Head of OTC Trading Desk – Crypto
Location: Cape Town or Johannesburg (hybrid)

The role
This is a senior leadership role with management and strategic responsibility for the company’s global OTC desks, reporting to the Head of Treasury. You’ll lead a team of OTC principal traders across several markets, making sure they always trade within defined limits. You’ll also make sure flow from institutions, corporates and professional traders is traded profitably on a risk-adjusted basis.

Sitting within Treasury, you’ll work with the heads of adjacent business lines, including stablecoin and payments/remittances, as well as in-country teams and relationship managers, to turn client flow into a consistently profitable book.

Key responsibilities

Team leadership

• Manage and mentor a team of traders, building a culture of high performance, risk awareness and commercial drive

• Ensure all trading activity stays within defined strategies, counterparty credit limits, operating limits and allocated working capital

• Oversee trade dispute resolution, stepping in where needed

• Ensure trade execution and settlement follow standard operating procedures

• Ensure accurate records of trades and P&L are maintained

P&L and risk

• Own the aggregate desk P&L and risk-adjusted P&L against targets and risk limits

• Oversee hedging of market risk on working capital and revenue streams, and execution of revenue liquidation trades

Trading strategy

• Set and agree trading strategies across multiple desks in crypto and FX, covering OTC, corporate hedging and revenue liquidation

• Develop strategies for derivatives, arbitrage and warehousing as the desk matures, with risk management and profitability at the core

Reporting

• Deliver global-level reporting to senior stakeholders on trading activity, performance and market insight

Building the desk

• Identify opportunities to grow desk flow and profitability through client retention and growth, new client acquisition, additional pairs and new instruments, and make the case for the infrastructure and resources to capture them

• Motivate for changes to counterparty credit limits, operating limits and working capital allocation to support sustainable profitability

• Specify improvements to trading and risk systems and processes, driving the move from manual execution to a scaled, systematic operation

• Pressure-test risk frameworks and models, and recommend changes as market conditions shift

Relationship management

• Build strong internal relationships with cross-functional teams, including Marketing, Sales, Product, Compliance and Legal

• Develop long-term client relationships alongside traders, country teams and relationship managers, with a focus on repeat flow

Requirements

• 5–8 years’ trading experience on a sell-side OTC desk, market maker, prop desk or brokerage in crypto (preferred), FX, equities or derivatives

• 3–5 years’ experience managing traders or trading teams in one of those environments

• Principal trading experience is essential. Your trading and management experience must include P&L responsibility for trade and counter-trade within trade size limits, position limits and working capital constraints. The desk acts as principal, not on an execution-only basis.

• A proven broking or OTC trading track record across more than one market

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Mathematics, Business Administration, Accounting or a related field

• Advantageous:

  • RE5 certification

  • Derivatives arbitrage knowledge or experience

  • CFA, CAIA, MBA or another relevant postgraduate qualification

• Strong commitment to regulatory compliance and ethical trading practices

• Excellent attention to detail in trade execution and documentation

• Strong interpersonal, leadership and communication skills

• Thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic trading environment

Our client is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. They do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability status.