Company Description
At Swissquote, we’re all in.
All in to shake things up. All in to build the bank people actually want to use. All in to make finance less boring — and a lot more powerful.
We’re Switzerland’s leading digital bank — 1,500+ people across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and South Africa, building real financial solutions for over a million clients worldwide. From trading and investing to everyday banking, we cover the full picture. We move fast, but we build things we’re genuinely proud of. Have a look behind the scenes by checking Humans of Swissquote on Instagram.
Growing fast creates room. Room to try things, own things, and grow at a pace most places can’t offer. Whether you like the spotlight or prefer to just put your head down and do great work, there’s space for both here.
We’ve ditched the dress code — but never the chance to celebrate. Big win or small, we make it count. The kind of place where the atmosphere takes care of itself.
As an equal opportunity employer, we welcome candidates from all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to join our team and contribute to our shared success.
Feeling it? It’s a good start. Apply.
About the Function
Business Risk Management (BRM) is Swissquote’s first-line control function, overseeing client onboarding, periodic reviews, and ongoing lifecycle controls. Operating across Gland and Zurich, it works closely with front-office teams, Compliance, and Legal to ensure regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and a pragmatic, risk-based approach that balances commercial objectives with sound risk management.
Job Description
As Associate Director for Existing Clients, you will lead BRM’s ongoing oversight and controls for corporate and institutional clients across Gland and Zurich, ensuring operational excellence and alignment with BRM standards and strategic priorities.
Key Responsibilities
- Direct the operational and people management aspects of the Existing Clients team, fostering a high-performance culture aligned with strategic objectives.
- Oversee the implementation and running of the periodic review process across the institutional client base
- Follow up with Sales teams to ensure reviews are launched on schedule, and that adequate documentation and information is received from clients within set timeframes.
- Prepare escalated cases for presentation to Executive Management committees, ensuring materials are accurate, complete, and ready for review and approval.
- Identify risks and implement appropriate controls for existing clients across the relationship lifecycle, beyond scheduled periodic reviews.
- Work closely with the Quality Control & Remediations team, as well as Compliance on cases that may trigger ad-hoc reviews
- Own reporting on periodic review and ongoing controls metrics, providing senior management with clear, accurate, and timely transparency on status, bottlenecks, and outstanding cases.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for audits and ongoing monitoring exercises conducted by second line of defense functions, coordinating responses and ensuring timely follow-up on findings.
- Manage escalations in close coordination with the Sales Management team, ensuring overdue or at-risk periodic review cases are surfaced and addressed promptly.
- Exercise independent judgment on complex or novel cases, determining when to escalate appropriately while making well-reasoned, timely decisions within established guidelines and guiding your team through them.
- Actively lead process improvement initiatives aimed at simplification, efficiency gains, and stronger on-time completion rates across existing client controls.
- Serve as a trusted partner to Institutional Sales, Compliance, and Legal, ensuring sustainable business growth while upholding the Bank's risk and regulatory standards.
- As and when necessary, participate in client meetings to discuss complex cases.
- Actively contribute to recruitment cycle and performance management to ensure a motivated, high-performing, and accountable team.
- Coach and mentor team members, supporting their skill development and career growth.
Qualifications
- Minimum 5–7 years' track record in client periodic reviews, ongoing monitoring, or compliance operations within the financial services sector.
- Previous experience in a leadership or team-lead role is a strong advantage.
- Strong knowledge of Swiss regulatory requirements (FINMA, AMLA, CDB) and periodic review standards.
- Strong organizational and follow-through skills, with a demonstrated ability to track multi-stage processes to completion and hold stakeholders accountable to deadlines.
- Experience preparing case materials for senior committee review, with strong attention to detail and clear written communication.
- Sound risk judgment, including experience identifying risks and designing or implementing controls, and escalating appropriately between first and second-line functions.
- Experience coordinating with second-line functions on audits or monitoring exercises is a strong advantage.
- Ability to communicate operational priorities and constraints to technical teams in charge of tooling and systems build-out.
- Ability to prioritize and deliver on multiple tasks in a deadline-driven, high-volume environment.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, results-oriented team player.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills in English and French, German being an advantage.
Additional Information
“Please note that Swissquote never requests sensitive personal information or payment of any kind during the recruitment process. Any such request is fraudulent.”
SQ2