Role summary
As Head of Fund Accounting: Hedge Funds, you will report to the Regional Head of Operations Open Ended (Middle East and Africa) within the Hedge Division of Apex based at our Cape Town office and will be responsible for the development and management of the growing Fund Accounting team.
The incumbent is the primary accountable owner for hedge fund valuation and accounting service delivery to our clients serviced out of South Africa. This role entails the functional leadership for the delivery of core fund accounting services within the Fund Administration division, and will focus on managing, measuring, and driving the effectiveness of the area to ensure effective, efficient, and timely delivery of the services to all our clients.
These services include, but are not limited to, all fund NAV calculation activities, income distribution calculations and processing, and related regulatory and accounting reporting to Clients, Mancos, and the Regulator. Role will be responsible to ensure all client relationships, both internal and external, are managed in line with agreed service levels and that services and delivery are of the high standards expected by clients and Apex Group.
Outline of main duties and responsibilities
The brief description outlined above will involve the following specific duties
Head of Fund Accounting: Hedge Funds will be expected to:
- Provide strategic leadership to the department, ensuring close collaboration and alignment of operating model with other departments within the fund administration division and between the two operational offices (where relevant);
- Serve as hedge fund accounting lead for the South African clients, including internal clients within Apex Group in other jurisdictions outsourcing fund administration to South Africa to ensure client satisfaction levels are maintained;
- Serve as primary accountable owner for service quality to external and internal clients and for any material escalations from clients relating to service delivery;
- Ensure service delivery issues and challenges relating to your area are managed and dealt with in a timely and efficient manner;
- Drive implementation of efficiencies in the operational area by improving technical skills of people, improving controls of processes, and further increasing automation of operational processes with technology;
- Ensure Service Level Agreements/Outsourcing Agreements for all new/existing clients are in place;
- Ensure delivery of services to external and internal clients in accordance with agreed Service Level Agreements/Outsourcing Agreements are followed;
- Ensure all operational controls, policies, and standard operating procedures relevant to your area are adhered to;
- Plan and monitor team workload and workflows to ensure service delivery can be supported and action recruitment for suitable resources timeously when needed;
- Monitor operational risk for your area by ensuring incidents are managed and dealt with in a timely and efficient manner;
- Implement internal controls to strengthen control framework and to reduce operational and business risks for your area;
- Ensure external and internal audit findings for fund accounting are appropriately responded to and addressed in a timely manner;
- Ensure business/IT projects impacting fund accounting are supported by appropriate staff from each functional team;
- Develop strong and trusted relationships with external and internal clients, and set and maintain the standard for the quality of the departments engagement with clients;
- Demonstrate technical and management leadership in the subject of fund accounting, and be a key representative for Apex with clients, auditors, and industry bodies;
- Manage operational costs to ensure alignment with budgets;
- Track actual revenue for your area (including fee share under outsourcing agreements) to ensure alignment with budgets;
- Ensure experienced staff are recruited at Senior Manager/Manager level in your area to discharge daily functional activities of their responsible teams;
- Manage and build out operational key performance indicators (KPIs), targets and measures of success for the area and manage performance against these; and deliver towards them;
- Produce monthly management reporting packs detailing operational key performance indicators for your area;
- Provide support to Business Development/Benefit Analyst team on pricing of new deals to ensure your business unit financial targets are met;
- Line manage and support functional team Managers on operational queries escalated;
- Identify training and development needs of the team to ensure continuity in our service delivery and provide informal on the job training when needed;
- Motivate and mentor team members when necessary;
- Conduct mandatory performance appraisals on team members and adhoc reviews;
- Maintain development plans for team members in a continuous improvement environment;
- Participate and engage in internal management forums and investment pricing committees; and
- Remain up to date with industry and regulatory changes.
- Extensive experience of operational leadership within the broader Fund Administration and/or Financial Services industry;
- A minimum of 10 years work experience in this sector and a minimum of bachelors degree;
- A relevant accounting qualification (e.g. CA, ACCA, CIMA) or an equivalent investment management qualification (e.g. CFA) will be an advantage;
- Proven leadership and senior management skills with experience of managing operational teams at a senior level;
- Project management capability with a practical hands-on approach and the ability to get things done;
- Strong business acumen with excellent numeracy and a logical and analytical approach;
- Strong technical knowledge of the middle and back-office services and processes, and a good understanding of the upstream and downstream processes and risks;
- Ability to design new processes and conceptualise and assist in the development of systems to support those processes;
- Knowledge of InvestOne/Paxus will be an advantage to provide support to functional teams;
- Prior experience in liaising with auditors and clients on audit related matters;
- Good knowledge of IFRS reporting standards to provide support to functional teams and to liaise with client/auditors and other Operational Heads on financial reporting requirements. Experience with other financial reporting standards will be an advantage;
- Previous experience in managing, developing and motivating teams and embedding a high-performance culture;
- Identifying automation opportunities to streamline fund accounting deliverables;
- Providing technical guidance to the teams to ensure client issues are resolved timeously;
- Attending periodic client meetings (virtually and in person) and
- Taking the lead in projects focusing on the fund accounting area.
- Commercial acumen;
- Acts with a one firm mentality, ensuring first class delivery and client service on a holistic basis;
- Consistently demonstrating excellent performance;
- Continued focus on customer service and quality control;
- Lead from a position of strong emphasis on controls and ability to set the tone in a high control culture orientated environment;
- Lead by example to ensure things get done when needed;
- Drives success through effective negotiation;
- Dedicated to meeting the expectations of internal and external clients;
- Embraces complexity to deliver simplicity and value;
- Strong communicator and collaborator;
- Successfully communicates at senior levels and is a real team player;
- Proven ability to work across multiple operational areas without a silo mentality;
- Able to work in a demanding, pressurised environment with tight deadlines and to maintain high standards of work.
- High energy levels, fast paced, and driven to succeed;
- A real can do attitude and able to thrive in an environment with regular pressures and opportunities;
- Sets and achieves high levels of performance and continually striving for personal improvement;
- Ability to challenge decisions and frameworks, but also to accept and implement decisions as instructed from a higher authority and to work within established frameworks to achieve desired results; and
- Willingness take accountability for their actions.
The Head of Fund Accounting: Hedge Funds will report to the Regional Head of Operations: Open Ended of Fund Services (South Africa).
Remuneration level
Remuneration will be market related and commensurate with experience and seniority.
