risks and operational requirements across the NMI Process Champion network.
- Identifies and implements improvements to the NMI process to strengthen controls, remove inefficiencies and reduce time to market.
- Maintains accurate and current procedures, implementation artefacts and records of approved markets and instruments, including approval conditions and supporting evidence.
Knowledge, Skills & Experience
- Essential: Demonstrable experience of leading complex, cross-functional initiatives from initial scoping and feasibility assessment through to implementation and closure.
- Strong end-to-end understanding of asset-management operating models and the interaction between front-office, risk, compliance, operations, technology, finance and external service providers.
- Strong working knowledge of public-market asset classes, including equities, fixed income, exchange-traded derivatives, over-the-counter derivatives and money-market instruments.
- Strong knowledge of equity, interest-rate, credit and currency derivatives, including their front-to-back investment and operational lifecycles.
- Experience of analysing and designing operating models, documenting processes and controls, and translating investment requirements into implementable solutions.
- Strong analytical judgement and attention to detail, with the ability to identify material risks, evaluate options and synthesise complex information for senior and executive audiences.
- Excellent communication, stakeholder-management and facilitation skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively, resolve competing priorities and drive decisions across internal and external teams.
- A proactive, organised and delivery-focused approach, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams, dependencies, risks and deadlines.
- Desirable: Experience with complex or structured instruments, such as equity-linked notes, credit-linked notes and total return swaps.
- Knowledge of technical front-to-back operational processes, including trade capture, confirmation, settlement, custody, collateral, valuation, accounting and lifecycle-event management.
- Exposure to private-market asset classes and the associated operational and control considerations.
What we offer:
We’re dedicated to supporting your wellbeing and helping you thrive, both at work and beyond. Our benefits are designed to help you balance your professional and personal life, and financially plan for the future. Our UK benefits include:
- A valuable pension scheme of up to 18% (13% made up of employer contributions and 5% employee contributions).
- Access to our Share Save and Share Incentive Plan, alongside financial wellbeing and support services to help give you real confidence to put your money to work.
- Enjoy 38 days annual leave (including bank holidays), with the opportunity to purchase up to five extra days. Our Time Off When You Need It policy gives you the flexibility - to balance work and personal commitments.
- Our market-leading Inspiring Families policy includes comprehensive support and paid parental leave covering maternity, adoption, surrogacy, and paternity leave - because supporting families is an important part of our inclusive culture.
- Health & Protection cover includes Private Healthcare, Critical Illness cover and Life Assurance for you, with additional family options - for peace of mind.
To explore more about life at M&G and our full benefits offering, visit Life at M&G
At M&G we strive to have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture, underpinned by our policies and employee-led networks that offer networking, support and development opportunities for the diverse communities our colleagues represent. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds – across gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation and more – including neurodivergent individuals, career returners and those with military service experience.
M&G is proud to be Level 3: Disability Confident Leader under the UK Government Disability Confident employer scheme, and we welcome applications from candidates with disabilities and long-term health conditions. If you would like to participate in the initiative, you will have the opportunity to indicate this on your application.
We are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process. All candidates have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments when applying. If you need any additional support at any stage, please contact us at: [email protected]
