Derivatives Risk Oversight Lead

About the team & role

We are building an elite team, applying frontier technologies to the world’s biggest financial problems. We’re looking for bold thinkers. Sharp problem-solvers. Builders who are wired to make an impact. Robinhood isn’t a place for complacency, it’s where ambitious people do the best work of their careers. We’re a high-performing, fast-moving team with ethics at the center of everything we do. Expectations are high, and so are the rewards. 

The team’s mission is to safeguard the financial stability of our trading operations. By independently challenging front-line strategies and validating complex margin models, we ensure the safe and sustainable growth of our derivatives product.

As a Derivatives Risk Oversight Lead, you will serve as a key representative of Second Line of Defense for our derivatives trading platform, leading the oversight and continuous enhancement of risk management frameworks across the derivatives product and the Bitstamp Financial Services (BFS) entity.

This role is based in our UK office, with in-person attendance expected at least 3 days per week.

At Bitstamp by Robinhood, we believe in the power of in-person work to accelerate progress, spark innovation, and strengthen community. Our office experience is intentional, energizing, and designed to fully support high-performing teams.

What you’ll do

• Support the Director of Risk in implementing and managing the financial risk management programs for the Bitstamp Financial Services (BFS) Entity and other parts of the Bitstamp group, with particular focus on market, product, counterparty, margin, collateral, and liquidity risks arising from spot and derivatives activities.
• Provide independent monitoring of risk exposures across financial and operational risks and escalate breaches of approved limits, with a primary emphasis on trading-related risks and scalable control design as the business grows.
• Review and validate risk models and assess exposure metrics across derivatives products and trading strategies, including independent challenge of product calculations, valuation logic, exposure metrics, and model assumptions.
• Define and periodically review margin methodologies. Independently assess the adequacy of margin and collateral practices implemented by 1LOD, including initial margin, maintenance margin, liquidation thresholds, collateral haircuts, concentration add-ons, and stressed close-out assumptions.
• Define counterparty risk framework and limits; independently monitor exposures and challenge limit utilization, concentration risk, and interconnected exposures across spot and derivatives books.
• Conduct stress testing and scenario analysis to assess the impact of adverse market conditions and extreme events on the derivatives portfolio and develop contingency plans accordingly, including the design of independent house stress scenarios and the ability to reproduce and challenge 1LOD stress calculations.
• Complete quarterly regulatory submissions required under the MiFID license, such as capital requirement calculation (ICAAP) and quantitative reporting, including prudential risk indicators.
• Build or enhance internal capital and liquidity models, taking into account new risks arising from derivatives trading within the BFS entity,, including risks related to perpetual swaps, leverage, funding mechanics, basis dislocations, liquidation events, market gaps, and stressed liquidity.
• Participate in development of key risk and early warning indicators and monitoring as well as reviews of risk appetites, including collaboration with 1LOD on defining KPI/KRI thresholds and escalation triggers (e.g., green/orange/red status).
• Establish a regular and repeatable risk assessment process covering daily monitoring, weekly and monthly deep dives, periodic model and margin review, exception tracking, and formal escalation governance.
• Collaborate with process owners to facilitate appropriate management and control of all material risks for the BFS entity, while acting as a subject-matter expert on derivatives and trading risk.
• Promote a risk-aware culture, including facilitating regulatory-required risk training, and support clear ownership between 1LOD and 2LOD in risk identification, challenge, escalation, and remediation.
• Report findings to management and regulatory authorities, highlighting key risk metrics, exposures, and mitigating actions, with clear articulation of breaches, trends, emerging risks, and required management actions.
• Collaborate closely with Product, Operations, Compliance, Legal, and Technology teams to ensure that risk management considerations are integrated into business processes and decision-making, including new product approval, control design, risk tooling, and scalable operating processes.
• Independently connduct spot and derivatives risk assessments, including hedge effectiveness, basis risk, collateral sufficiency, concentration risk, and the impact of extreme market moves across linked positions.
• Support the scaling of the business by ensuring that risk methodologies, controls, reporting, and governance remain robust as volumes, client complexity, and product range increase.

What you bring

• 5+ years of experience in financial risk management, ideally in a second line of defense capacity. Experience in a derivatives trading firm or brokerage is strongly preferred, and direct derivatives/market risk experience is essential.
• Excellent analytical skills and attention to detail, with the ability to interpret complex data and identify actionable insights, and to independently test, recalculate, and challenge front-line risk metrics and product outputs.
• Good understanding of the MiFID regulatory framework (particularly derivatives) and prudential expectations relevant to investment firms offering derivatives products.
• Good knowledge of the components of a balance sheet and drivers of income, including the capital, liquidity, and P&L implications of leveraged derivatives activity.
• Ability to operate independently and navigate ambiguity.
• Effective communication and presentation skills, including the ability to challenge senior stakeholders with credible quantitative analysis and clear risk recommendations.
• Knowledge of the blockchain and virtual currency environment is preferred, with a strong understanding of crypto market structure, spot trading, derivatives products, and perpetual swaps.
• Excellent English language skills (written and verbal).

What we offer

• Challenging, high-impact work to grow your career.
• Performance driven compensation with multipliers for outsized impact, bonus programs, and equity ownership.
• Top tier benefits to fuel your work, including supplemental health insurance, ancillary insurance, and mental health support programs.
• Lifestyle wallet - a highly flexible employer-paid benefits spending account expenses beyond traditional benefits such as wellness, childcare, learning, and more.
• Time off to recharge including company holidays, paid time off, sick time, paid volunteer time off, parental leave, and more!
• Exceptional office experience with catered meals, events, and comfortable workspaces. 
• Monthly commuter stipend to help offset in-office commuting costs.