Senior Associate, Operational Risk US

AustralianSuper is the largest superannuation fund in Australia -- in the top 20 largest funds globally and top 50 asset owners globally. 

With more than US $230 billion in current assets under management, and a world-class investment team, AustralianSuper has the appetite and capability to directly invest in large-scale opportunities.

Our New York office is made up of more than 75 colleagues and is expected to grow significantly over the next few years, so when you join, you become a key part of building our culture.

Your new role

Reporting to the Principal, Compliance and Operational Risk (“COR”) - Americas, this role supports delivery of the operational risk framework across all domains within the New York office. The role assists in identifying, assessing and monitoring risk across investment, operational, and support processes, ensuring alignment with the Fund’s Risk Management Framework. 

The Senior Associate will be responsible for partnering with various teams to provide an end-to-end risk and control view to assist in the management of the risk profile for each domain, in line with the operational risk framework.

This is a newly created position, that is based on-site at 1251 Avenues of the Americas, with a hybrid work schedule.  

Key Responsibilities

Risk & Control Activities

• Support operational risk reviews across end-to-end processes for all business activities conducted in New York.

• Ensure process documentation for all teams are current and accurately reflect the controls in place to mitigate identified risk

• Maintain risk profiles, controls and obligations within GRC (Governance, Risk & Compliance system).

• Identify control gaps / weaknesses through reviews

• Conduct control testing and obligation assessments

• Monitor key risk indicators for trends/concerns

• Assist in the identification of emerging risks

Incident & Issue Management

• Manage the incident process through investigation and timely documentation in GRC

• Support remediation tracking and closure of action plans

• Complete root cause analysis to identify any trends or common themes

Reporting & Analysis

• Prepare operational risk metrics and dashboards

• Produce reporting packs for governance forums, board committees and business leadership

• Analyse trends to identify early indicators of control weaknesses

Governance & Framework Support

• Support implementation of the Operational Risk Framework to ensure a robust understanding across all colleagues in the NY office

• Interpret and adapt fund wide risk policies for implementation in the US and ensure compliance with policies and governance standards

• Assist with audit interactions, action plan development and remediation monitoring

Engagement & Collaboration

• Become a trusted Line 1 risk advisor to the designated business units (BUs) and support teams in the NY Office

• Build collaborative relationships with investment and operational teams

• Deliver new hire training on compliance & operational risk function and requirements

• Support ongoing training and awareness activities across the office

• Collaborate with Line 2 (Group Risk) and Line 3 (Internal Audit), to ensure the three lines of accountability are embedded into all activities.

What we’re looking for 

Culture is key at AustralianSuper and we are looking for someone who is a team player that enjoys working in a high performing collaborative team.

• Minimum 5 years post graduate experience in operational risk and/or compliance

• Foundational understanding of risk management principles

• Awareness of private equity / credit operations, fund structures, and investment lifecycle

• An understanding of prudential or markets regulations with respect to risk management and investment governance 

• Exposure to Internal or External Audit risk and control identification and testing practices/ methodologies 

• Strong analytical skills, organizational and planning skills with a high attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple tasks at once

• Strong written and oral communication/ interpersonal skills with the ability to present ideas, perspectives and issues