Junior Project Manager

Chicago Organizing; London; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job description

Junior Project Manager (Financial Technology / FinTech / Trading)

This is a hybrid role, 3 days in the office and 2 days remote.

An excellent opportunity has arisen for a Junior Project Manager (with ideally 2-4 years of experience) to join a well-established growing exchange based in the City of London. My client's culture is one of trust, openness, and excellence. They work in a collaborative style and take collective responsibility for successes and failures. This is an excellent opportunity to join a small, friendly, and growing team.

We value:

• High personal integrity
• Innovative thinking
• Efficient and reliable performance
• Spark

Benefits (not exhaustive list):

• Competitive salary
• 25 days annual leave - not including bank holidays
• Private medical insurance
• Hybrid working
• Flexible working hours
• Company pension
• Group Policies: Life Assurance, Income Protection, and Critical Illness
• Discretionary bonus
• Electric Car Scheme
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Policy
• Workplace Nursery Scheme
• Length of service holiday entitlement

Job Overview:
The Product and Project Management team sits at the crossroads of most departments in the company, acting as the central coordination group touching development, sales/client management, operations, surveillance, quality assurance, and senior management.

As a Junior Project Manager, you will drive the delivery of critical initiatives across all three of my client's business lines. In this central role, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure every project aligns with business objectives.

You will be responsible for creating clear project plans, managing resources and timelines, mitigating risks, and communicating updates to both internal and external stakeholders, as well as defining project management frameworks and best practices. This position is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, technology-focused environment and who possesses the organizational skills, leadership, and attention to detail necessary to deliver complex projects on a large enterprise scale.

The successful candidate will have a track record of managing multiple projects concurrently, overseeing the software delivery throughout the SDLC, identifying and mitigating risks, and proactively communicating progress. An understanding of regulated markets, trading venues, and cross-asset instruments (such as equities, ETFs, listed derivatives, bonds, or commodities) will also be beneficial.

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Establish Project Management Frameworks - Develop and implement project management methodologies, tools, and best practices to create a structured approach to project delivery, documentation, and reporting.
• Project Planning and Execution - Create detailed project plans, define project scope, identify deliverables, and manage timelines for critical large-scale projects.
• Release Coordination - Orchestrate all activities related to critical releases in a regulated environment, ensuring smooth deployment.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration - Act as the central point of coordination, liaising with stakeholders from different departments to ensure clear communication and alignment of goals.
• Risk Management - Identify project risks and develop mitigation strategies; proactively address issues to minimize impact on deadlines and deliverables.
• Technical Upskilling - Proactively learn and adapt to the industry's technical aspects, ensuring effective communication and informed decision-making with technical teams and subject matter experts.
• Innovate and Collaborate - Solve problems with innovative solutions. Have the confidence to challenge stakeholders and determine the most appropriate solution.

Required Skills/Experience:
The successful candidate will have a strong and positive work ethic with the ability to forge lasting relationships (both internal and external) at all levels. You do not need all the skills and experiences to apply for the role. However, the appetite and ability to learn these in the role is a must.

Essential:

• Experience as a project manager with ideally 2-4 years experience, delivering critical technology solutions, ideally in an electronically traded asset class (but not a must).
• A proven track record of delivering multiple concurrent projects and ensuring timely delivery and quality of work.
• Experience working with engineering teams in line with Agile/Scrum Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodology.
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly and effectively with diverse teams, leadership, and external stakeholders.
• Capable of quickly diagnosing issues, understanding root causes, and proposing effective solutions.
• Ideally basic business and technical understanding of exchange-based order book trading.

Desired:

• PRINCE2 or APM certification (or equivalent)
• Experience working with various asset classes.
• Familiarity with FIX trading protocol and market data systems.
• Understanding of ultra-low latency distributed computing environments.
• Experience working in a highly regulated environment.
• Understanding of traditional and on-premises physical infrastructure and distributed server architectures running on Linux.

Skills:

• Excellent verbal and client-facing skills, high degree of professionalism.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Detail oriented.
• Collaborative.
• Analytical and problem-solving attitude.