Director - Structured Derivatives & Capital Markets

What You Will Do

Do you want to contribute to Zurich's Global Investment Management organization, its business strategy, projects and to pursue innovation and continuous improvement? Investment Management is Zurich’s center of competence for managing over USD 160bn of insurance assets. This role combines senior derivatives investment expertise with end‑to‑end implementation ownership, quantitative tooling leadership, and strong governance accountability. It sits at the intersection of strategy, execution, risk, and operations, requiring both deep technical skills and the ability to drive cross‑functional alignment in a regulated insurance asset management environment.

• Assist the Head of Financial Engineering in the management of team mandates, ensuring effective utilization of resources and adherence to strategic goals.
• Own the end‑to‑end implementation of derivatives programmes across local, regional levels, from structuring and pricing through execution, monitoring, and lifecycle management.
• Design, enhance, and maintain derivatives pricing, analytics tools, and structured payoffs, ensuring robustness, documentation, and calibration governance.
• Lead the development of market and risk monitoring dashboards, providing timely and actionable insights on rates, credit spreads, volatility, equity factors, and counter party risk.

• Coordinate the full non‑cleared derivatives value chain, ensuring alignment between Legal, Middle Office, Treasury Operations, Risk, Custodian, and external counter parties.
• Provide senior oversight of initial and variation margin frameworks, ensuring appropriate collateral standards, operational alignment, and effective issue resolution across stakeholders.
• Support and lead discussions on initial margin frameworks, clearing versus non‑clearing choices, custodial arrangements, and regulatory thresholds.

• Contribute to governance and analytical oversight of complex asset classes adjacent to derivatives, including CLOs, asset‑backed investments, and mortgage programmes.
• Strengthen analytics, reporting, and benchmarking frameworks across asset classes, supporting informed investment and risk decisions.

• Master’s degree in mathematics, physics, quantitative finance, financial engineering or economics with a strong quantitative focus.

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in derivatives and capital markets, gained in front‑office investment or structuring roles within asset management, insurance investment management, or investment banking, with exposure to complex OTC derivatives, structured products, and pricing models.
• Experience with other investment areas beyond derivatives (e.g. fixed income, structured credit, or mortgage‑related investments) is considered a strong advantage.
• The role is intended for candidates with an investment‑driven background rather than careers primarily focused on risk control, sales, or business development.

• Deep hands‑on experience designing and validating pricing models and risk analytics for OTC derivatives (rates, credit, options, structured payoffs).
• Strong capability in building investment decision and monitoring tools, including stress testing, scenario analysis, and back‑testing under real‑world constraints.
• Proven ability to translate complex quantitative concepts into clear, decision‑ready outputs for senior stakeholders.

• Demonstrated experience managing non‑cleared derivatives frameworks, including documentation, margining, collateral eligibility, and operational coordination.
• Track record of designing, improving, and governing end‑to‑end derivatives processes in a regulated environment.
• Strong understanding of regulatory requirements (FINMA / equivalent), and experience leading or supporting their implementation at Group level.

• Ability to operate effectively at Director / senior expert level, influencing outcomes without formal authority.
• Proven strength in coordinating across…