Head of trading

Hybrid with two days a week in our Edinburgh or London office, travel between offices (including Bath) will be required monthly

About us

Seccl is the Octopus owned embedded investment platform that's on a mission to helping more people to invest - and invest well.

We're B Corp certified with an amazing product market fit, impressive early traction and the potential to transform an outdated industry, for the better. We've been growing fast and will scale even faster over the next few years.

We're also proud to be part of Octopus, the £multi billion group that's on a mission to breathe new life into broken industries, through companies like Octopus Energy, Octopus Investments and Octopus Money.

Check out the Seccl website for the latest on our products and our mission to shape the future of investments.

The role

We are looking for a Head of trading to lead and evolve Seccl's trading capability as we scale.

Trading is a critical part of the platform experience for both our clients and the investors they serve. Today we deliver trading through an outsourced execution model, but we are now building the next generation of our trading infrastructure, with a direct market model designed to deliver lower costs, greater control and a significantly improved client experience.

As Head of trading you will own the performance, control and development of trading at Seccl. You'll be responsible for day to day trading operations whilst also playing a central role in delivering our new brokerage model and shaping the future architecture of trading across the platform.

This is a rare opportunity to design and lead a modern trading capability inside a fast growing investment platform.

On a typical day you will be

• Own the end to end trading capability at Seccl ensuring execution, settlement and post trade processes operate reliably, efficiently and with strong operational control
• Support the trading operations team, setting clear standards for performance, operational resilience, incident management and continuous improvement
• Ensure trading operations run in line with regulatory expectations including CASS MiFID II and COBS, maintaining strong books and records integrity and robust control frameworks
• Own relationships with key market infrastructure providers, execution partners, and trading venues
• Play a central role in delivering Seccl's new direct to market trading capability helping define and embed the operational and control framework that supports it
• Work closely with Product and Engineering to translate trading and market structure requirements into scalable platform capabilities, workflows, and automation
• Shape key design decisions across market connectivity, smart order routing, market data, best execution monitoring, and execution architecture
• Ensure the trading function is operationally ready to support new trading capabilities including processes, procedures, controls monitoring, and operational support

This role's for you if

• You thrive in owning a critical platform capability and leading both operational performance and structural change
• You have significant senior experience leading trading or dealing operations within an investment platform, broker, or wealth platform environment
• You have deep knowledge of trading infrastructure and market operations including settlement cycles, custodians, CREST and direct market connectivity
• You have experience implementing or delivering direct market access or brokerage infrastructure
• You have a deep understanding of how regulatory frameworks such as CASS, MiFID II and COBS shape real trading operations
• You hold an appropriate Level 4 trading or securities qualification and are comfortable supporting direct market execution activity where required
• You have exposure to smart order routing, market data architecture or best execution frameworks
• You have experience working closely with engineering teams to deliver trading platform capability
• You are confident influencing senior stakeholders across product, engineering, compliance, risk and finance

This role isn't for you if

• You rely on a lot of top down direction. Here, you'll have a lot of freedom and ownership of your role, and you'll be expected to shape your own progression
• You're not comfortable working in a fast paced environment. Our speed and scalability are what set us apart; you need to be able to act quickly and think on your feet
• You struggle to follow through on ideas. We value people who do what they say they will. If you care about something, you have the freedom here to make it happen
• You don't like change. You'll get on great here if you relish the ambiguity of rapid growth and are willing to embrace uncertainty

What's in it for you

We offer a generous mix of benefits for the things that really matter to our people, including:

A competitive salary - dependant on experience + reviewed annually

27 days holiday + bank holidays (some can be flexible) + day off on your birthday + three days (full time) per year for Dependant leave

Two volunteering days per year

Option to work abroad for up to six weeks a year

Secclbrate - our recognition programme that offers a mix of flexible rewards including extra pay, additional holiday and increased learning budget

Length of service award - one month paid sabbatical at eight years

6% employer pension contribution, and life assurance

Private medical insurance with AXA Health

Enhanced Parental leave

MacBook and up to £500 home office set up budget

£750 per person learning budget

Health and wellbeing initiatives including free therapy via Wellness Cloud, mental health support via Headspace

Strong financial wellbeing focus including access to Octopus Money, Octopus Share Incentive Plan and will writing offering via Octopus Legacy

Perkbox - Flexi points giving you a range of discounts and perks including free weekly coffee, gym and retail discounts

Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work and Octopus Electric Vehicle Leasing

Our culture

We're proud to put people first, creating a culture where we truly listen to what matters most to them. Our transparent and inclusive environment encourages diversity of thought, challenge and experimentation.

Check out our Glassdoor page for the latest reviews or our LinkedIn for company updates and insights from the team.

Interview process

Interviewing is a two way thing, and we want you to have the time and opportunity to get to know us, as much as we are getting to know you. Our interviews are conversational, so come with questions and be curious.

We'll only close this role once we have enough applications for the next stage. Please submit your application as soon as possible to make sure you don't miss out and you should expect to hear back from us within one to two weeks of applying.

Our aim is to build a diverse and inclusive company of awesome people, with unique skills, passions and experiences. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, or veteran, neurodiversity or disability status.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, we encourage you to apply even if you don't tick every box. We'd love to hear from you!