Senior Director, Execution Services & Trade Operations

WHO WE ARE

Apex Fintech Solutions (AFS) powers innovation and the future of digital wealth management by processing millions of transactions daily, to simplify, automate, and facilitate access to financial markets for all. Our robust suite of fintech solutions enables us to support clients such as Stash, Betterment, SoFi, and Webull, and more than 20 million of our clients' customers. 

Collectively, AFS creates an environment in which companies with the biggest ideas in fintech are empowered to change the world. As a global organization, we have offices in Austin, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Portland, Belfast, and Manila.

If you are seeking a fast-paced and entrepreneurial environment where you'll have the opportunity to make an immediate impact, and you have the guts to change everything, this is the place for you. 

AFS has received a number of prestigious industry awards, including:

• 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018 Best Wealth Management Company - presented by Fintech Breakthrough Awards

• 2021 Most Innovative Companies - presented by Fast Company

• 2021 Best API & Best Trading Technology - presented by Global Fintech Awards

ABOUT THIS ROLE

We’re seeking a highly strategic and hands-on Senior Director, Execution Services & Trade Operations to lead and scale our trading operations at Apex. This role is critical in designing seamless integration processes, building a best-in-class trade support function, and delivering outstanding client experiences. If you have a passion for operational excellence in a dynamic fintech environment and deep expertise in trading systems, we want to hear from you.

Duties/Responsibilities

• Lead the Execution Services and Trade Support teams

• Design a scalable, documented integration process aligned to business and product roadmaps.

• Build and operate a 24/7 Trade Support function with clear SOPs; train and certify staff on Apex’s OMS/EMS and any tools leveraged for systems monitoring and trade execution.

• Own end-to-end trading connectivity and client onboarding (inbound/outbound) across clients, executing brokers, and liquidity venues; reduce time to trade for new clients.

• Lead client and venue certifications: define test plans, manage timelines, and secure approvals.

• Manage trading vendors and internal trading tech systems (OMS/EMS, FIX gateways, market access)

• Implement processes to control licensing/connectivity expenses; oversee OMS/FIX billing, invoice reconciliation, and chargebacks/allocations.

• Maintain and govern technical specifications, FIX dictionaries, API documentation, and the connectivity CMDB with proper version control and accessibility.

• Monitor production connectivity health and SLAs; triage incidents, drive root cause analysis, and implement permanent fixes.

• Configure routing and execution within Apex’s trading environment based on each client’s business model and integration approach.

• Plan and execute integration testing (UAT, regression), manage change control, and promote releases to production.

• Track and report onboarding/connectivity KPIs (e.g., time to live, certification pass rates, uptime) and drive continuous improvement and automation to standardize integrations and shorten time to production.

• Partner cross-functionally (Sales, Onboarding, Sales Engineering, Client Service, Compliance, and Engineering) to scope integrations and deliver seamless client experience on schedule.

Education and/or Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, or other related field (or equivalent work experience) required

• 15+ years of experience in trading order management and execution.

• 7+ years of people management experience.

• FINRA Series 7 and 63 required, Series 24 and 57 preferred.

• Demonstrated success working cross functionally with Sales, Client Service, Engineering, and Compliance.

Required Skills/Abilities

• Deep knowledge of broker dealer OMS providers; hands on experience integrating with most major OMS platforms.

• Strong understanding of EMS integrations, workflows, and common bottlenecks.

• Vendor management experience (evaluation, contracting, SLAs, and cost control).

• Exceptional interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills; effective with executives and clients.

• Outstanding organization and tracking skills; adaptable and strong problem solver in dynamic environments.

Work