Associate Director, CAT (Consolidated Audit Trail) Operations

Oversee and maintain high standards of excellence and quality of client relations provided by CAT Operations staff. Ensure that the CAT Operations team meet stated performance and quality standards in compliance with the CAT NMS Plan. Proactively respond to and resolve escalation calls from internal and external customers. Serve as the subject matter expert for the CAT system. Build and maintain strong partnerships with internal stakeholder and external member firms/partners to serve as a trusted advisor on CAT-related data/incidents.

Promote a culture of continuous learning, training, and development in support of individual employees’ growth, while connecting to the critical skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to meet the unique and ever-evolving challenges of the market/CAT system. Assess and mitigate CAT data-related risk to maintain the integrity of the CAT system and all CAT data.

Essential Job Functions:

• Manage day-to-day operations of the CAT Operations team.
• Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) and properly support industry members, plan participants and regulatory users.
• Routinely analyze and interpret CAT exception reports and provide detailed follow-up and training to firms/end users.
• Serve as a point of escalation for all CAT-related queries.
• Ensure adequate staffing levels to address call volume.
• Monitor the accuracy of information and quality of service provided to the customer.
• Ensure timely responses to customer inquiries.
• Perform regular review of CRM (customer relationship management) queues to ensure timely and accurate resolution and assignment of cases.
• Review daily stats and CRM reports for adherence to agent and plan expectations.
• Plan and develop strategy for staff training and developmental needs and ensure that they meet stated performance and quality standards.
• Provide one-on-one coaching on how to improve the level of customer service provided.
• Lead improvement projects.
• Provide training and mentoring to new employees.
• Ensure information requests are completed accurately and assign calls to the appropriate department or individual.
• Ensure timely resolution of caller issues.
• Review reports and related applications to identify firm transmission errors. Contact firms and provide assistance to resolve any possible errors, allowing an accurate and problem-free transmission.
• Provide feedback to management on the efficiency of all customer service center functions.
• Attend all application related training.
• Lead and participate in ad hoc special projects and major initiatives, as requested.

In addition, the Associate Director will:

• Educate internal and external stakeholders on proper system use, critical processes, submission, retrieval, and interpretation of CAT data.
• Ensure integrity and accuracy of CAT data via requests received via the CAT Operations team and other methods.
• Engage in proactive stakeholder management and demonstrate a strong ability to build, develop, and maintain relationships over time, in support of the mission of FINRA CAT.
• Demonstrate aptitude in strategic thinking/problem-solving and tactical execution, both from a forward-thinking and current state day-to-day operations need and perspective.
• Provide proactive communication around technical system issues.
• Possess a solid knowledge of risk mitigation techniques and ability to implement/follow-up.
• Ensure data integrity to enable critical data-decision making for all CAT-related topics.
• Serve as coach and mentor to staff, embracing continuous improvement and development throughout the employee career lifecycle.
• Responding to business needs via planning/implementation and sustainment of critical products/systems in support of FINRA CAT, engaging all needed and necessary stakeholders and resources, as needed.

Other Responsibilities:

• Take an active role in meetings involving the CAT Plan Processor.
• Maintain essential skills by attending training programs and participating in required staff meetings.
• Perform any other duties required to the effective operations of the CAT Operations team, which may occur outside normal business hours

Education/Experience Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in STEM-related fields, Finance, Economics, or equivalent work experience in the financial industry demonstrating knowledge of regulatory reporting, research, and analytical skills and a minimum of six (6) years of directly related experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• At least three (3) years of managerial experience.
• Excellent analytical and interpersonal skills