Head of GTFD - Change Management Director

Head of GTFD - Change Management Director

Job Level: Director

Location:

New York, NY, US, 10172

Employment Type:

Full Time

Requisition

SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Group has more than 130 offices and 80,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group, which is one of the three largest banking groups in Japan.

SMFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York (NYSE: SMFG) stock exchanges.

In the Americas, SMBC Group has a presence in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Backed by the capital strength of SMBC Group and the value of its relationships in Asia, the Group offers a range of commercial and investment banking services to its corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. It connects a diverse client base to local markets and the organization’s extensive global network.

The Group’s operating companies in the Americas include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., SMBC MANUBANK, JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.

The anticipated salary range for this role is between $ and $. The specific salary offered to an applicant will be based on their individual qualifications, experiences, and an analysis of the current compensation paid in their geography and the market for similar roles at the time of hire. The role may also be eligible for an annual discretionary incentive award.

In addition to cash compensation, SMBC offers a competitive portfolio of benefits to its employees.

We’re seeking a seasoned Middle Office leader to oversee end-to-end Trade Finance operational controls and lifecycle processes across Accounts Receivable (AR), Accounts Payable (AP)/Supply Chain Finance, Trade Loans, and Letters of Credit (LCs). This leader will drive process excellence, digitization/automation, and a high-performance team culture, ensuring resilient controls, timely settlements, accurate trade capture, and best-in-class client and front-office partnership.

Operational Leadership & Governance

• Own day-to-day Middle Office processes for AR, AP, Trade Loans, and LCs, including trade/transaction capture, verification, confirmations, collateral/eligibility checks, settlements, limit usage monitoring, and lifecycle events.
• Establish and maintain strong control frameworks: break management, reconciliations, four-eye checks, maker-checker, etc.
• Serve as escalation point for exceptions, complex structures, sanctions/query triage, and deal level specifics.
• Partner with Front Office, Credit Risk, Compliance/Sanctions, Legal, Treasury, Technology, and Operations to deliver high-quality outcomes and timely issue resolution.

Process Improvement & Automation

• Lead a continuous improvement roadmap
• Sponsor and deliver automation (e.g., workflow orchestration, RPA, straight-through processing, API integrations, OCR/IDP for docs, smart checklists, dashboards).
• Define and track KPIs/KRIs; implement dashboards for real-time ops health (e.g., SLA adherence, break rates, aged items, etc)

Risk, Controls & Regulatory Alignment

• Oversee audit readiness and responses (internal/external), remediation plans, and control testing
• Embed data governance and documentation standards for trade records, amendments, collateral, and settlements.
• Manage and develop a multi-level team; coach managers/leads, build succession, and drive engagement.
• Establish a robust training curriculum across trade products, documentation, compliance, and systems; implement performance-based objectives.
• Foster a culture of accountability, inclusion, continuous learning, and psychological safety to support change adoption and excellence.

• 10–15+ years in Trade Finance/Middle Office/Operations within a bank or non bank financial institution,…