Risk Manager - Active Trading

Clear Street
Chicago, IL
On-site

Who this role is best for

Risk professionals with brokerage experience and quantitative expertise will find this role in Chicago offering a client-facing, fast-paced environment with a focus on active trading risk.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with deep trading risk experience and a background in equities and derivatives
    — “At least five (5) years of professional experience in trading risk, margin, brokerage risk, or a related role covering equities and listed derivatives”
  • Individuals with strong communication skills and a client-centric mindset
    — “Communicate critical risk observations clearly and directly to clients, balancing firm risk discipline with a service-oriented approach”
  • Professionals who have worked with individual traders or in active/retail brokerage settings
    — “Prior exposure to individual trader or active/retail brokerage risk is a strong plus”

Things to consider

  • Requires in-office presence for 4 days per week in Chicago
    — “requiring employees to be in the office 4 days per week”
  • Emphasis on U.S. and international market knowledge, with no explicit remote flexibility
    — “covering U.S. and international markets across multi-asset portfolios”

How to stand out

  • Highlight experience with margin frameworks and regulatory compliance in your resume and interviews
    — “Familiarity with regulatory margin frameworks applicable to individual accounts”
  • Demonstrate your ability to analyze and manage concentrated risk exposures
    — “Identify and respond quickly to outsized risk events, including large directional positions”
  • Showcase your Python and SQL skills, as they are preferred for this role
    — “Proficiency in Python and SQL preferred”
  • Emphasize your track record of collaborating with cross-functional teams on risk initiatives
    — “Demonstrated project management experience and the ability to work closely with engineering and cross-functional teams”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • Monitored intraday and end-of-day risk exposures
  • Conducted account reviews
  • Developed and maintained margin methodologies
  • Generated and automated reporting
  • Collaborated with internal stakeholders
Typical background
5+ years of risk management experienceExperience in active trading

Skills & requirements

Required

Risk ManagementClient EngagementMargin RequirementsStress TestingReportingCollaboration

Preferred

Active TradingInternational MarketsMulti-asset Portfolios

Stack & domain

Finance

About the role

Original posting from Clear Street via Greenhouse

About Clear Street:

Clear Street is modernizing the brokerage ecosystem. Founded in 2018, Clear Street is a diversified financial services firm replacing the legacy infrastructure used across capital markets. 

We started from scratch by building a completely cloud-native clearing and custody system designed for today’s complex, global market. Our platform is fully integrated with central clearing houses and exchanges to support billions in trading volume per day. We’ve agonized about our data model abstractions, created horizontal scalability, and crafted thoughtful APIs. All so we can provide a best-in-class experience for our clients. 

By combining highly-skilled product and engineering talent with seasoned finance professionals, we’re building the essentials to compete in today’s fast-paced markets.

The Team:

Your team owns risk across Clear Street's business lines, playing a crucial role in the success of our growing business. As a Risk Manager on the Active business, you will contribute to creating, evolving, and executing risk frameworks and best practices tailored to the needs of individual professional and active traders. This is an impactful position that provides the opportunity to expand both your quantitative and client-facing skill sets, covering U.S. and international markets across multi-asset portfolios.

In this role, you will be responsible for:

Risk Monitoring & Oversight

Monitor intraday and end-of-day risk exposures and margin requirements across Active client accounts, with particular attention to the concentrated, higher-velocity trading patterns typical of individual professional traders

 Track U.S. and international markets through OMS and risk systems, escalating material issues to senior management as needed

 Identify and respond quickly to outsized risk events, including large directional positions, concentrated single-name exposures, and leverage exceedances

Ability to execute client liquidation trades for risk management purpose

Client Engagement

Serve as a primary risk point of contact for Active clients, conducting account reviews, discussing margin requirements, and advising on portfolio risk in a manner appropriate for professional individual traders

Communicate critical risk observations clearly and directly to clients, balancing firm risk discipline with a service-oriented approach suited to the Active client profile

Support client onboarding by reviewing trading history, strategy profiles, and risk parameters to set appropriate account-level risk limits

Margin & Methodology

Develop and maintain robust margin, risk, and stress-testing methodologies calibrated to the Active book, accounting for the trading behavior, product mix, and leverage profiles of individual professional traders

Assess and refine margin requirements across equities, options, and other products traded by Active clients

Support ongoing initiatives related to the development and enhancement of the firm's risk and margin platforms

Reporting & Infrastructure

Generate and automate ad-hoc and recurring reporting to surface key risk factors and exposures across the Active client base

Collaborate with internal stakeholders — including Technology, Product, and Operations — to improve risk management infrastructure and margin capabilities specific to the Active business

Contribute to risk policy development and documentation as the Active business scales

 Requirements:

At least five (5) years of professional experience in trading risk, margin, brokerage risk, or a related role covering equities and listed derivatives — sell-side, buy-side, or at a retail/active trading platform

Minimum of eight (8) years of overall professional experience in financial services

Prior exposure to individual trader or active/retail brokerage risk is a strong plus; familiarity with the risk profiles and behaviors of high-frequency or professional individual traders preferred

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Mathematics, or Financial Engineering required

Master's degree or CFA/FRM designation preferred

Solid understanding of equity and listed options products, including options pricing fundamentals and associated Greeks

Familiarity with regulatory margin frameworks applicable to individual accounts, including Reg T, portfolio margin, and intraday trading rules

Proficiency in Python and SQL preferred

Familiarity with industry-standard tools such as Bloomberg, ICE, FactSet, or equivalent

SIE, Series 7, Series 57 required 

Strong communication skills, with the ability to engage confidently with individual professional traders, internal stakeholders, and regulators

Proactive, collaborative, and a strong team player with a high sense of ownership

Demonstrated project management experience and the ability to work closely with engineering and cross-functional teams

Analytical and detail-oriented, with strong quantitative aptitude

Comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment where client interactions are frequent and time-sensitive

We Offer: 

The Base Salary Range for this role is $120,000-$160,000. This range is representative of the starting base salaries for this role at Clear Street. Where a candidate falls in this range will be based on job related factors such as relevant experience, skills, and location. This range represents Base Salary only, which is just one element of Clear Street's total compensation. The range stated does not include other factors of total compensation such as bonuses or equity.

At Clear Street, we offer competitive compensation packages, company equity, 401k matching, gender neutral parental leave, and full medical, dental and vision insurance. Our belief has always been that we are better as a business when we are all together in person. As such, we are requiring employees to be in the office 4 days per week. In-office benefits include lunch stipends, fully stocked kitchens, happy hours, a great location, and amazing views.

Our top priority is our people. We’re continuously investing in a culture that promotes collaboration. We help each other through challenges and celebrate each other's successes. We believe that modern workplaces succeed by virtue of having high-performance workforces that are diverse — in ideas, in cultures, and in experiences. We put in the effort to make such a workplace a daily reality and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  #LI-Hybrid

Source: Clear Street careers (Greenhouse)

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